The Extraordinary In The Ordinary

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Hand-drawn art by Rupali Bhuva
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Das Außergewöhnliche im Gewöhnlichen
-von Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee


Unsere Akzeptanz des Gewöhnlichen ist Teil unserer spirituellen Reife und unserer Fähigkeit, einen Dienst zu leisten. Sie hilft uns auch, die Falle der Inflation zu vermeiden, die uns leicht einholen kann, wenn wir einen Blick auf eine Welt jenseits des Egos werfen. Es ist nur allzu leicht, sich mit einer inneren Erfahrung zu identifizieren. Wenn wir jedoch den Wunsch loslassen, dass sich das spirituelle Leben um uns dreht, wenn wir in den verschiedenen Dimensionen leben, ohne die Ebenen zu vermischen oder uns Erwartungen und Wünsche aufzuerlegen, erlaubt uns diese Freiheit, uns voll und ganz der spirituellen Arbeit zu widmen.

Wenn man sowohl in der inneren als auch in der äußeren Welt präsent ist, lernt man, der Welt zu dienen, dem Leben zu dienen, anderen ohne Anstrengung zu dienen. Dies ist ein sehr sorgfältiges Gleichgewicht.
Wenn man die schwere Verantwortung des Dienens auf sich nimmt, dann verfängt sich das Ego leicht darin; die Psyche wird dadurch belastet. Aber wenn wir uns in einem gewöhnlichen Leben engagieren, können wir dienen, ohne die Last zu tragen, zu denken, wir könnten die Probleme der Welt oder anderer Menschen lösen, was Selbstgefälligkeit und, schlimmer noch, spirituelle Selbstgefälligkeit mit sich bringt.

Naqshbandi-Sufis haben immer auf diese Weise gelebt, sie verzichteten auf besondere Gewänder und widmeten sich gewöhnlichen Berufen, traditionell oft als Handwerker - Baha ad-Din Naqshband war ein Töpfer, Attar ein Parfümeur. Und natürlich betonten viele der großen Zen- und taoistischen Lehrer das Gewöhnliche und die Gefahren der spirituellen Bedeutung:

Kaiser Wu: "Seit ich Kaiser bin, habe ich viele Tempel gebaut, unzählige Sutras kopiert und viele Mönche ordiniert. Deshalb frage ich dich, was ist mein Verdienst?'

Bodhidharma: 'Überhaupt keins!'

Kaiser Wu: 'Warum kein Verdienst?'

Bodhidharma: 'Dinge für Verdienst zu tun hat ein unreines Motiv und wird nur die kümmerliche Frucht der Wiedergeburt tragen.'

Kaiser Wu, ein wenig verärgert: 'Was ist dann das wichtigste Prinzip des Buddhismus?'

Bodhidharma: 'Unendliche Leere. Nichts Heiliges.'

Kaiser Wu, inzwischen verwirrt und nicht wenig entrüstet: "Wer ist das, der vor mir steht?

Bodhidharma: "Ich weiß es nicht.

Wenn wir es uns erlauben können, ein gewöhnliches Leben zu führen und gleichzeitig wach zu bleiben für die große Leere im Zentrum von allem, was ist, dann können wir diese Zwischenstation sein zwischen der berauschenden, mystischen Glückseligkeit des Vergessens und dem Wunder, wie das Göttliche sich in allen Formen des Lebens erschafft und offenbart. Unser Leben ist der Ausdruck dieser Brücke - das Gewöhnliche und das Außergewöhnliche, alle Dinge an ihrem Platz, alles frei, so zu sein, wie es ist, und unser Bewusstsein, unser Herz, frei, nach Bedarf eingesetzt zu werden.

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Fragen, die zum Nachdenken anregen: Was halten Sie von der Falle der Inflation im geistlichen Leben? Können Sie eine persönliche Geschichte erzählen, in der Sie der Versuchung der Inflation widerstanden und das Außergewöhnliche im Gewöhnlichen gesehen haben? Was hilft Ihnen, ohne Anstrengung zu dienen?

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee ist ein Sufi-Lehrer des Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya-Ordens.
Seed Questions for Reflection

What do you make of the trap of inflation in spiritual life? Can you share a personal story of a time you resisted the temptation of inflation and saw the extraordinary in the ordinary? What helps you serve without effort?

