Friday, December 15, 2017

Monastery Cold

The reason the monastery has cold, unheated areas and times, is two-fold.  First, we are supposed to be practicing detachment from all our wants, or at least some of our wants.  I want warm.  I don't get it.  How do I respond?  Whine?  Think about it constantly?  Wear more clothes?  The answer is to just be, and and think about the warm breath of the Spirit, or some other spiritual thought about God's love.  Which brings up the second reason for the cold.  Don't focus so much on things that are unpleasant, such as the cold.  Live with some suffering, but don't let it control you.  As Thomas a Kempis says in "The Imitation of Christ," a classic of Western Spirituality, "No one gets everything they want."  Stop with all this focus on wanting "more."  I have some warm places here at the monastery.  I just don't have all warm places.  If you always want more and focus on what you don't have you will be unhappy every day.  I find myself already getting into an acceptance, and an ignoring of the cold.  It prepares me to toughen up, which is what I need to do if I am going to jog through the cold winter.  It snowed last night.  It would not snow if it were not cold outside.  The hills and fields are beautiful with snow cover.  And now the sun just came out.  My car is happy being in the sun.  Gotta go.  Suffering is not optional.  But our response to it is.

No comments:

Post a Comment