Making the Inner and the Outer One

Developing Awareness

“When you make the two one, when you make the inner as outer and the outer as inner—then shall you enter the kingdom.”

Jesus (Gospel of Thomas)

I had coffee with my Taoist friend, Harry, yesterday. As usual, we discussed spiritual practice and our ideas about teaching a class together. We talked about the difficulty of carrying spiritual understanding into everyday life—to live it, rather than simply contemplate it. There is an ocean's breadth between reading about, and meditating about peace, for instance, and actually being peace. We agreed that it has been done, we actually know people who have achieved it, but we're not there yet. According to Harry's tradition, it takes many lifetimes. I hope not.

Harry told a story about an encounter in which his teacher asked a man in the group what was his drink of choice. He answered, Scotch. She asked, which Scotch he drinks most. He said that he regularly drinks one that is aged 16 years, and another that is aged 18 years. She asked whether he could taste an appreciable difference between the two, and he answered, yes he could. This sort of back and forth question and answer went on for quite some time—what is the difference between the taste of the younger Scotch and the older, how do they feel on your tongue, do they taste better neat or with ice, when you sip as opposed to quaff, and so forth. The exercise was not to discern his taste for Scotch, but to increase his consciousness of the experience. To make the inner and the outer one, so to speak.

The excerpt above from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, is easy to remember; it reads like a haiku. It rolls off the tongue. But to take it in at its depth, and to live it, is a whole other thing. Jesus not only knew that and taught that, but also lived it, and even then, he sometimes lost his cool. Living consciously, knowing what motivations are behind our actions, what attachments are limiting our ability to be at peace—that's a life's work.

Today, try a simple exercise in consciousness. When you eat breakfast, do it mindfully—one bite at a time, feel, taste, chew, and swallow attentively. Be aware of each step. Or, take a walk and instead of plugging in your iPod, pay attention to everything around you; what do you see, hear, smell, feel on your skin? Deepen your awareness of the little things, and you will deepen your awareness of the larger things as well.

In the spirit,

Jane