Recently a friend asked the following: “what do you think is the singular most important exercise/practice of all those you’ve worked with over the years?”
The answer to this not a simple one. Well, maybe it is simple, but definitely not easy to explain. But, I’ll give it a go.
First I will answer in the broad sense.
The single most important practice for me has been “The Way of Service.” So that is the simple part. But what exactly is “The Way of Service” — that is the not so easy to explain part.
It is not a single act, action, sequence of events, or combination of routines. Beginning Tai Chi students believe that Tai Chi is defined by a particular sequence of movements. They even divide Tai Chi into schools based upon which sequence of movements you study — is it long form vs. short form, or is it hard vs. soft. That is not Tai Chi. The form that one performs is not the Tai Chi. The form that one performs is what you do while practicing Tai Chi. It could be walking, running, swimming, or sitting. Tai Chi is a way of being. The sequence is like a jello mold. It is a container in which you can pour your efforts with the hope that you will be formed by the process.
The specific actions and non-actions involved in The Way of Service (from here on just called Service) are only appropriate to the moment.
Some moments are similar to other moments. Some actions are similar to other actions. This can give rise to the mistaken belief that said action is Service. Any particular action is just the means by which Service was happening at that particular moment.
Maybe an example will help. At the moment I am writing a blog. I am writing this blog as a piece of the puzzle that is my Service at the moment. So writing a blog is an action taken during the performance of service. But, that does not mean that any and all blog writing is Service. I’m sure with just a moment’s thought you could rattle off a dozen blogs that were not Service.
Some times asking someone to sweep your porch is a Service. Some times sweeping another’s porch is service.
A picture of a flowing river is a beautiful reminder of the river, but it is not the river. Attempts to capturing The Way of Service into a formula is akin to defining a river by a sequence of photos. They may be gorgeous but they will not be wet and can’t actually slack your thirst. Furthermore, you will have lost access to anything below the surface which escapes the eye of the camera. It is a shell.
This inability to generate an explanation — to capture The Way of Service in a net of defining words — may be disappointing to some. Fortunately it does not matter. What matters is developing a taste for it — create a habit of Service. This will bring you back to it time after time independent of whatever guise it may be in.
Was this always there? Yes. It travels with me from life time to life time. This is part of my being.
Was this always dominate? No. The machine (at least in the beginning) is mostly interested in sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll — or whatever the momentary equivalent may be. Whether it be beer and pizza or umbrella drinks on the beach, the machine has its own idea of how one should spend life.
So this is where things get complicated again. Again? You may have missed the place where things go uncomplicated for a brief moment. But, never mind that. Now they are complicated again.
What is this complication? Now the question returns in a slightly altered form: “what do you think is the singular most important exercise/practice of all those you’ve worked with over the years?”
Granted the question looks the same. Trust me it is different. How is it different? Now I am looking at the question in terms of “which exercise(s) helped me get from where I was to a place where Service is more than just a concept.” And…. “which exercises do I use to get through my daily sojourner on this Path?”
Coincidentally, just today I started on a campaign to assemble cornerstone material. This would be exercises, books, talks, and other materials that are cornerstones. So far, I have worked out a beginning list for exercises and books.
For exercises, I consider Zen Basics, Popcorn Exercise, and Secrets of the French Drop to be foundational or cornerstones. Yes, there are many other great and necessary exercises. But these three are exercises that should start you out. In fact, until you begin working on them you haven’t started.
For books, I’m considering Human Biological Machine as a Transformational Device, American Book of the Dead, Hidden Work, and Life in the Labyrinth as foundational books.
I could go on with lists for talk tapes, etc. but really the exercise list is the only one pertinent to this blog. Eventually the exercise list may contain five or six exercises. At the moment, it has the three Institute exercises that I consider pivotal. However, these are not the only exercises that I use on a daily basis. They just happen to be ones that I can recommend. The others are not for publication. Sorry about that. I think each of us stumble upon an exercise or two that is not the kind of thing one can communicate about effectively, and attempts to try and utterly fail seem unwise.
I’ll give you a partial example. Consider “I Am Here.” This is the core of an exercise I’ve used over the course of the past three decades. I know when folks read those words they will be reminded of something they’ve heard of or something they have done. Not everyone with the name John Smith is the same. What I do and how I do it is not held in the words. The words are tools — stepping stones. How the tools are used is the important part.