IN THE HEART OF OUR VERY EXPERIENCE

 

Some days back, I was in a group of six men – all in the age group 30-60. All of us were family men – with our respective wives, children and parents. And, all of us were aware of what was an appropriate social behavior and what was not.

In the midst of our discussion, the phone of one of the men rang. As soon as he picked it up, this man went all ballistic – with the choicest, the most colorful – read… with the most detestable, the most unpalatable – expletives!

For about five minutes, the rest of us pressed our ‘pause’ buttons – You could neither watch the images, nor hear the dialogues… leave alone digest!

The interesting thing was that the man was ‘one of us’… heading a family which was exactly like ours… and, what even more interesting was that his thoughts were exactly like ours: raw, direct, frank… and, soaked in emotions – anger, fear, pain, hurt and then regret, remorse and insecurity and love. But, now, in the midst of our discussion, he had gone on an offensive… and, for that, he had chosen a language which – I bet with even the last penny that I possess - all of us used, but either quietly in our minds or in our own private coterie… not in a group of relatively strangers as I am referring to, now.

I must tell you this: the other five of us did not comment at all about the episode after we dispersed… even though we had our own strong opinions about it.

“Hey, I am familiar with every word this man has used… I use that so frequently in my mind!” I was saying on my way home, “So, why should I be obsessed with his behavior?”

I really do not know, what others were saying in their minds – maybe like me, maybe not.

“Uncultured idiot,” perhaps, one of us might have said in his mind, “doesn’t he know who were around him?”

“Who were around, my friend?” perhaps, another might ask this one, “A league of gentlemen?”

“If you are living in this world, live with its people,too,” perhaps, another might say, “Run with the hares and hunt with the hounds!”

“Where did he learn all that filth?” a virgin amongst us might have exclaimed, “Satanic!”

“From where else could he learn, buddy?” I would have reasoned out with this holy-man, “Is it not from the very world we live in?”

All holy-men and all gentlemen come out of the same society we live in. And, if it should be  true that “We are not human beings having spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having human experience,”… then, let us also hold it true that the man who went ballistic and woke us up that night, was very much a  gentleman, very much a holy-man. Else, what is said is wrong; a double-standard!

Wilma, a friend of mine, had posted a video and some text attributed to Dr. Mac Kenzie. It seems, this ‘seeker of truth’ had led a quiet life of contemplation – all secluded and away from the rough and ugly world… only to come back to it asking a simple question to himself:

“What if I sit and meditate my entire life and miss the experience?

Don’t hurt, don’t cry, don’t risk, don’t feel, don’t actually take part.

Take an aspirin, take a holiday, take a new job.

Go shopping, go eating, go there, go somewhere, go anywhere but here.

Do anything to avoid taking notice.

But, what if life were to be hidden in the heart of every experience?”

This is the very world which Gautama wanted to quit… and, this is the very world he had to return to even after he had become the Buddha. The enlightened soul!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Gloria Pinto