Maintenance

Continuing with yesterday's blog, my Summer in the monastery is not going to do me much good when I leave here in the Fall.  If I do nothing after I leave here, no meditation, spiritual reading, being of service, I will coast for a few days, and then begin to spiral into an eventual crash.  The downward spiral is caused by my "bondage to self."  I need regular maintenance of my spiritual condition, in which I keep a balance between meditation and being amongst others in a helpful way.  The monastery has a lot of alone and apart time, but it needs to be kept in balance.  For people like me, there is a point where too much alone and apart is lethal.  The monastery gives me a glimpse of the mountaintop, a chance to experience what so many gurus, spiritual teachers, and adepts speak about.  But I need to come off the mountain, yet keep a regular practice pf prayer.  I have two or three people who miss me when I am gone from the valley of service.  Many of my friends are my age, old, and would miss me if they could remember me while I am away.  I wear a name tag for a week when I get back home to the office.  Big letters.  TERRY IS BACK.