I love 
. Do you? Click here.
The downward journey is the journey of suffering, the Dark Night of the Soul (in the phrase of St John of the Cross). It is also the journey of stripping away, of being freed.
Often, the downward journey is the first part of the journey. It is when we learn that being on the journey is not about always getting it right. Instead, being on the journey is sometimes about getting it wrong in ways that move us forward.
Why do we need to suffer through this part of the Journey in Four Directions? Wouldn't three directions be enough?
The first of the 101 Zen stories told in Paul Reps' Zen Flesh, Zen Bones is about an academic who went to visit the Japanese Zen master Nan-in to find out more about Zen.
The master poured tea for his visitor, but instead of stopping when the cup was full, he continued to pour so that the tea ran out of the cup. Finally, the professor protested that the cup was already full; no more tea would fit.
The Zen master drew a parallel between the cup and the academic's mind, full of opinions and speculations. No more would go in unless the cup was first emptied.
Much of my own becoming, like that of many others I have met, is founded on a basis of a time of emptying and destruction.
There is a city in New Zealand called Napier, which is world-famous for its large number of Art Deco buildings, some of which are very beautiful. It has these buildings because a disastrous earthquake destroyed the city almost completely in the 1930s, and the authorities in charge of rebuilding chose to encourage the then contemporary Art Deco style. It has become one of the outstanding features of the city, a source of considerable pride and the focus of an annual festival. And it would not have happened without destruction and disaster.
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those it cannot break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you, but there will be no special hurry.
- Ernest Hemingway, in a comforting mood.
I will spend considerable time on the journey downward, for three reasons. Firstly, it is the one I personally know most about. Secondly, it is the one about which most has been written by other writers. And thirdly, it is the hardest, and hence the one we would most like to avoid, and need the most guidance on.
How can we equip ourselves to come from the downward journey stronger, deeper, wiser and broader people, instead of fearful, embittered, weakened - or dead?
The traditional trio of poverty, chastity and obedience, repictured and extended as simplicity, continence and submission.
A chapter mainly for Christians, on the Ultimate Downward Journey. (Non-christians are allowed to look.)
I love |
You are visitor number to this page since
29 November 1997.
This material is copyright 1997 to Mike McMillan. Use for profit is reserved to the author unless otherwise arranged.