From the online comic, The Promise
Visions better than drugs haven’t come.
Intelligence exceeding genius hasn’t come.
Titanic strength hasn’t come.
Beauty to attract lovers hasn’t come.
Visitations from gods haven’t come.
Freedom from weariness hasn’t come.
An end to vexing annoyances hasn’t come.
Great wealth hasn’t come.
Fame hasn’t come.
Unlimited understanding of others hasn’t come.
Supernatural powers haven’t come.
The skill to spontaneously heal hasn’t come.
The gift of prophecy hasn’t come.
None of these things have come,
Yet I would not forsake this spiritual path.All sorts of things are promised to you as a seeker of spirituality. Yet when these things don’t come, does that mean that you should forsake your path? Spirituality is not a transaction with the universe. It is an endeavor that we take up because it is our ultimate mode of being. If we get nothing for it, we should not be bothered. Who cares about powers? They only lead to temptation. Those who follow Tao should care only for inner understanding.
“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” (Christopher Robin to Pooh) — A. A. Milne
I cannot promise very much.
I give you the images I know.
Lie still with me and watch.
We laugh and we touch.
I promise you love. Time will not take that away.”
— Anne Sexton
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
— Robert Frost
“The man who promises everything is sure to fulfil nothing, and everyone who promises too much is in danger of using evil means in order to carry out his promises, and is already on the road to perdition.”
— Carl Gustav Jung
“It is a curious thing… that every creed promises a paradise which will be absolutely uninhabitable for anyone of civilized taste.”
— Evelyn Waugh
“The person who is slowest in making a promise is most faithful in its performance.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.”
— Gustave Flaubert
I ithnk of the benefits I get from Tao in a number of ways. First, it has brought me a real peace of mind that I hadn’t known in my life before I started taking Tao seriously. Growing up in the Christian tradition, I think I was always a bit resentful of a religion that promised something after you were dead – that didn’t seem all that worthwhile to me. Maybe it was a need for more instant gratification. Or perhaps I just didn’t feel I had ever done anything that required forgiveness or someone to die for my sins, which weren’t all that great. As C.S. Lewis put it:
“Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness.”
What Tao offers is simply a path that works in life. And I have no more fear of death because I know that it is simply a part of life – that I make way and then something else comes along even stranger and more wonderful. How could I object to that? Perhaps it is the result of finally being able to separate my ego from the equation, and know that there truly is something larger than myself, and it is indestructible, because it is simply everything. And I am part of that, and irrevokably connected to it. I have no separation from God to feel guilty about or sorry for. So how could I continue to be a Christian?
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