Supermarket Catalogs and Enlightenment

I was shivering in a restaurant bar nearby the beach I had just surfed. As I absent-mindedly paged through a supermarket catalog, my partner told me the story of Milarepa, the great Tibetan monk.

Milarepa started out as a less than ethical sorcerer who spent 12 years in the Himalayas in “contemplative retreat” with just a cotton robe as atonement for his previous acts of “negative evolutionary momentum”. His growth from this long stint in the freezing mountains resulted in his being considered as the “first Tibetan to become a perfect Buddha within a single lifetime”.

As my partner told me this story I was gawking absent-mindedly at a catalog containing a garish mélange of shampoos, new and improved razors, and super powered toothpastes. The bright colors of the catalog clashed with the images of cotton robed monks living in below freezing conditions, wandering the snow covered mountains in open-toed sandals.

Suddenly the new and improved can openers, the super charged toothpastes, the extra cleaning power shampoos and gazillion rpm blenders looked strangely stupid and superfluous. Before the monk entered my consciousness I was looking at the catalog with mild interest for something that might be missing from my life. Semi-consciously I was grazing for that little something that might give my life the subtle lift I was sure it needed.

With the monk in mind the catalog looked like a junk store.

What could any of these synthetic products add to my true happiness? Would a can opener really make a difference to my authentic experience of life?

I didn’t think so. Yes, a can opener might be a prudent option, but as a filler, as something to quiet my deep longing for a genuine experience of personal awareness and growth and my aching, it was sadly lacking.

This is not to say the attractions of our modern lives are bad and evil, or even good and saintly. They just are. If you have a can to open, a can opener would probably help. But to unconsciously or unawarely assign a gadget a place in changing your life, or providing you with any of the experiences in life that really matter, you would most likely end up disappointed.

As with all things in life, balance is required. Keeping perspective on what will contribute to your deeper growth and genuine experience of life, and what will create a buzz for the moment to fill a hole, will allow you to chose the path of greatest growth and avoid the myopic fog of modern shortcuts and quick fixes. Be aware of your choices and the path you are choosing to experience self and life through.

Choose consciously that which you desire to bring into your life, and leave the unnecessary extras alone.