{"id":706,"date":"2012-10-02T20:48:43","date_gmt":"2012-10-02T20:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=706"},"modified":"2012-10-02T20:48:43","modified_gmt":"2012-10-02T20:48:43","slug":"do-you-have-a-spiritual-spam-filter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2012\/10\/02\/do-you-have-a-spiritual-spam-filter\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you have a spiritual spam filter?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lotus Flower<\/p><\/div>\n

Engaged Non-attachment\u2014to live more creatively, we must be\u00a0simultaneously engaged with life and\u00a0free from attachments. Juan\u2019s last post described one man\u2019s “engaged non-attachment” as a way to begin the spiritual journey that transformed him into St. Ignatius of Loyola.\u00a0Buddhism and other spiritual wisdom traditions point to engaged non-attachment as the foundation for a practice that moves us away from our fears to a more refined capacity to stay present to what IS. Our daily lives present us with less dramatic challenges, but plenty of small opportunities for freedom that can gradually transform our lives.<\/p>\n

Opportunities for transformation are all around us. Each day my university e-mail screens out junk mail messages with a spam filter. On another level, each day we receive countless messages\u2014from friends, relatives, co-workers, television, radio, social media, advertisers, newscasters, and our own prior conditioning\u2014too much information for one person\u2019s life. We all need a spiritual spam filter.\u00a0A wise Buddhist friend once told me that practicing Right Speech meant asking ourselves three questions\u2014\u201cIs it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?\u201d These questions could also serve as a spiritual spam filter.<\/p>\n

This Fall I am on sabbatical. As I check my e-mail, my old reactive pattern asks \u201cHow can I stay home to read and reflect when the XYZ report is due and there\u2019s another faculty meeting?\u201d Yet my spiritual spam filter reminds me that right now I have a different responsibility\u2014to focus on my writing, to clear my mind of draining distractions in order to read, reflect, and create.<\/p>\n

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Buddha Head in Thailand<\/p><\/div>\n

As a child, I had to meet my mother\u2019s daily demands and complete the household chores before I could do my homework, read, and relax into the stillness of my own mind. As a college student I moved out, supporting myself with a part-time job so I could read, write, and set my own priorities. But it wasn\u2019t easy. I changed the external setting, but the inner pattern remained, tugging away at my heart, catching me up in the either\/or trap of rushing to meet someone else\u2019s needs to the exclusion of my own.\u00a0As the wisdom of the East reminds us, true compassion expands our hearts to include all beings, including ourselves–It\u2019s a \u201cboth and,\u201d not an \u201ceither\/or\u201d\u2014and our deepest responsibility is always to our dharma, our spiritual path, our own creative contribution to life.<\/p>\n

To take that path, we must separate the spiritual essentials from the spam in the messages we receive. It\u2019s a process of discernment, not judgment. Each person\u2019s journey is unique: one person\u2019s entertainment can be another\u2019s spam. When you listen to your heart, you will know which choices are right for you.<\/p>\n

Take a moment now to discern for yourself.<\/p>\n