Every workday, after we get ready for work, my wife and I come downstairs for our morning coffee and toast. The coffee maker is on a timer so it finishes brewing at the exact moment we walk into the kitchen. When out toast is ready we both walk into the living room and sit in silence. After I eat my toast I usually read a thought from whatever book I am reading. Currently I am reading Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird. When I am done I sit in silence and meditate. When it is time to leave for work a Zen bell on my phone rings. It has a temple gong kind of sound. When I hear the sound I look at my wife and say, “It’s time to leave the temple”. She usually responds, “But I don’t want to leave the temple”! Admittedly, most days I do not want to leave the temple either. On the rare occasion when I am on a spiritual mountaintop I don’t want to leave there either. However, the reality is that we all have to leave temple or walk back down the mountain. Someday I hope to retire to the temple with the occasionally outing to the mountaintop but that day is not here. Life happens in the marketplace. Most of us spend a great deal of our lives outside the temple and at the foot of the mountain. There is where we are shaped, formed, and molded into the people we are. However, we all need some respite from the demands of daily life so we also need to occasionally sit in the temple or on the mountaintop. Sometimes we need to sit in silence and solitude and be one with God and the universe. If I do get to retire someday, I think I am going to fire that bell ringer.
1 comment:
Enjoying my time in the temple today. Thanks for the perspective.
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