Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Letter #4 from Hilton, NY - The world of the ego is not in jeopardy

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The world of the ego is not in jeopardy

It’s been quite a month in Hilton, NY. Harry Hollywood has been trying to meditate. Harry wanted to have more peace in his life and to feel more centered. His life, for a long time, had seemed out of balance. Harry was sharing his experience with meditation with some of his friends at a local coffee shop and wasn’t getting very far.

“Meditation,” huffed Elmer Sandbagger, “what is that, some kind of new age nonsense like yoga?”

Barb Golden piped up and said, “It’s sitting quietly Elmer and just watching your thoughts pass by in your mind.”

“For crying out loud, “said Elmer, “what a waste of time. I don’t have time for that. I’ve got things to do. I can’t just be sitting around watching my thoughts. It sounds like a new fangled brand of navel gazing to me.”

Roy Christian said, “It’s a form of prayer, Elmer. Jesus went off by himself to pray. I suspect that what is meant by prayer is meditation.”

“Ahhhhh he just wanted to get off by himself. Probably those disciples of his drove him nuts always wanting some sort of miracle out of him.”

Ted Marketer shared, “Well, meditation has been rebranded as mindfulness and it’s caught on. It’s become very popular. They are selling hundreds of self help books and video courses on how to do it.”

Jennifer Golddigger said, “Well, if there’s money in it, count me in. Maybe if I learned it, I could write a book or make some videos or even do some workshops or classes and make me some money.”

Jacob jumped into the conversation and said, “You all seem a bit cynical to me. I meditate every day and I consider it my quiet time and happy place. It takes a little practice but I’ve gotten better at it and now I enjoy it.”

Harry said, “It’s a way of getting outside your own ego and going inward and just being without having to do anything. I feel closer to God, you know, that non dualistic Oneness..”

“The what?” objected Elmer.

“The non dualistic Oneness,” said Harry.

“What’s with all the big words,” said Elmer?

“I’m sorry, Elmer,” said Harry. “I probably shouldn’t have said that. Most people wouldn’t know what that is.”

“It’s another word for God, isn’t it?,” said Roy.

“Yes,” said Harry.

“Is it time for an offering?” said Jennifer and laughed.

And that’s the way things have been going in Hilton, NY over the past month where Harry is developing a mediation practice, Elmer thinks meditating is a waste of time, Ted is thinking about how to brand it, Barb wants to teach it, Roy thinks Jesus did it, Jennifer is scheming about how to get money out of it, Jacob has tried meditating and enjoys it, and the world of the ego is not in jeopardy any time soon by people embracing the non dualistic Oneness.

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