Soulful Sundays: Ecstasy

“Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." -Zen proverb

For better or worse, we are all called to take aim. We give definition to the world through our direct interaction with it; action which is shaped by our own motivations; motivations which are organized by our own personal stories. There can be no reality without a perceiver. We cannot separate our existence from the narrative that ties it together.

The human story is ever-evolving. Each day we are challenged by the world around us. We are called to learn and adapt. The lesson plan is never the same and often we need multiple opportunities to decode it. What seems so obvious to us now, was all but invisible to our earlier selves. Conversely, there were things that we once grasped easily that are now unimaginable to us currently.

As babies we live in simplicity. Our needs are few and our ways of attaining them limited, but the measure of our ecstasy is profound; so too is the measure of our agony. As we grow older, our needs grow with us, and also our capacity to reach them. Yet the pleasure seems to diminish. The more we attain, the less fulfillment each achievement brings. We become trapped in a story of never ending disappointment. Like hungry ghosts we search for our souls, for some type of meaning to make sense of our lives.

Mankind has been on this journey for quite some time now. Our biggest threat is no longer physical; it is existential. For better or for worse, we are a species that is drawn to adventure. We are called to explore and to create--and in doing so, to also struggle. There can be no enlightenment without pain and suffering. Just as there can be no transcendence of ego without an ego to transcend. The most estimable humans who have ever lived did so in the same manner that you and I do. Day by day. One challenge at a time.

Those interested in uncovering the Truth have only one real task. To never stop seeking it--all the while knowing that it is never graspable because it lives inside of us at all times. As we take aim upward to become our best selves, we must remember to take aim downward as well, not leaving behind the simple building blocks that make life possible. For better or worse, we are left to do the work day in and day out. Those who can do so for the pure joy of doing it are one step closer to ecstasy. After ecstasy, the laundry.