Disconnected.

There is a disconnect between spiritual practice and modern forms of earning a living. 

Our culture is driven by ego.  Spiritual practice cuts through ego.
Our culture is driven by profit and gain.  Spiritual practice is rooted in generosity and letting go.
Our culture chases after name and position, fame and renown.  None of those hold weight in our spiritual practice. 

So how do we earn a living as a professional and carry out our spiritual practice?

Do we divide them?  Day trader and night giver?
Do we forsake the workplace and retreat to remote abodes, saying "this is not possible."

It is a problem that you must resolve on your own. 

What does your practice look like in the context of your whole day?  Can you resolve the tension and conflict of carrying your practice into your work?  Does your work cause you to suffer and generate self-contempt?  Can you be patient with your work as you progress on your path?  Do you need to switch, change or find something better before you can integrate your work and practice?

All of these have to be answered by the serious practitioner of virtue.  They are not easy questions, and you are the one that needs to bring forth the answers.  You are the solution, and it must be lived. 

Jerry-rigged.

When was the last time you found yourself struggling with a problem?

Did you search out the right tool for the fix? Develop a new tool?

Have you have tried to solve a problem with a tool that wasn't designed for the job?

There is a certain art to jerry-rigging.  A proficient craftsman can make use of a wrong tool and produce beautiful results.  With proficiency comes agility and innovation.

But what if you are not proficient?

An emerging craftsman attempting to jerry-rig a solution often ends up with a mess.  Or at best a solution that quickly unravels.

We often go through our days and weeks jerry-rigging solutions to problems when there are perfectly qualified tools for the job.  Tools we can acquire, learn, and master. 

As an emerging craftsman in your practice, when we are trying to jerry-rig a solution we should recognize our frustration as a sign that we need to search out and acquire better tools.  If we are frustrated, struggling and irritated, then we need to step back and reassess.

Reassess here means to ask for help, open a book, or search out the right tool for the job. 

What does jerry-rigging feel like when it is done correctly?

Curiosity, examination and joyous perseverance. 

Breakthrough

The reason that it is hard to assimilate your practice with the entirety of your life is that there is no manual.  

Monks had a manual.  We will plug you into the monastery for your education and training, send you off on a three year retreat and you come out a Lama.  Rank high in your class and we will give you some extra titles.  A recognized reincarnate master?  We’ll put you on the fast track from the beginning.   Go through this process and you are considered worthy of enlightenment, qualified to share your wisdom and compassion with others.   

You, not so lucky. 

You don’t have a manual and everything seems to suggest that it's not in the cards for you.

Artist? In your dreams.
Builder? Your kidding right?
Doctor? You wish.
Entrepreneur? Sorry, can't win this project.
Graphic Designer? Yeah right.
Homeless? Not a chance.
Paralegal? Too bad.
Physicist? Afraid not.
Teacher? Get real.
Need we even mention those who are sick and suffering?

Do you really think this is the case?   

The great mahasiddhas of the past didn’t think so.  They rejected the notion that liberation was only for a chosen few, that your circumstances restricted your practice.  Their ordinary life was the foundation and principle nourishment for their realization.  They were practical, committed, creative and engaged with their world.

I challenge you to follow in their footsteps.

We are all waiting for you to unlock the wisdom of your life and situation, to prove that it can be done. 

What would your life look like if this were possible?  What would our communities look like?