Tuesday, June 12, 2007

About that attachment to "progress"

Last night a priest friend, Clyde Glandon, sent me the following monastic story that I'd heard before but forgotten about:

"So, what is it that you do up here?" asked the inquirer who had never traveled up the hill to visit the monastery above his town.

The monk, who was sitting on a big rock that day, replied: "We fall down and we get up, we fall down and we get up, we fall down and we get up."

--Origin unknown

This is so true. And it's not something to be depressed about but rather to accept on a very deep level. Nothing will give us greater compassion or empathy for others than the realization that we ourselves continue to struggle and always will. Acceptance of this reality will give us a peace of mind we can cultivate no other way.

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