The meaning of commitment as a discipline of the body is not far to seek.
The theme is ancient, as old as self-consciousness in the life of the human being.
It is part of the wisdom of the body, one of the abiding characteristics of life,
so biologists tell us, in all its manifestations.
The opening words are from Dr. Howard Thurman in his book, Disciplines of the Spirit. He devotes an entire chapter to commitment…seeking lessons from biology…from the body. He also said, …mind and spirit cannot be separated from the body in any absolute sense. This is a truth that has been elusive in our society. We have become so separated from our bodies and from the earth, that we have abdicated our responsibility for caring for them. We even doubt our ability to connect to the wisdom of the body that allows us to even make a commitment to life. The good news is that this has been changing. We are beginning to integrate this wisdom into our societal structures. I have experienced this in my own practice in psycho-therapy. This past week, I have noticed that I have rarely spoken with a person without either noticing what is happening in my own body or suggesting that they notice what might be happening in their own body. (This is what led to the choice of music with which I started.) I no longer can ignore the power inherent in our body to heal…to make sense out of life and ultimately to provide the basis for a commitment to life. Thurman was building on the scientific truths, but also the spiritual truths of fellow seekers and mystics throughout history. He says that the theme is ancient…as old as self-consciousness in the life of the human being. From the time that we evolved into self-conscious beings, commitment was part of the wisdom of our body and indeed of our soul. Thurman continues:
Commitment means that it is possible for a person to yield the nerve center of their consent to a purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to them than whether they live or die.
I love how Thurman uses the phrase the nerve center of their consent! This highlights the connection of our body and our mind…our body and our soul. He is again bringing in the truth gleaned from science…from our ability to investigate life processes in order to understand life. It is the truth that we not only go about the business of survival, but that we are also companioned by an inner guide…a witness to our existence, that is more concerned with an ideal…their commitment, even more perhaps than whether they live or die. This has been beautifully illustrated in so many spiritual traditions…traditions such as the Upanishads, ancient Hindu texts…
Two identical birds that are eternal companions perch in the very same tree. One eats many fruits of various tastes. The other only witnesses without eating. (3.3.1. Mundaka Upanishad)
These identical birds perched in the tree of life are eternal companions. They allow each other to co-exist in relative harmony, for without the rootedness of eating and surviving, there would not be life. Yet, without the witness, the one who is unchanged by the vicissitudes of life, we would not be able to experience the unity that is creation.
Thurman writes about the one who is determined to live…to eat of the many varied fruits of life’s tree like this:
At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live. There is something dogged and irresistible about the methodical way life pounces upon whatever may be capable of sustaining it, and will not release it until its own sustenance is guaranteed or fulfilled.
This is a powerful drive…one that Thurman goes on to say can be activated when all the conditions are met, he says, the energy of life is made available. Often we do not trust in this process…this process of making a commitment, but it is essential to life. Yet in order to experience ourselves as whole, we need to go beyond this. We need the steadying force of the witness. This is the one who is able to take the time to sit quietly…like this meditation/prayer from Tagore. Let’s actually take the time to sit with this eternal companion. Instead of turning away to our striving, our work, it is important to take the time to just be. A time to experience the Spirit of Life.
Time to Sit Quietly
I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by Your side.
The works that I have in hand I will finish afterward.
Away from the sight of Your face, my heart knows no rest or respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.
Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs;
and the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowing grove.
Now is the time to sit quietly, face to face with You,
and to sing dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.
This moment of acknowledging the summer, the bees, the spirit of life is something that we need every day…it needs to be our constant…eternal companion. It is part of our essential nature… our essence. This is not something that we can put off to a later time. The time is now to connect, not only with our bodies and spirits, but with our shared inheritance, our shared present and our mutual future. Kabir says this so eloquently…
O friend! hope for the divine whilst you live, know whilst you live,
understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.
If your bonds be not broken whilst living,
what hope of deliverance in death?
It is but an empty dream, that the soul shall have union with the all-pervading
spirit because it has passed from the body:
If the Spirit is found now, It is found then,
If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.
If you have union now, you shall have it hereafter.
Bathe in the truth, know the true Guru, have faith in the true Name!
Kabîr says: 'It is the Spirit of the quest which helps;
I am the slave of this Spirit of the quest.
He is the slave of this Spirit of the quest! He has surrendered to this Spirit…he has come to the realization that a commitment to this quest is a daily striving…a daily commitment to life. With the support and guidance of the inner Guru…the true Guru a person is able to make this commitment to life…bringing to bear upon a single purpose all the powers of their being, their whole life will be, in the words of Howard Thurman, energized and vitalized.
I’d like to leave you with another meditation on the commitment of our inner guide to the part of us that has to continue walking this life. It may provide energy and vitality for the days ahead. We will not walk alone…we have the support of our inner witness…the bird that does not have to survive, because it is eternal.
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