Spiritual "Me Time"

“To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is pleasure beyond compare.”  -- Yoshida Kenko, author and Buddhist monk (1283-1350)

Relaxation means different things to different people, but how many of us consider contemplation, meditation, or the spiritual as a means of relaxation?  How many of us come back from a well-deserved vacation wishing we had another week to recover from it?  The only way I can truly relax is to go off by myself and enjoy some introspective analysis and thought.  This may sound like much more mental cramping than the average person might want to endure, but for me it works.  Solo camping, hiking, fishing, biking and the like, can be mentally therapeutic for me.  If the weather will not cooperate, I find a glass of wine while listening to Brazilian jazz while I bake or cook seems to accomplish the same thing but, I risk phone and visitor interruptions which defeats the entire purpose. 

And this is the entire point:  Spiritual "Me Time," not spiritual me and several other people time; not me and my significant other spiritual time; it is spiritual "me time."  If you want to have a romantic evening with the love of your life you don't invite George and Emily to come along, unless that is your kinky definition of romantic evening.  If you truly want to relax, work out issues, or contemplate the meaning of life, solitude is the only way to go.

I will undertake another of my own spiritual journeys on the first of June as I set off across country in the car.  I love driving, especially when I'm in no rush to reach a destination.  I find driving to be soothing to my soul, when I'm not cussing out some moron for cutting me off because he was too stupid to look, that is.  And even then, I take a cleansing breath after the rant saying, "and may God bless," because even morons need God's blessing.

I will take my camera and my laptop, a writing pad and some pens.  I might even take my sketch pad as I haven't exercised my drawing talents for some time now.  I will bring a blanket and a cooler, sandwich fixins and some beer.  I will contemplate God, the world, and my humble place in the grander universe.  Most of all, I want to write about my favorite subject, my path.  Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) was a significant poet, writer and philosopher of his day in Portugal, and he explains our journey like this in his work, The Book of Disquiet:

“Life is an experimental journey undertaken involuntarily. It is a journey of the spirit through the material world and, since it is the spirit that travels, it is the spirit that is experienced. That is why there exist contemplative souls who have lived more intensely, more widely, more tumultuously than others who have lived their lives purely externally.”

He suggests that contemplation can be as meaningful as wide ranging physical travel and experience.  Mother Teresa, on the other hand, lived a life of contemplation based, in part, on ministering by "going out physically or in spirit in search of souls all over the universe," and contemplating "by gathering the whole universe at the very center of our hearts where the Lord of the universe abides, and allowing the pure water of divine grace to flow plentifully and unceasingly from the source itself, on the whole of his creation."  I think they're both right.  As for Yoshida Kenko, I too shall probably find myself with my laptop opened in front of me while holding intimate converse with many folks of unseen generations.  Such is my way.

It beats the old way by a great deal.  In times past I, like many other people, would find time for contemplation and introspection in the one place a person was guaranteed to find a short-lived bit of privacy with his own thoughts.  Hopefully one would find something other than the back label of a Lysol can, or a year old copy of Ladies Home Journal to relax with.  Although I must say, in there was a copy of Cooking Light, I would find myself taking a few moments longer at "meditation."  I joke that everything important I learned in life came from periodicals on the top of a toilet tank.  I'm probably not the only one.  Kids now days won't be able to say this down the road.  The toilets are tankless, and their hands never let go of their electronic personality prosthetic.

In today's busy world where we are inundated with these electronic gadgets that give us rare, if any, moments to ourselves, it is important to make room for "me time."   Do it often, and do it outside to get some fresh air.  Make enough time so you can relax, empty your mind, and allow your spirit find your path.  Oh, and don't forget to turn off the damned phone.  I'm sure the world will continue to spin without you.