One of my favorite quotes is from the movie The Journey, directed by Harish Saluja: Life Gets in the Way of Art. Every year I warn my graduate students in the Creative Writing program at the University of Houston to be prepared for unexpected busyness that will sabotage our writing. Well, humblingly, that's what has been happening to me this summer, with a son getting ready to leave for college, and another one learning to drive, and one of them joining a breakdance group, and both of them deciding to play the guitar . . . . You get the idea.
Anyway, as I've been helping my son practice driving (a character-building experience for us both), I've been musing on the similarities between being a good driver and living a spiritual life.
In Chapter 12 of the Bhagavat Gita, Krishna says, (my loose translation from the Sanskrit), "a person who does not make others anxious, nor allows anyone to cause anxiety in him, is a true devotee, dear to me." Isn't that at the heart of good driving?
How about the realization that if I hurt you, I can't escape getting hurt myself? That my good is bound up in your good? "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." (Matthew 7:12)
And when I remind my son to not go too fast on the freeway, nor too slow, and to stay in one of the lanes in the center, I'm reminded, literally, of the Buddhist practice of majjhimā paṭipadā, following the middle path.
I've been noticing a number of parallels between good writing practices and living the spiritual life, too. I'll discuss those another time.
Meanwhile, comments, anyone?
Anyway, as I've been helping my son practice driving (a character-building experience for us both), I've been musing on the similarities between being a good driver and living a spiritual life.
In Chapter 12 of the Bhagavat Gita, Krishna says, (my loose translation from the Sanskrit), "a person who does not make others anxious, nor allows anyone to cause anxiety in him, is a true devotee, dear to me." Isn't that at the heart of good driving?
How about the realization that if I hurt you, I can't escape getting hurt myself? That my good is bound up in your good? "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." (Matthew 7:12)
And when I remind my son to not go too fast on the freeway, nor too slow, and to stay in one of the lanes in the center, I'm reminded, literally, of the Buddhist practice of majjhimā paṭipadā, following the middle path.
I've been noticing a number of parallels between good writing practices and living the spiritual life, too. I'll discuss those another time.
Meanwhile, comments, anyone?
