Breathing Under Water

Well, after saying that I would probably only be blogging on "4" and "9" days, here I am on a "5" day writing! Yesterday would normally have been an off day for us but we had to take the monastery truck in to have the 4-wheel drive serviced otherwise we would be stuck out here in the woods should inclement weather come along (we have quite a steep driveway!). So yesterday was a work day and today is a day off...

I've spent a great deal of today reading. That's one of the things I like most about living out here. Our daily schedule includes an 80-minute study period and it's one of my favorite parts of the day but I also find myself reading quite a bit on my days off, too. Actually I wasn't planning on reading a lot today but after breakfast I found myself gravitating toward a book by the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr entitled "Breathing Under Water."

I first learned about Richard Rohr when a couple of folks I know doing 12-Step work recommended his writings to me. Given that he is a non-dualist and part of the Perennial Tradition, I find his presentation of Christian teachings quite exciting and a nice complement to the Zen/Buddhist reading that is a large part of my life. "Breathing Under Water" is about spirituality and the 12-Steps, looking at addiction from a broader sense. In the first chapter, he lists four assumptions about addiction that are the basis for the book:

1) We are all addicts;
2) "Stinking thinking" is the universal addiction;
3) All societies are addicted to themselves and create deep codependency on them;
4) Some form of alternative consciousness is the only freedom from this self and cultural lies.

By "stinking thinking" he means our usual, binary, dualistic ways of looking at the world. I think an essential point of the book's message can be summed up in these two sentences: "You will not learn to actively draw upon a Larger Source until your usual resources are depleted and revealed as wanting. In fact, you will not even know there is a Larger Source until your own sources and resources fail you." I think this is pretty much what Zen Buddhism is pointing to as well but using different language.

Anyway, I'll say no more so as not to spoil it for anyone who might want to read it. His book "Eager To Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi" is also fantastic and currently I'm working through his book of daily meditations called "Yes, And..." which gets two thumbs up.

So there ya have it: I'm living in a Buddhist monastery, moving toward ordination, and digging the writings of a modern-day Catholic contemplative as well as a lot of good Zen stuff (and even some fiction!).

Happy Friday!