They say Buddhists get their enlightenment very abruptly. I’d like that too, but for me things take a while.
I’m now over Greenland thinking lofty thoughts. This morning in London I was in the Bloomsbury district, of bookstores and writers, enjoying the More Delish cafe, chatting with the owner. In my American midwest accent—where God lives—I said, “Back in my hotel room I thought, ‘No point in checking my e-mail, since I’ll be home this afternoon and can connect with everyone then. But praise the Lord I checked anyways—”
“—the way you do,” she laughed.
“And I had a message from the airline. My flight has been delayed three hours.” More time for coffee!
Maybe enlightenment is in the phrase is “the way you do.”
I had been hoping, for this London trip, to lose weight! The way I did last time, especially since I was coming home each night with tired legs. But this time, each evening in my room I would eat crisps, what we Americans call “potato chips.” The way you do. Getting sore legs, all day, all for nothing!
Sure, once back home “I really ought to…” what? Give up my time watching Star Trek to go for a good walk, or go develop skills at an art studio? Or a gym? No Star Trek there. And I wonder… perhaps people are kidding themselves when they attach dinky TV sets to their exercise machines. I ask, “If I really have to multi-task then maybe I don’t believe in my task?” Or as a Buddhist monk might say, “When it’s time to hew wood and draw water, then it’s time to hew wood and draw water.” Happily, I have truly cut out most multi-tasking. For example, I don’t use my travel cup on my walks. Nor a walkman. Now all I need is for some skeptic to say, “Ya, but then you don’t have a life.”
What I’m skeptical about is something else: Now, a Buddhist might say if a goal is true and good and beautiful, and if the goal is not already reached, then there are obstacles in the way. What could possibly be the obstacle for things “I really ought to get around to?” Must I need a jogging partner, a support group, a monthly “accountability supper” or a similar crutch? I mean, aren’t my role model artists intrinsically motivated, working extra hard, off in some splendid grimy garret?
In London right now are BBC commercials showing a paid Chinese performing group practising backstage wearing everyday workout gear under a voiceover about “excellence.” They rehearse as hard as Jackie Chan did back when Chan was part of a group of boy performers, a troupe that was worked much harder than the boys with Oliver Twist. I know excellence is beautiful and good but I wonder: Would those performers really practise so hard, scattered separately at home, in their private lives?
In my old age, for practising my own art,“I really ought to—” But wait. Maybe, to seek enlightenment, the key phrase is “famous artist:” Surely such famous folk are truly a teensy minority among us. “
Buddhists talk of getting free of attachment. How about getting free of my culture, a culture where we hear “have a claim to fame” and “be all you can be” and “be special.” Enlightenment for me could be a simple as realizing… a perfectly un-special life is perfectly normal, as natural as a life of doing nothing after work but relaxing and eating dinner. Forget violin lessons. “Ya, but—”
I imagine enlightened monks smiling in contentment, free of Puritan guilt and any American compulsion to “live up to potential…” Not like me saying, “I really ought to…” Never admitting “But I will actually…”
Call me a typical American, but down the decades, some things I will resist realizing. Sans enlightenment. Like we do.
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
In an arrow in the stratosphere
Aimed at God’s own countryside
February, September
2023
Blog note: While onboard a jetliner, I sure do get inspired to happily write, instead of feeling cramped and increasingly impatient to get home. A fellow nonfiction writer’s eyes lit up to tell me she writes onboard too!
