Last week, I was visiting with a friend who is passionately involved with a project to bring sustainable energy to the millions of people on the planet without adequate energy access. He was calling the initiative Sustainable Energy For All (SEFA) [Acronym, mine].
As I listened to him rattle off jaw-dropping facts and figures, my attention inevitably started to glaze — the prefrontal cortex can process only so many facts and figures in such rapid succession before the pupils roll back — and amidst my reverie, I began to muse on the phrase ‘sustainable energy’, itself, especially as it relates to the process of waking up. What would it mean to practice in a way that was sustainable over the long haul. To be in it for life, as the phrase goes, as opposed to gunning for flash-in-the-pan glory? What would Sustainable Energy For Awakeningfeel like?
Sensing I might be on to something, I consulted with Ajahn Sucitto’s volume, Turning The Wheel of Truth and was delighted to stumble upon this passage: “The spiritual faculty of energy is necessary, but you don’t need a jackhammer to crack a nut. Sometimes soaking it in water will do…” This resonated within the hollows of my heart. I’ve often been called a ‘tough nut to crack’, but this reflection seized the thing in a nutshell.
And then it happened. The proverbial light-bulb started blinking, or flashing, or strobing. At any rate, my attention was seized as though the chair upon which I sat had suddenly become incandescent. The thing that caused all this illumination was the memory of a story told to me by my teacher, Kenneth Folk.
A few months back, I must have been wielding the meditative jackhammer with a tinge of the zealot. No matter, Kenneth sagaciously intuited things were teetering off-balance and relayed this clever tale from Aesop’s Fables where the Sun and North Wind get into a bit of a pissing contest over which one is stronger. If you don’t know it, it goes like this. The Sun and North Wind eye a traveler wearing a cloak and wager between themselves who can get the traveler to remove the garment. Filled to the gills with vigor, the North Wind blows and blows, succeeding only to encourage the traveler to wrap the cloak more tightly. Sound familiar?
The Sun, however, patiently shines until the man is overcome with heat and discards the cloak.
So, to sum up, if you’re practicing like a jackhammer or the North Wind, you might do well, especially in this season of Sun, to practice with more sustainable energy. Slow and steady wins the race, says another wise tale.
In coming weeks, I’ll try to get more specific about what this looks and feels like, but for now, stay cool.
Originally published on July 8, 2013
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