Brian’s Reflection: Friday, March 13, 2009

Putting off the body is not Freedom, any more than
putting away one's staff and water-pot; but getting
free from the knots of unwisdom in the heart –
that is Freedom, in very deed.

- Sankara the Teacher, Hindu saint

“The knots of unwisdom in the heart”. Is that not a lovely phrase?! It seems to me that there must be MANY knots! And I suspect that this is why Jesus promised and sent the Holy Spirit, saying that in this Spirit’s company, we would do even greater things than He did.

Life on this Earth is but a stage. It is ludicrous that parts of Christianity and of other religions have made such a big deal about passing from this life to the “next” ….. if there is one. If God thought that it was important to make sure that we sensed Her Holy Presence in THIS Life, then why would we think that this Earthly Life was not important?? That we should not give our all to understanding and living fully what this Earthly Life offers??

I have come to the conclusion that an over-fixation with other than this Life is, to put it in Biblical terms, a “work of the Devil”. If the “Devil” can tempt us to ignore the full living of this Life, then we have lost the path to the Next. Very cunning!

That we will move on from this Life to the Next is as simple as “putting away one’s staff and water-pot” ….. and it matters not what the “Next” will be. And! Think how much better off we will be if we can simply accept this movement as a Given!! THERE is the Freedom!

Whatever religious path we follow, we are called to follow it in order to learn how to untie the “knots of unwisdom”. Human Life is filled with such Knots. We should, I think, learn how to help our younger folk to untie these knots; this should be the goal of religious teaching, the goal of mentoring young people, as parents, friends, sisters or brothers in Faith. And it should be the goal of Worship, for us all.

The heart is meant for Love. Knots twist the Art of Love. And Love flourishes best in Freedom. Let us focus on getting free from the “knots of unwisdom” – from indifference, from hatred, from contempt, from arrogance, from disrespect, from thinking our Self or our Path better than another’s. Then we will all be Free.

Brian+