I MET A MAN who was a devotee of the
miracles that took place near the town of Garabandal,
Spain. They began one night in 1961 when four children were
awakened and mystically drawn from their separate homes to a
small glen on the outskirts of their village. There they beheld
an apparition of Mother Mary, who gave them prophetic messages.
This extraordinary phenomenon continued for four years and over
two thousand apparitions. Eventually people from all over the
world visited the site, where many miraculous healings have
occurred.
The
devotee, Joe, was so moved by this inspiring phenomenon that
he dedicated his life to sharing its message. One evening Joe
came to my study group, where he showed a film of the events
and offered his narrative. When Joe opened the floor for questions,
I asked him how he got into all of this.
"As a young man I liked to attend parties, where I developed
a reputation as a teller of off-color jokes," he explained.
"Eventually I was invited regularly to lots of men's
clubs and banquets where I recited my risqué stories.
Since I had been rather shy before all this occurred, the positive
response I received built my confidence and I gained public
speaking skills.
"When I learned of the Garabandal miracles my life changed
and I shifted onto my spiritual path. After a while I gave up
my dirty joke career and decided to channel my public speaking
skills into this ministry. Needless to say, this work is far
more meaningful. Yet I have to acknowledge that my career as
an off-color comedian was a crucial steppingstone to the valuable
work I now do."
If you or I had met Joe during his risqué comedy stint,
we might have judged him as a crude or sordid character. Yet
we would have had no idea that this phase was not an end in
itself, but a preparatory step for a life work that would bring
illumination and solace to many.
Be not hasty to judge yourself for what you believe are your
sins or guilty errors. Evil is an interpretation, not a fact.
Everything that happens is ultimately in the service of awakening,
and may be seen as good.
A
Hasidic story tells of a man who came to a rabbi and complained
that three men from the synagogue were up all night playing
cards.
"Wonderful!" the rabbi replied with a twinkle in his eye.
The tattler was aghast. "How can you say 'wonderful'"? he asked.
"Is it not against our religion to gamble?"
"Yes," the rabbi answered. "But, even more
important, these men are staying up all night to do something
they enjoy. When their minds and hearts turn toward helping
others, they will be able to stay up all night for that purpose."
The pain in our lives proceeds not from events that occur, but
from our judgments about the events. The part of the mind that
thinks it knows how things should be is extremely limited, confused,
self-contradictory, and basically delusional. To use that ego
as the guideline for how to live is to needlessly limit and
condemn ourselves and the world. When, on the other hand, we
suspend our negative judgments, we free ourselves and each other,
open the door to escape from the prison of resistance, and literally
set our feet on the lawns of heaven.
Imagine that you and I took a walk in a field, where I scooped
up a handful of brown earth and I asked you, "What is this?"
A city dweller might be quick to answer, "a pile of dirt." Yet
a farmer would knowingly answer, "soil." Dirt is a problem;
soil is an opportunity. You have to get rid of dirt, but you
grow things in soil. Consider that the stuff you consider problems
- even dirty ones - are actually the platforms upon which you
will build strength and find freedom you would not have enjoyed
had the difficulties not occurred.
As
Emerson noted, "A weed is a flower whose virtues have not yet
been discovered."
While we're on the farm theme, let's consider the value of manure.
Manure in the wrong place is repulsive and unsanitary.
Yet, placed wisely in a farmer's field, it will grow life-giving
wheat that is baked into warm, aromatic, and tasty bread. When
you butter your toast at breakfast you hardly think that manure
played a valuable role in getting your fresh bread to you. But
it did.
Likewise, the manure of your life is excellent fertilizer. You
just have to know where to put it and how to use it. Even dirty
jokes can pave the way for a sacrament. While my friend Joe
was enamored with the miracles of Garabandal, he may have overlooked
the one happening through him.
