The ancient Greek Philosopher Paramenadies has been called the "father of Western philosophy." We have only one of his intact poems, and it is beautiful and profound. It is about longing, a longing for that intangible "more to life," a longing for an authentic life, a longing for the center of our being. In simple language, whose source is wisdom, he informs us that it is the clarity and intensity of our longing that will determine our journey to a larger life of soul and spirit. We will progress, he tells us, and be carried towards our goal only "as far as our longing can reach."
So how deep is our longing? And, what is its nature? Paramenadies was of course not speaking of just any kind of longing. He had a very specific point to make.. The longing he spoke about was the longing to discover and join the very essence of our being. In a sense, to become one with life in a natural, simple, and profound presence and beingness. Of course, that is not how it is in modern times. We are far away from this understanding of longing. We have distorted it into an unrecognizable form, and as a result we have lost our way to what our ancient ancestors called the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. In modern times what we call Human Flourishing, the full realization of human life.
Living in modern times requires a rather acute course correction. Our longing has mistakenly taken a wrong direction. We look outside towards ephemeral worldly pleasures that are surrogates which we foolishly turned into false gods. They are not even close to the authentic goal of our most human yearning. Whether in the form of materialism, sensory excitement, the quest for romantic intimacy, fame, name, or worldly success, such experiences merely divert us from the real thing, and this may last for a lifetime. In actuality these ephemeral pleasures invariably lead to disappointment, confusion, meaninglessness, stress, and distress. We chase after suffering, disguised as pleasure, rather than the enduring happiness, sustained peace, authentic compassion, and boundless freedom. which can only be found at the center of our being.
It took almost a lifetime of looking in the wrong places before I could stop long enough to acknowledge that I had not moved an inch towards my deepest longing (and in fact had moved far away from it.) My life, however successful it may have seemed to others, was not right, it seemed off track, and not something I would commend myself for at the end of my years. It was not that the intensity of my longing needed to change. It didn't. However, it's direction did need to change. That is what made Dante's words, in his opening lines of the Divine Comedy, so moving and compelling for me. In the first Canto he says:
For I had lost the path that never strays.
It was at that recognition that turned my life inwards. There was no other alternative. Fortunately, I could call on Paramenadies and the other great healers, who spoke directly to us across time and cultures, for assistance in redirecting my longing for life's essence into the traditional path homewards to the center of my being. It is there, and only there, that one can find the true treasures of human existence. That is the consistent message of the wise ones.
The first step, they inform us, is to stop what we are doing and reverse course. We must slow down the busyness of ordinary mind and life. We begin by taming the overactive mind that obscures our inner self. This is not an easy task. But it is the first essential first step in the expansion of our inner life. This step corresponds to the first stage of meditation and mind training, which together take us toward a "a healthy human life," a life of "basic wellness."
Progressively resting in a still and undistracted state of mind is the second stage of meditation, It is the next step in gaining an inner clarity which allows us to see the essence of our being. These first two stags of mediation - taming the mind and resting in stillness - are accomplished through study, reflection, practice, and the assistance of a skilled teacher. If our longing is re-directed in this way, we can be assured that day-by-day we will experience more and more of a healthy and happy human life free of stress, distress, and suffering. Reactivity will diminish genuine happiness will arise, our relationships will deepen, and understanding will grow. That itself, a healthy human life, is an extraordinary accomplishment. We could easily stop here and b e quite satisfied with what we have made of our life.
But that is not where Paramenadies or the other great healers stopped. As we said, the attainment of a healthy human life is a marvelous achievement, but there is more for those whose longing has an even further reach. That "more" is the aim of the third and final stage of meditation. It is here that we move beyond the issues of day-to-day life towards what the Indian sage Aurobindo spoke of as "divine life," or we have called human flourishing. That is our nature. That is the center of our being. As we grow our lives, we will get tastes of a fully realized humanity. We will finally learn to rest in the the nature of our being -- the specific aim of the third and final step of meditation. This is as far as human longing can reach.
Paradoxically, we must give up longing itself in order to attain this final state-of-being. We must do so because longing is in the realm of cognition whereas our natural state-of-being, our natural resting place is a simple awake, aware, and alive presence and beingness that is beyond thought. It is a simple and quite ordinary presence. We cannot create our natural state through any method or technique. Although specific methods are essential for he first two stages of meditation, they will keep us from the final attainment.
So what does all of this have to do with a physician traveling around Asia? Wise women and men from the timeless past have singularly informed us that there are times in life when one must take a break from life as it is. We must break the incessant stimulation of daily life. Traditionally this has been called retreat. In retreat we take a break from the usual conditioning and reactive patterns, the familiar, and the known. When separated from life's usual stimuli it is easier to experience the stillness which contains life's treasures, treasures that await each of us. Only then can we return to green and benefit others from a revitalized soul and spirit, as an individual and as a healer.
www.elliottdacher.org