Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected FreedomThe gestures in themselves are functional, aiding thecultivation of a strength of heart that sustains us on an innerjourney. And surely all of us, not just monks and nuns, needthis ability. It is true that the monastic community choosesto emphasise this aspect of the Buddha’s teaching, even makea lifestyle out of it, but the training is relevant for everyonewho is interested in inner freedom.Up until a few decades ago, the Roman Catholic Churchused to require that her followers refrain from eating meaton Fridays. When the Pope lifted the prohibition I thought itwas rather a pity. Although the relevance of that particularform of abstinence was perhaps questionable, at least itencouraged to some degree a formal practice of giving up.I’m even old-fashioned enough to think that Lent is still agood idea. It is a time of year that provides the opportunityto say, ‘Okay, for this period of time I’m going to put someenergy into seeing how able I am to give things up.’The reality is that if we don’t know how to say ‘no’ to ourconditioned desires we are easily conned – by the outerworld and by our inner drives. If you can’t say ‘no’ to yourselfwhen you go into one of these supermarkets that haveeverything, you are likely to purchase more than you intend.Leafing through exciting catalogues or shopping on the web,you can be turning over your credit card details, acting outaccording to the drama of the market place, and onlyafterwards start thinking, ‘What did I do that for?’ We’re allfamiliar with something like this – the inability to say ‘no’ tothings that are extra.We can recognise this on the external level: we buy newclothes that we don’t need, food we don’t need or CDs thatwe might never listen to. But what is more difficult to see ishow this pattern pertains to our inner world, to see themental compulsion of perpetually adding onto experience:120