really old news

I’m making my way into a book by religious scholar Karen Armstrong on the beginnings of our religious traditions. She traces events in the Axial Age (ninth century), when great teachings arose in different parts of the world: Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. She writes:

“But how can the sages of [that age], who lived in such different circumstances, speak to our current condition? Why should we look to Confucius or the Buddha for help? Surely a study of distant periods can only be an exercise in spiritual archaeology, when what we need is to create a more innovative faith that reflects the realities of our own world. Yet, in fact, we have never surpassed the insights of the Axial Age.

“In time of spiritual and social crisis, men and women have constantly turned back to this period for guidance. They may have interpreted the … discoveries differently, but they have never succeeded in going beyond them. [...]

“The prophets, mystics, philosophers, and poets of the Axial Age were so advanced and their vision was so radical that later generations tended to dilute them. … [They] have an important  message for our times, but their insights will be surprising–even shocking–to many who consider themselves religious today.

“It is frequently assumed, for example, that faith is a matter of believing certain creedal propositions. … But most Axial philosophers had no interest whatever in doctrine or metaphysics. A person’s theological beliefs were a matter of total indifference to someone like the Buddha. … Others argued that it was immature, unrealistic, and perverse to look for the kind of absolute certainty that many people expect religion to provide.”

source: Armstrong, K. (2006). The great transformation: the beginning of our religious traditions. Toronto: Vintage, p.xvi-xvii.

your lover is in here

Zen master Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) said, “To be enlightened is to be intimate with all things.” The air we breathe, the water we drink, neighbours, loved ones, and strangers all with their peculiarities, the myriad crevices of our bodies and hearts, the places where we walk, work, pray, weep, eat, defecate, sleep, and awake: everywhere, everything.

“Love is mysterious,” writes Jack Kornfield. “We don’t know what it is, but we know when it is present. If we seek love, we must ask where it is to be found. It is here only this moment. To love in the past is simply a memory. To love in the future is a fantasy. There is only one place where love can be found., where intimacy and awakening can be found, and that is in the present. … The only place we can genuinely love a tree, the sky, a child, or our lover is in the here and now.”

source: Kornfield, J. (1993). A path with heart: a guide through the perils and promises of spiritual life. Bantam, p.333.