Cleanliness of SpiritCleanliness of spirit means coming close, without fear; to accept a penetrating gaze knowing you’ve nothing to hide, It comes with a happy mind and constant checking. Happiness in the mind is based on serenity. Not reacting suddenly to mood or circumstance, neither flinching at adversity nor jumping for joy. A pliancy in which it just moves with the times, quiet but alert. It is also based on fulfillment of the senses - when the eyes are seeing the unseen and the ears hearing the unheard, piercing the subtleties of life, there is happiness. When reactions are based not on the incoming messages, on what is second hand, but on the deep original knowledge that is first hand - there is happiness. There is happiness when the mind meets life freshly, doesn’t fall into patterns or expect too much, but recognizes its own value simply because it is a marvelous piece of machinery. There is happiness when the mind is nurtured. This nurturing is a constant checking, a vigilance against impostors. When a mind is working deeply, it is alert but sometimes in its silence, it misses the superficial threats, the endless flow of thoughts from other minds to which it is exposed constantly. It can imagine these thoughts are its own and instead of straightforwardly expelling them, it tries to train them into quietness. This is called working with dirt. Anything that lands on the mind from outside and slips into its reactions is a pollution of the spirit. To be alert to this challenge. It is called life. So what is cleanliness? It is maintaining absolutely who you are, reacting from the core of you, disentangling irrelevance, moving for ward in a straight line. And if anyone scrutinises, they see only honest hard work which doesn’t mind being watched, because it knows that perfection is on the horizon. A way off, but there. |