Willing Travelers

Willing Travelers

Once upon a long time ago, a man traveling from his hometown to visit his neighbor stopped for the night and camped under a tree. He tethered his horse, kindled a fire, cooked his supper and settled down for the night. He was awoken by being severely beaten. Every which way he turned to escape the blows rained down. The beating was so intense he began to vomit. At that point the blows ceased. He looked up and saw a man standing over him with a huge branch in his hand and determination in his eyes. “My money and my gold are in the horse saddle!” cried the traveler, afraid that the stranger would start beating him again. The stranger looked at the man then lifted his foot to reveal a crushed scorpion of the most venomous species. “I rode by this evening and saw this scorpion had crawled into your mouth and was about to strike. There was no time to awaken you either politely or gently enough for you to disgorge the poisonous insect in time. Making you vomit the insect was the only remedy that could save your life.”

The above tale is an allegory, if not a wholly accurate description, of our condition. Especially during periods when self-remembering is a foreign experience and we go against mechanical habits, the lower self feels like its being beaten with a club. Often, like a spoiled child (I speak only from my own experience, although others I know have shared the same with me), it overstates it’s discomfort and believes its experiencing the same friction as the man in our fairy tale..

At the other end of the spectrum of creating and using right attitudes to support our efforts, let us look into the painting of Christ’s Willing Sacrifice by Pacino da Buonaguida. We see Christ ascending the ladder willingly, eager to meet his ‘uncomfortable’ fate. Christ is depicted with a look of positive determination on his countenance, and two of his entourage are even holding the ladder steady for him. Clearly, Christ is imbued with an attitude of not just positive acceptance of his fate, but a clear understanding of what he will gain from it. When we know what’s at stake, discomfort or difficulties we encounter during the pursuit of introducing and prolonging presence are met, indeed must be met, with attitudes that supports these efforts.

Between the naïveté of the complaining traveler and the wisdom of Christ willingly moving towards his fate, we gain being and understanding. The more we remember ourselves, gain more understanding of the lower self, and what prevents us from accessing higher centers, the less seriously we take ourselves and the less personally we take our difficulties.

Because of the vice-like grip the lower self has on anything that opposes it, schools help the individual create right attitudes towards one’s efforts. Advice on forming right attitudes, or ‘virtues’ as the ancients sometimes called them, was penned by the Prince of Poets in the seventeenth century. It is as potent today as it was six hundred years ago.

Assume a virtue if you have it not. ~ William Shakespeare

Post by Charles R

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Image: Pacino da Buonaguida, Christ’s Willing Sacrifice, Florence 14th c