The Extraordinary In The Ordinary
Lo extraordinario en lo ordinario--por Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Nuestra aceptación de lo ordinario es parte de nuestra madurez espiritual y capacidad de servicio. También nos ayuda a evitar la trampa de la inflación, que puede atraparnos fácilmente cuando vislumbramos un mundo más allá del ego. Es demasiado fácil identificarse con una experiencia interna. Pero cuando dejamos de querer que la vida espiritual se trate de nosotr@s, cuando vivimos en las diversas dimensiones sin mezclar los niveles o imponer expectativas y deseos, esta libertad nos permite participar plenamente en el trabajo espiritual.
Presente tanto en el mundo interior como en el exterior, se aprende a servir al mundo, a servir a la vida, a servir a l@s demás sin esfuerzo. Este es un equilibrio muy delicado. Si un@ asume la onerosa responsabilidad del servicio, entonces el ego queda fácilmente atrapado en ella; la psique se siente agobiada por ella. Pero estar comprometid@s en una vida ordinaria nos permite estar al servicio sin la carga de pensar que podemos resolver los problemas del mundo o de otras personas, lo que trae consigo la importancia personal y, peor aún, la importancia personal espiritual.
Los sufíes naqshbandi siempre han vivido de esta manera, abandonando las túnicas especiales y trabajando en trabajos ordinarios, tradicionalmente a menudo como artesanos:Baha ad-Din Naqshband era alfarero, Attar, perfumista. Y, por supuesto, muchos de los grandes maestros zen y taoístas enfatizaron lo ordinario y los peligros de importancia espiritual:
Emperador Wu: 'He construido muchos templos, he copiado innumerables Sutras y he ordenado a muchos monjes desde que me convertí en Emperador. Por lo tanto, te pregunto, ¿cuál es mi mérito?'
Bodhidharma: '¡Ninguno en absoluto!' Emperador Wu: '¿Por qué no hay mérito?'
Bodhidharma: 'Hacer cosas por mérito tiene un motivo impuro y solo producirá el insignificante fruto del renacimiento.'
El emperador Wu, un poco molesto: '¿Cuál es entonces el principio más importante del budismo?' Bodhidharma: 'Gran vacío. Nada sagrado.
El emperador Wu, ahora desconcertado y no poco indignado: '¿Quién es este que está frente a mí?' Bodhidharma: 'No lo sé'.
Si podemos permitirnos vivir una vida ordinaria mientras nos mantenemos despiertos al gran vacío en el centro de todo lo que es, entonces podemos ser este lugar intermedio entre esa dicha embriagadora y mística del olvido y la maravilla de cómo lo Divino crea y se revela en todas las formas de vida. Nuestras vidas son la expresión de este puente: ordinario y extraordinario, todas las cosas en su lugar, todo libre para ser como es, y nuestra conciencia, nuestro corazón, libre para ser usado según sea necesario.
Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Qué opinas de la trampa de la inflación en la vida espiritual? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de un momento en que resististe la tentación de la inflación y viste lo extraordinario en lo ordinario? ¿Qué te ayuda a servir sin esfuerzo?
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee es una maestra sufí de la orden Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya.
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya order.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What do you make of the trap of inflation in spiritual life? Can you share a personal story of a time you resisted the temptation of inflation and saw the extraordinary in the ordinary? What helps you serve without effort?
Add Your Reflection
13 Past Reflections
On Apr 30, 2023 hugues Serre wrote :
Last week i Was working in the beautiful garden of my owners, there was an extraordinary blossom all around and while enjoying i realised there were no bees absolutely none and it was the same day after. This gave me sadness . It is a part of the divine that was missing, was it ordinary, NO. Was it extraordinary? If it was, I don't know in what sense . May be a revelation of the divine to show something is missing in our way of life ?
Post Your Reply
On Apr 30, 2023 David Doane wrote :
I very much appreciate this essay. The line that stands out to me is "let go of wanting spiritual life to be about us." Wanting it to be about me is a trap of inflation for me. I believe spiritual life is about much bigger than me, it's about what I'll call Being, and I get into the trap of it being about me. I think I'm pretty good at seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, and yet I can go back and forth quickly and easily between the trap of inflation and seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. I remind myself often that service is its own reward, and activity done for reward or with motive or agenda may look like service but is not really service.
