Letter #17: A Spiritual Morning
Chiang Dao Mountain in northern Thailand
Dear Friend
You are what you consume. Garbage in, garbage out; joyful energy in, joyful energy out.
Everything in life is the flow of energy, and energy in many forms comes into us, and it is this energy which influences what we say, do, feel, think, and how we behave.
Energy is in physical things like food, and in invisible things like smells, sounds and ideas.
We consume food, drinks, pills, herbs, drugs, language-based information, and all the sensory input we imbibe through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.
If we eat junk food and all other corporate-made foods and drinks, then we are feeding on negative energy. We increase the toxicity in our body and mind, and we become deficient in the nutrients we need for body and mind.
If we consume mainstream media or listen to government people, we are feeding on a relentless diet of negative energy. Our mind is poisoned, we become anxious, worried, depressed, angry, resentful, miserable and so on, and this in turn poisons our body through the release of hormones and suchlike.
If we spend time with negative people who are always moaning and complaining, then we are consuming their negative energy.
If we never get any nature into our lives, or we are in it but are too wrapped up in our own busy stressful world to notice and appreciate it, then we are not getting any soul food. Our heart is not feeding.
Illness or wellness is the consequence of feeding not just the body, but also the mind and soul. It’s not enough to clean up our diet, we have to look at all aspects of our lifestyle, and look into the kind of mindset and attitude we have towards the world around us.
If we find we have a negative mindset and attitude, then we should look into what we are consuming. If we find that our body is tense, rigid, inflexible, has persistent or recurring aches or pains, then we should look into what we are consuming.
You can consider the food you feed your body, your mind and your soul/heart.
I now want to share a tale from my book. I would like to set you some tasks to go with it.
Pre-Reading Task
How—in what ways—can you feed your soul and heart?
The tale is called ‘A Spiritual Morning’. What do you think I got up to on this morning?! Have an educated guess.
Reading Task
Your task is to make my writing come alive in your own head, to picture and feel it all in your own mind.
As you read through my tale, use the language to help create a picture in your own mind of what I was seeing and hearing and smelling. Try to imagine the scene for yourself. This will mean reading a bit more slowly than usual.
A Spiritual Morning
I exit my bungalow, walk down the track of the resort and out onto the road, and begin my walk towards the temple. It’s early morning, dawn is done, and the sunlight is just beginning to flicker through the trees and foliage, throwing the day’s first shadows onto the road surface. As I walk along, breathing the fresh earthy-smelling morning air deeply into my lungs, there’s not a vehicle or human being to be seen or heard. Lining either side of the road are impressively thick silvery-grey trunks of trees that reach bolt upright far into a clear blue sky. They are so tall I creak my neck trying to look at their tops. Such tremendous life forms, they inspire awe and delight in me as I put one foot in front of another. As always when I’m amongst trees, I feel calm and cool, joyful and alive. I think they engage my soul. I was into trees as a boy. I used to have a tree encyclopaedia, and the pictures and description of the giant redwoods of California used to blow my little boy’s mind to bits, and these ones I am now in amongst remind me of them.
To my right, visible between the trunks and just beyond these immense life forms, is a forest dense with other trees of myriad shapes and sizes, and to my left in the near distance is the magnificent sight of several jagged mountain peaks soaring into the cloudless sky. In the foreground, between me and the mountains, is lush tropical jungle bush vying with open grassland. In glorious quadraphonic surround sound, and entering my whole being as if by osmosis, I hear the songs of a thousand newly-woken birds in playful mood, all alive and wise to the new day. The orchestra is in full flow, the conductor invisible. I keep walking slowly on towards the temple, drinking in this immensely pleasant scene. The morning is young and what a song to delight my soul. I feel at one with the universe, I’m feeling sweet, the vibes of life are real good and playing just the right tune for me.
I’m in northern Thailand and I’m heading along this winding deserted road towards a well-known mountain-top temple for the first time. (I think it’s a monastery, for many monks live there and it’s a big complex, but we’ll call it a temple.)
After a couple of kilometres of this immensely pleasant scene, the road comes to a dead-end and I’m in the temple grounds. To my right there’s a small car park area without any cars parked there. Just behind it is a large immaculate lawn hosting a resplendent Buddha statue, and trees are all around. To my left are a couple of worn-looking buildings containing typical paraphernalia found in temple areas in Thailand. And then I espy ahead of me the beginning of the walk up to the temple on the mountain. My excitement builds, for I am now at the start of what I have been told are over 500 steps in a forest setting leading up the mountain to this temple. I live for these kinds of experiences.
The tall trees and flat terrain are finished, and now, as I start climbing, I am under the canopy of a new set of trees to behold, protecting me from the heat of the fast-climbing summer sun and keeping the air fresh and cool. To either side of the walkway is jungle growth. It’s a riot of greens interspersed with bits of purples, yellows and pinks, each claiming their own space while beautifully enhancing the greens. Slithers and slices of sunlight, which have managed to penetrate the canopy of trees, flicker and dance in concert with the shaded bits. My internal vibrancy amplifies in its resonance to an awesome frequency - the sights and sounds around me have pitched me right into a heaven, and I feel light and fully alive: thank you Mother Earth.
I climb slowly, in no rush at all. Such an immensely pleasant scene.
