BP 45 - My Life-quest
Counting the days, weeks, months, or even years in training is as pointless as counting the grains of sand in a sandbox.
MY LIFE-QUEST [see definition at the bottom of this post]… through pursuing the following holy grails of wisdom-practice…
1/Revelliousness…
2/Meditative Prayer (and prayerful meditation, which includes writing)…
3/Learnedness [Meaning: The polymathic study of a veritable litany of subjects]…
4/Worshipful, Generative Work…
5/Worshipful Play…
6/Creativity and Inventiveness…
7/Goodness, Truth, Beauty, and Elegance…
8/Jiin Senshi Do [Pronunciation: jee-EEN SEN-shee-doh; meaning: “The Way of the Temple Warrior.”]…
9/Gung Fu [Pronunciation: GUNG-fu; meaning: “Skill and Wisdom Acquired through Steady Perseverance.”]…
10/Tai Chi [Pronunciation: TIE chee; meaning: “The Art of Long Boxing.”]…
11/Qigong [Pronunciation: KEE-gong; meaning: “The Art of Vital Energy Integration.”]…
12/Yoga-stretching [see Note below]…
Note: Classical yoga practice has its roots in the Hindu religion. I’ve rejected most aspects of the Hindu religion. My pursuits of yoga are really just the worship of God in and through the practices of various stretches and static postures that "look like" Yoga in a physical sense.
13/Water-play [Meaning: The emulation of the formless dripping, seeping, flowing, crashing, boiling, rising, settling, and ponding characteristics of water. This practice involves never trying to control anything or anyone; and it includes also a commitment to allowing oneself to find the most efficient paths to the lowest areas in one’s life and environment. Further, water-play involves the ordinate response to one’s immediate environment. For example, water solidifies when it’s freezing; it also can boil-off into steam when sufficiently heated.]…
14/Heartful Migration [Meaning: To emotively and locomotively migrate from one place to another.]…
And…
15/Mindful Extrication [Meaning: To remove that which doesn’t belong in me, on me, or to me]…
… IS NOT for quantity of production. MY QUEST is for quality of experience and the ever-increasing development of wisdom (aka “life-skills”).
The above fifteen arenas comprise “the subservient holy grails” of my life. They are the vehicles I employ to help me be and become more of who I am already… as well as the person I “see” visionally [the person I see and feel myself becoming]: My True Holy Grail, and that is to be and become A Person of Deep and Abiding Wisdom (aka A Person of Extraordinary Skill-in-living).
If I follow a sincere commitment to my quest and stay loyal to my most deeply felt values, beautiful and profound experiences will be mine. If I chase after such experiences, they’ll do nothing but hurt me like a snake biting its own tail.
Accordingly…
1/I will be quiet and patient…
2/I will waste no more time…
And…
3/I will yield—pliably, faithfully, and playfully—to that which is and, thus, solidify my commitment to this quest.
For me, training is not so much a means to an end—it is, in fact, a true and rightful end in and of itself. Similarly, training is not so much something I do as much as it’s something I invite (and permit) to flow in and through all I do. For me, training is the commitment to doing everything I do more heartfully and mindfully, where I'm present materially (physically) and immaterially (spiritually) in everything I do [see Note below].
Note: To say, “Well... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I'm going to train from 4 to 6pm,” is to misunderstand how training works. Training is the practice of something. In my life, I practice everything. Therefore, I train 24/7. Even while I'm sleeping, I'm still training. Again, training—the practice of whatever it is I'm doing—flows in and through all I do.
As such, I’ve decided that I’ll train faithfully. I’ve decided, too, that I’ll surrender selflessly to the tempering and tenderizing processes of my training, and do so continually and continuously, without end. I will stay the course; and, as The Holy Trinity enables (through intimate partnership with Them), I will awaken completely the unique expressions of The Trinity’s Image within me—an Image that, mind you, was seed-fattened in me by Them at creation.
With an elegant gentleness, I will let who I am arise (like steam [yes, I’m drawing on “water-play” here]) fittingly and energetically from within me; and then settle (like dewfall [again, “water-play”]) naturally and peacefully on that and those around me. Accordingly, exhibiting a quiet, yet grounded ease as well as a gentle, yet firm approach to everything I encounter and pursue will, together and synergistically, be and become both the explosive epicenter and enigmatic still-point of my life-expressions.
As I grow in wisdom, I will empty myself—of what God’s emptied into me—into those around me. Accordingly, and with great earnestness and eagerness, I will give away what I’ve been given, and I'll do so always from a time, space, and place of genuine selflessness, wholehearted desire, loving-acceptance, and warm nonattachment [disinterest, free of bias and self-interest, impartial].
This is the path I choose. It is my life’s quest. Fittingly, in my pursuits of this quest, I’ve resolutely set my heart and face like flint.
--
“A Further Word Concerning My Quest for Wisdom and Life-mastery”
I acknowledge that it is utterly impossible for me to master the blending of all fifteen such life-practices in just one lifetime. Gratefully, I don’t have just “this current Earth-life” to pursue my quest. In fact, God’s promised me that, in “the world and glorious, lingering life to come,” I’ll be able to devote as much time and attention I want to this quest. They’ve told me, too, that my quest is a part me (that is, that these inherent drives, which lay deep within the cells of my life and personhood, were placed there by Them at my beginnings… at my genesis). Accordingly, and as proscribed uniquely by Them, “What I begin in this life, I’ll continue in the next; and what I fashion in this life, I’ll refine and build upon in the next.”
--
“Definitions”
Quest
A quest is a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something. In classical or medieval legend, a quest is an adventurous expedition undertaken by a knight or knights to secure or achieve something, like The Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in the custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a “holy grail” by those seeking such.
In the 1190s, Robert de Boron, in Joseph d’Arimathie, portrayed the Holy Grail as Jesus' vessel from the Last Supper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ’s blood at the crucifixion. Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice, the Last Supper cup, an idea continued in works such as the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and subsequently the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur. In this form, it is now a popular theme in modern culture, and has become the subject of folklore studies, pseudohistorical writings, works of fiction, and conspiracy theories.
A Holy Grail
A holy grail is an object, condition, or goal that’s sought after for its great significance—either directly or indirectly (by indirectly, I mean it points you to something significant that lies beyond such an object, condition, or goal). A holy grail can be a vehicle of sorts that provides a pathway toward the achieving of something meaningful and worthwhile. For example, a holy grail for one person might be to lose twenty pounds. What does losing twenty pounds bring to that one? It depends on that person, right? Ultimately, though, I think for most people, losing twenty pounds would create within them a changed state of being, such as increased health, bolstered confidence, and/or a renewed sense of accomplishment. The path—the holy grail—to such changes in state is the losing of twenty pounds. For me, My Overarching Holy Grail is “Wisdom/Life-mastery.” My subservient holy grails are also those practices and pursuits I employ, which propel me toward the achieving of said “Overarching Holy Grail.”
Comments
Post a Comment