Post Your Reply
On Apr 28, 2023 Echu wrote :
Years have gone by. To grab is an unshakable habit that refuses to get evicted. Many beautiful words to 'let go of everything' to remove the cobwebs in the mind, do not work. Demolish old habits, level the ground, and build, one brick at a time, a new citadel where your spirit is tranquil and not the wallet.
Post Your Reply
On Apr 26, 2023 Nithya Krishna wrote :
I used to wonder as a child, am ‘I truly helping?’ If I am unhappy when it goes unnoticed. Why does it make me uncomfortable to want words of acknowledgment, whether it be a thank you or a praise. I came understand why was when I heard the verse “vita-raga-bhaya-krodha man-maya mam upasritah bahavo jnana-tapasa puta mad-bhavam agatah”. From then on, I try to observe my mind and intellect, before I engage, I ask myself am I choosing this act to receive rather than to just give.
2 replies: Amy, Nithya | Post Your Reply
On Apr 25, 2023 Francis daCosta wrote :
I am grateful for my teachers. Some time back I was euphoric about my inner journeys. I have a dear old friend who has spent most of her life in an ashram. And we would go for hikes. And me being a typical male, could not stop babbling. At some point she just quietly said, yes its exciting isnt it, when its new. And then pointed to the orange poppies springing up, new life all around me. Gently and sweetly she brought me back to the earth. She was too sweet to say it but I got all this excitement was useless if I could not appreciate what was happening all around me and what I was intricately entangled with for all eternity. Baba Muktananda had said "Let the witness behind your eyes only be shown scenes of love". That helps.
Post Your Reply
On Apr 25, 2023 David Feldmam wrote :
It has gotten easier as I have become older. I live an ordinary life. And yet, mystery pervades.
Post Your Reply
On Apr 24, 2023 gary marcus judge wrote :
I serve without effort when I serve my children. Though I tend to over-serve, if that is possible, i.e. being available, sometimes anticipating their needs, I serve them unconditionally. I now see that my over-service could have been a brake in their growth, and independence, creating co-dependency and laziness. I now approach my responsibility as a father, being a guide, motivator, and mentor, bringing my life experience and insights to their requests and needs rather than personally fulfilling their tasks for them
Post Your Reply
On Apr 23, 2023 Ted wrote :
A beautiful passage, which expresses my understanding well. Though doing good rather than evil is a huge benefit for all concerned, if it is the limited ego of I, ME, and MINE "doing good", then exhaustion soon follows, and the benefits are limited and finite too. The ME that wants to avoid that only compounds the issue! (Unsatisfactory duality?) Clearly awakening to non-dual infinity that includes here-and-NOW along with all realms we see as beyond (such as "Heaven", "Nirvana", "Tiān", and many more) seems like a good start, along with not trying to see myself as other than that. Can we truly appreciate Bodhidarma's "Infinite emptiness within which all existence takes place"?
Post Your Reply
On Apr 21, 2023 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
This passage reminds of me of one line of a song I used to sing. It is in Gujarati, my mother tongue. Namage' dodatu ave'. Tranlation: It comes fast if you don't ask. It stands for spiritual blessings- Divine Gifts. Spiritual gifts do not come to us when we have selfish desires, self-intersest and selfseving mindset. " In giving we receive" as St Francis of Assisi says. Or as The Rishi of Ishavasya Upanishada says in Sanskrit, " Ten tyaktena bhunjitaha". Renounce and rejoice. Sadly, the world we live in values more the merrier, and there is no end to possesing and grabbing more and more.
We were born in a relatively poor family but we didn't feel poverty in our heart. My mother was very hospitable and generous. My friends who were brought up in rich families would come to see me at lunch time. My motherr offered them very simple food to eat. They enjoyed eating simple food with great joy. They loved to cherish the simple food as it was made with the sweetness of her heart. I still fee... [View Full Comment]
Post Your Reply
On Apr 20, 2023 Sunil wrote :
Kabir sang in Emptiness. Being empty is without thoughts whatsoever. No thoughts is to find own self " who am I "?