Then, stuck on a tree trunk, I see a green sign with white writing on it, in Thai and in English. I stop to read it. It imparts a Buddhist wisdom of life on it: ‘Look and contemplate within to see the truth. Looking out at others we are immersed in delusion’. I pause to let the message massage my mind and inner being.
Then as I resume my climb, and not many steps later, I come across another green sign: ‘However kind or mean the hearts of others is their affair and not ours. We can’t control the hearts and minds of others. Our duty is to work on our own heart. Work on the only heart we can truly feel - this heart here in this body and this mind’. The notions and experiences of control and freedom are close to my heart, which I have reflected upon at length during my life, especially in my hammock, and I love this message. I stick around, feeling the words imparting their wisdom in me, contemplating, in no rush to continue my upward journey.
But on I go, finding many more of these signs all along the journey towards the mountain-top temple. I stop at each one, imbibing their messages. The quiet wisdoms they offer, combined with the majestic jungle and monastic setting I’m in, offer a calming feeling for my body and mind, and I feel my soul engaged; my earlier volcanic-like excitement has quelled and given way to a feeling of serenity and inner stillness. Their messages in the natural peace and tranquility, punctuated by the birdsong from near and far, combine to further enhance my spiritual state of being.
After a particularly steep section it flattens out and I come to a sign that says I’m halfway, but that the going gets much easier now. Then, just a few yards along comes an opening in the trees to my left, and there, above and beyond in the near distance is a glorious golden pagoda, sunrays sparkling off it, sitting amidst a temple complex, all perched on a mountain ridge and surrounded by thousands of trees. Behind it is the towering presence of the main mountain which, framed by the deep blue sky, looks just so handsome; the blueness seems to be giving divine protection to the whole monastery. What an awesome sight. The sparkling golden pagoda, the mountain, all the trees and the deep blue sky all vie for my attention.
I sit down on the bench that is conveniently placed and admire this epic view, wondering how long it took to build this temple all the way up there on its mountain peak.
I stay sitting there, absorbed by my surroundings, not wanting to move. Then, almost as if on cue, a line of monks appear to my right dozens of steps away, coming down towards me. The first people of my morning. Their orange robes brilliantly add colour to the scene, giving relief to the green all around them. As they descend, sunlight flickers on and off their shaven heads and faces, and it seems the movie is playing out for me perfectly… I like the director’s style and I love the script.
After what seems a long while sitting there, I decide I must pull myself away from this tranquil spot and head up towards the temple. It’s a tough choice because I had completely lost sense of time, and I am so at ease just sitting there drinking in this immensely pleasant scene…
Anyway, I think I’ll cut the story short there. Suffice to say I got to the top, which put me right in amongst the treetops and the songful birds, and whereupon I communed with the nature for quite some time. I also sat alone in the temple which was built into a sort of cave, offering cool air and some respite from the heat outside. In here were a whole assortment of Buddha ornaments, such as amulets, sculptures, huge candles, incense sticks and so on.
I literally was, and felt like I was, on top of the world.
Some time later I began wending my way down, ready to exit my spiritual experience and go get a pad krapow, the go-to chilli, basil and garlic-based dish in Thailand, and to cool myself down from the, by now, very hot day with a nice cold beer. My Buddhist bubble of serene spirituality had waned, and it was back to the more material-based pleasures of life. It was a beautiful spiritual morning indeed, but now for a spicy lunch washed down with some cold beer. What a grand day I was having!
However, the tale does not end without relating to you my very favourite message of all the green signs, and at which I stopped on the way down to reread and enjoy. It was the one that most resonated with my understanding of human life and, in my view, if all people lived by it, our world would indeed be magically transformed. In fact, it feels like it is central to the whole enterprise of one’s spiritual revolution. See what you think:
To harass others is to harass yourself
To belittle others is to belittle yourself
To destroy others is to destroy yourself
And block the path to your prosperity.
~~~~~~~
Post-Reading Task
How well did you guess what my tale might be about? Did you envisage it being related to nature in any way? As you imagined it, did it look anything like the photo in this week’s Letter? That was the main mountain peak that I mentioned in my tale.
How does a good spot of nature make you feel within yourself? Do you feel a happiness, an inner joy in your heart? How often do you ‘feed’ on nature? Should you make more time for nature in your life?
Now it’s your turn…
Either:
think of one of your very favourite places of nature
or:
actually go to a favourite place of nature near where you live and spend an hour or two there, either stationary or walking in it. Decide upon the soonest opportunity to do this, and resolve to then do it.
If you choose the latter option, don’t find any excuses to postpone doing it.
Your task, in either case, is to write your own tale of being in your choice of nature:
Write/type the tale, enjoy using descriptive language, and try to make your tale come alive by recreating it in your mind and feeling it in your heart as you write.
Read through what you have written, revising it as you wish.
Now read your finished tale right through, and enjoy doing so as the reader.
At the end, ask yourself how you felt about doing the writing, and about reading through your finished article.
(Optional, but recommended) Get somebody you know to read your tale and ask them to comment on it.
And that’s it for this week. I’m in the middle of changing how I do these Letters, because I’ve sensed they’ve become a bit too long, and I’m also finding they are too much work for me! I’m going to try and make them shorter, sharper and more task-based.
You are, as ever, very welcome to email me and express yourself with any kind of feedback you would like to offer me.
Have a wonderful week.
All the best
Philip
