Lent. The season of self-mastery. And what an unruly, wild thing the self is!
In the temptation story of Jesus we are given insights into the inner struggle. You will miss the point if you try to take the story literally. Literalism raises too many unanswerable questions. Better to see the story as parable, metaphor, or myth showing us truth but not literal truth. Jesus in the story goes without food for forty days. (What a symbolic number forty is in biblical stories—it rained on Noah for forty days, Moses was on the mountain for forty days, the Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years.) After forty days without food the mind—always so connected to the body, and now to the body in its weakened state—is at its most vulnerable. The unruly stream of consciousness at this point becomes utterly demonic, threatening to overwhelm and destroy. The unruly self is often preoccupied with concerns for sustenance, significance, and safety. Sustenance: Will I have enough to get by on? What about my family? Significance: Who am I? Does my life have any meaning? Safety: Will I be OK? Who will protect me? Such are the struggles of the wild self. Such are the daily struggles of life. Such are the worries of life.When the self (the stream of consciousness) is full of worry, preoccupied with its wants and needs, life becomes miserable. Lent is the season of self-mastery, a window on a calmer inner world where the unruly wildness is tamed. In the Jesus story we are not told quite how Jesus tamed the wild self. We are just told he did. The devil left him, the inner struggle calmed. It is possible to overcome the wilderness.
We need to look to other sources to help us overcome the inner devil as Jesus overcame the inner devil.
It is no surprise that the mystics and sages give pretty much the same answer: practice. Though advanced by mystics there is nothing mystical about the daily habits that tame the wildness of the self. The daily habits are built up little by little, small step after small step, internalizing new ways of thinking and doing.
I have been working recently much with the interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit. From Chinese philosophy I have enjoyed what is called the "Five Regulations." Body, breathing, mind, energy and spirit all connected and related intimately. Regulation of the body leads to regulation of the breath leads to regulation of the mind, leads to regulation of the energy, leads to regulation of the spirit. Though it sounds complex, at its heart it is quite simple. It begins in stillness, in silence, in becoming aware of the body, our physicality, our connectedness with earth, with nature, with all that is. It continues in following the breath. Calmly, rhythmically, deeply, from the belly. The mind is calmed. Energy flows freely. Spirit is nourished. Of interest to me is that it starts with body. Too often the body has been neglected for the higher pursuits of mind and spirit. Here's a secret: the way to the mind and spirit is through the doorway of the body.
But, it doesn't happen all at once! Taming the unruly self is not the work of a moment. It is a marathon and not a sprint.
Lent reminds us that we need not be mastered by a wild and unruly conscious stream of worries and concerns. The self can be mastered. The devil can be chased away. But only with practice.
+Ab. Andy