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13 Past Reflections
CH
Chris
May 9, 2023
Answer: It’s Love
HS
Apr 30, 2023
Last week i Was working in the beautiful garden of my owners, there was an extraordinary blossom all around and while enjoying i realised there were no bees absolutely none and it was the same day after. This gave me sadness . It is a part of the divine that was missing, was it ordinary, NO. Was it extraordinary? If it was, I don't know in what sense . May be a revelation of the divine to show something is missing in our way of life ?
DD
Apr 30, 2023
I very much appreciate this essay. The line that stands out to me is "let go of wanting spiritual life to be about us." Wanting it to be about me is a trap of inflation for me. I believe spiritual life is about much bigger than me, it's about what I'll call Being, and I get into the trap of it being about me. I think I'm pretty good at seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, and yet I can go back and forth quickly and easily between the trap of inflation and seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. I remind myself often that service is its own reward, and activity done for reward or with motive or agenda may look like service but is not really service.
EC
Echu
Apr 28, 2023
Years have gone by. To grab is an unshakable habit that refuses to get evicted. Many beautiful words to 'let go of everything' to remove the cobwebs in the mind, do not work. Demolish old habits, level the ground, and build, one brick at a time, a new citadel where your spirit is tranquil and not the wallet.
NK
Apr 26, 2023
I used to wonder as a child, am ‘I truly helping?’ If I am unhappy when it goes unnoticed. Why does it make me uncomfortable to want words of acknowledgment, whether it be a thank you or a praise. I came understand why was when I heard the verse “vita-raga-bhaya-krodha man-maya mam upasritah bahavo jnana-tapasa puta mad-bhavam agatah”. From then on, I try to observe my mind and intellect, before I engage, I ask myself am I choosing this act to receive rather than to just give.
AM
Amy Apr 26, 2023
Such wisdom! I am learning everyday! Thank you for helping enlighten me! Amen
NK
Nithya Krishna Apr 27, 2023
You’re too kind ❤️
FD
Apr 25, 2023
I am grateful for my teachers. Some time back I was euphoric about my inner journeys. I have a dear old friend who has spent most of her life in an ashram. And we would go for hikes. And me being a typical male, could not stop babbling. At some point she just quietly said, yes its exciting isnt it, when its new. And then pointed to the orange poppies springing up, new life all around me. Gently and sweetly she brought me back to the earth. She was too sweet to say it but I got all this excitement was useless if I could not appreciate what was happening all around me and what I was intricately entangled with for all eternity. Baba Muktananda had said "Let the witness behind your eyes only be shown scenes of love". That helps.
DF
Apr 25, 2023
It has gotten easier as I have become older. I live an ordinary life. And yet, mystery pervades.
GM
Apr 24, 2023
I serve without effort when I serve my children. Though I tend to over-serve, if that is possible, i.e. being available, sometimes anticipating their needs, I serve them unconditionally. I now see that my over-service could have been a brake in their growth, and independence, creating co-dependency and laziness. I now approach my responsibility as a father, being a guide, motivator, and mentor, bringing my life experience and insights to their requests and needs rather than personally fulfilling their tasks for them
TE
Apr 23, 2023
A beautiful passage, which expresses my understanding well. Though doing good rather than evil is a huge benefit for all concerned, if it is the limited ego of I, ME, and MINE "doing good", then exhaustion soon follows, and the benefits are limited and finite too. The ME that wants to avoid that only compounds the issue! (Unsatisfactory duality?) Clearly awakening to non-dual infinity that includes here-and-NOW along with all realms we see as beyond (such as "Heaven", "Nirvana", "Tiān", and many more) seems like a good start, along with not trying to see myself as other than that. Can we truly appreciate Bodhidarma's "Infinite emptiness within which all existence takes place"?
JP
Apr 21, 2023
This passage reminds of me of one line of a song I used to sing. It is in Gujarati, my mother tongue. Namage' dodatu ave'. Tranlation: It comes fast if you don't ask. It stands for spiritual blessings- Divine Gifts. Spiritual gifts do not come to us when we have selfish desires, self-intersest and selfseving mindset. " In giving we receive" as St Francis of Assisi says. Or as The Rishi of Ishavasya Upanishada says in Sanskrit, " Ten tyaktena bhunjitaha". Renounce and rejoice. Sadly, the world we live in values more the merrier, and there is no end to possesing and grabbing more and more. We were born in a relatively poor family but we didn't feel poverty in our heart. My mother was very hospitable and generous. My friends who were brought up in rich families would come to see me at lunch time. My motherr offered them very simple food to eat. They enjoyed eating simple food with great joy. They loved to cherish the simple food as it was made with the sweetness of her heart. I still fee... View full comment
SU
Apr 20, 2023
Kabir sang in Emptiness. Being empty is without thoughts whatsoever. No thoughts is to find own self " who am I "?