It has been more than two years since I have visited a monastery and gained an insightful experience. Regrettably, my Buddhist friend, Khenchen, is no longer available, since his return to Cambodia for a family emergency. I miss his serenity and measured approach to life. It has inspired me every time we have been together. My biggest loss, however, is his view on spiritual journeys. Especially compelling were his accounts on how spititual explorers always bend awareness with personal distress; how they effortlessly safeguard paths of tolerance. Ultimately, I learned that forgiveness and compassion are the required prerequisites for the removal of the chaotic happenings in our lives.
This is the basis of today’s blog. Recently, I agreed to be a guest on several near-death podcasts. Honestly, they are challenging and generally steer away from the planned course. More importantly, they exposure a personable weakness. Let me share what I mean.
Years ago, Khenchen provided a series of cautionary warnings whenever I would bring up the topic of sharing my deeply personal journey. He indicated that all spiritual adventures are both profound and resilient. He reffered to this period of awareness as a state of “brilliant sanity.”
From Khenchen’s point of view, “brilliant sanity” is not something that can be captured by words. Nor can it be understood in a spiritual journey podcast. Instead, they are the moments captured within a state of clear-seeing and tender-heartedness. It is a time of being fully present when something deeply private needs to be shared. They are the rare moments when we are intimately revealing our greatest thoughts with one another.
“Brilliant sanity” is intended to be the silence that surrounds our basic nature. It is who we are and what we have experienced. Finally, from a writer’s point of view, it is more a question of warmly uncovering a life story than developing a desired one.
Khenchen’s red flags about podcasts: They are informational settings void of profound personal give-and-take. They tend to be hurriedly structured environments limited to questions targeting life’s conflicts with dutiful dogmatic and communal ideas. Within these surroundings, it is difficult to imagine how “brilliant sanity” could occur.
All of us have a natural dignity and wisdom that wants to be shared. It is characterized by clarity, openness, and compassion. Sharing the contents of a finished manuscript may have relevant internet value. Trusting others with our version of “brilliant sanity” is more complex. It is how we privately exist.
Bud Megargee is a former senior behavioral healthcare executive; a Washington, DC., healthcare lobbyist; and an independently published, best-selling and award-winning author. He began writing after exploring Eastern philosophy and alternative medicine techniques in the professional treatment of emotional challenges at a Taiwanese Buddhist monastery.