Good Tuesday, everyone! There’s old Buddhist story about two monks who were sworn to celibacy walking through a forest in a rainstorm. They came across a distressed woman on the banks of a rushing river.
One monk asked, “How may I help you?” She told him she was a single mother and had food for her small child. If she wasn’t able to cross the river, he would starve.
The monk surprised the woman and his friend by hoisting her upon his shoulders and carrying her across the river.
Later when the two monks returned to their monastery the monk could see his friend was troubled by something.
“Tell me, brother, what is troubling you?” he asked.
“Our vow of celibacy requires that we not talk to women and yet you spoke to the woman at the river. Our vow of celibacy requires that we not touch a woman and yet you carried her across the river. How can you sit there in peace knowing what you have done?”
The first monk smiled at his friend, “It’s true I spoke to the woman and carried her across the river, but, brother, I put her down hour ago. When will you put her down?”
The first monk had broken his vows, but he’d done so in an act of compassion. As soon as the episode was over, he had moved on. The second monk was still carrying the mental chains of the event and allowing it to disturb his peace.
How often do you and I do that? We carry drama, baggage, guilt, and anger around in our hearts and in our minds? We stretch out events that were over hours, days, or years ago by keeping them alive in our minds.
The question I have for you tonight is what are you carrying around that you long since should put down? Release your mental chains and your attachment to past events long over.
The pain for holding on to them is not a sentence. It’s a choice.
Stay inspired, my friends! May you find it within you to free yourself from the chains that mentally, spiritually, and even physically keep you stuck.
Ray
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