growth
Monika's post referring to gurus interests me. My colleague Jack follows a guru, and said to me, "Once you grab hold of the hem of his robe, you don't let go." Other friends have been so affected by a guru it's taken them years after they left to speak of it.
What are your feelings toward gurus? What's your experience? To whom do you turn for teaching, and how do you choose?
This poem by Francisco Albanez, "The One Who is At Home" speaks to me.
Each day I long so much to see
The true teacher, And each time
At dusk when I open the cabin
Door and empty the teapot,
I think I know where he is:
West of us, in the forest.
Or perhaps I am the one
Who is out in the night,
The forest sand wet under
My feet, moonlight shining
On the sides of the birch trees,
The sea far off gleaming.
And he is the one who is
Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.
- Gary Snyder
"When patients complain of dead and lifeless marriages, it is often possible to show them how precious the deadness is to them.” - Stephen Mitchell quoted in NYT Times article, "Can This Marriage be Saved", Sunday Aug 19
Mitchell's observation recalls the old Woody Allen joke:
"Doctor! My brother thinks he's a chicken."
"Why don't you have him committed?"
"I would, but we need the eggs."
A friend complains bitterly about her partner: he's arrogant, thoughtless, a slob. She is not currently examining her contribution to the system, nor willing to reconnect to what each once loved in the other. What are the "eggs"? A house, an intact family, affluence?
To each person who has decided you don't need the eggs, that a nice dead life is... no life, fond regards. When this happens, bluebirds do not pull back your curtains like a Disney movie. You'll struggle, and you will be alive.