Slow Saturday: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa
In an ideal world, Saturdays will be reading days. There will be laws stating the exact amount of cosiness of your coach, the exact amount of coffee in your cup sitting handy on the coffee table and the exact amount of hours dedicated to reading in this context: minimum 6. And we should all obey these laws, otherwise we will be punished by working, instead of reading.
Alas, there aren't such laws on this planet, at least not yet.
Well, even without these laws, I managed to do a solid block of 6 hours reading today. Minus coffee. And minus the cosiness of the coach. Because what I read wasn't a book, but code. JavaScript, AngularJS, stuff like that. Ok, I admit it: I worked almost the entire day at @zentasktic. With some moderate success, to be honest, but not with the success I was expecting. If my work would have been as effective as I wanted it to be, this post would have been generated from within ZenTasktic, the app. So, as I was putting an end to the coding stuff and turning towards my regular daily Steemit post, I wandered what should I write about.
And then, it came to me. "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism". If I didn't read, at least I should ask for redemption by giving you something really solid to read.
Mental Spa versus Mental Martial Art
If you know about Chogyam Trungpa, it means you've already read this book. Good for you. But if you don't, let me start by telling you that this man was a real character. Like in a movie character.
He was among the first Eastern Buddhist teachers coming to West in the sixties. And it was as nonconformist as the sixties will require. There are tons of stories about him and I won't mention any of theme here, leaving you the pleasure of searching by yourself.
But beyond the controversy, and beyond the cultural shock, Chogyam Trungpa's legacy is as solid as a rock.
The book talks about a very delicate problem: what is spiritualism? Is it going to yoga? Is it mumbling mantras with your eyes closed for 20 minutes a day? Is it buying expensive gifts for a guru and then expecting enlightenment in exchange?
Obviously, spiritualism is none of the above.
And yet, in a quest for exotica, many people are mistakenly engage in so called "spiritual" paths, only to deepen their already enormous delusion. Orange robes and exotic artifacts are not a source of spiritualism. No more than Christian churches and black robes. A spiritual person is not measured by the number of prayers or prostrations he made.
Spiritualism is, unfortunately, the harder path. It's admitting you don't have all the answers and it's being open to receive them. It's accepting the fact that we're living in a self-perpetuating dream so well made, that we cannot escape it anymore. If Chogyam Trungpa would have live today, he would most likely would have compared the accuracy of our constant dream with the 4k resolutions of modern displays. Or with VR headsets. It looks so real. So it must be real.
Well, in order to see what is real, you have to cut through all the bullshit, even when - or especially when - it takes the form of so-called spirituality. There's not other way around.
"Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" is not a book for someone who just discovered yoga retreats and meditation apps. Nope. For those, spiritualism is some sort of a "mental spa" in which we're searching for relief. Alas, there's no relief from life. Trouble is part of life and we have to manage it. Somehow. Running away and covering it all with flowers, incense and mantras will not make it disappear.
Spiritualism is more like a "mental martial art", a continuous training to escape from the spell of our own illusions.
Or at least that's what Chogyam Trungpa says and I agree with him 100%.
If you don'y have the book, you can get it from Amazon for around $13 (and no, this is NOT an affiliate link):
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
This book is right by my bed, a masterpiece and monumental text for anyone interested in cutting through to the essentials of what is spiritualism. the argumentation is as solid as one can find and the application in one's life could only imply powerful and highly enlightening transformation.
Thank you so very much for sharing Chogyam Trungpa wiht us all, the world can only become a better place for it. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Thank you for the nice words and happy to connect. Namaste :)
Hello @dragosroua
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I have been wondering why I like you. Now I do not wonder why anymore. I got my answers answered. Nice to meet you here.
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Nice to meet you as well. I take it that you are already familiar with Chogyam Trungpa work.
I love Trunga, I wish I could met him, he such a larger than life character, he has some awesome students that carried on his legacy as well, a sight of a great teacher!