Being Ordinary
How amazing is Enlightenment? On a scale of one to ten it has to be ten right? The end of suffering, boundless joy, equanimity, free pizza and all the rest of it. You can’t beat that. But just how realistic and perhaps more importantly how helpful is this outlook to those that seek it? Just how many of our views of the highest human potential are being shaped and distorted by our (ostensibly wholesome) spiritual desires, and to what extent are these desires simply a flight from ordinariness and the mundane towards a dream of ‘perfection’?
The ordinariness and simplicity of the present moment is often a striking juxtaposition to the deified ideas surrounding Enlightenment. Our day to day routine certainly doesn’t feel like Enlightenment, or at least, how we fantasise it to be. ‘It can’t be this‘ screams the mind, ‘I don’t want this‘. But let’s take a closer look at this so called ordinariness, for there seems to be no shortage of it: How did it get here? And, how did I get to experience it? Many of us may have thrown aside the ‘power and glory’ of a monotheistic God, but the universe itself presents us with a spectacle of equal, if not greater, wonder. Our cells and bodies, and the light reflecting off these words are part of a 13 billion year old universe that contains over 120 billion galaxies, each of which contains around 100 billion stars. We are living on a planet that has over 2 million species which represent over 4 billion years of evolution, indeed the very consciousness which considers these facts is itself a direct descendent of the chain of events that we have come to call the Big Bang, an event which still provides one of the greatest mysteries to human thought.
When considered from this perspective one might be tempted to exclaim ‘Well, who needs Enlightenment?!’ when even the very fact that we can experience this so-called ‘ordinariness’ is, ironically, extraordinary.
Pointing to the extraordinary flavour of the ordinary is very much a theme of Zen and is perhaps epitomised by the Patriarch Te-Shan who said that, “What is known as ‘realising the mystery’ is nothing more than breaking through to grab an ordinary person’s life’. In keeping with such a down-to-earth approach to Enlightenment, Zen often tries to counter spiritual sentimentality with iconoclastic maxims such as, ‘If you see the Buddha Kill the Buddha’. Indeed, when a student asked Master Shouchu what Buddha-mind was he replied, “Three pounds of flax” and when Master Mumon was asked the same question he asserted it was, “A shit-wiping stick”. Master Rinzai’s maxim was a verbal slap in the face for any hopeful seeker of future Enlightenment: “What in this moment is lacking?”
Indeed looking closer to home in that great and often overlooked tradition of Western occultism we see an emphasis upon the ordinary in Alchemy where worthless lead was ‘transformed’ into precious gold, alluding to the mundane-and-overlooked as a gateway to spiritual transformation. This theme also appears again and again in folklore and fairy tales where grotesque frogs and toads once kissed by reluctant Princesses transform into handsome Princes or exotic wish-bestowing creatures. The message is clear: magic lies in paying attention to the ordinary.
Ordinariness is something we often miss, just because it becomes routine. Yet it is only ‘routine’ because of all the labels and ideas which we habitually superimpose on it. We assume we know how things are, when really we haven’t a clue. We fear that not knowing is somehow a weakness or admitting stupidity, when actually it is the doorway to wonder. With superimposed labels such as ‘Me’, ‘You’ and ‘World’, we end up living in a superimposed reality which is essentially nothing but ideas.
Ignoring life in search of something called ‘Enlightenment’ splits reality into two, and we then spend our lives trying to leap from one side to the other from the bad to the good when actually, if seen clearly and directly in this very moment no split can be found. Right now there is only ‘this’ and it is free, it is obvious and it is extraordinarily ordinary.
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A very good read.
‘It can’t be this‘ screams the mind, ‘I don’t want this‘. But let’s take a closer look at this so called ordinariness, for there seems to be no shortage of it…" Sweet indeed.
Bathing the sweet wonder that is this ordinary. This is Zen. Thank you.
Many of us may have thrown aside the ‘power and glory’ of a monotheistic God, but the universe itself presents us with a spectacle of equal, if not greater, wonder.
Not to split hairs or anything, but some of us see the power and glory of the ordinary universe as none other than the monotheistic God of Christianity…and yet are still practicing Buddhists. And there is also some controversy surrounding Big Bang theory.
Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, the magic in the mundane is indeed the whole point in my opinion. But what a paradox, eh?
The 'power' and 'glory' of the ordinary universe is immediate and given to our intuition in a way that the power and glory of a monotheistic God is not. Every aspect of the ordinary universe exhibits that which is precisely not anthropocentric, whereas every concept of a (monotheistic) God is always based on our anthropocentric generalizations – even words such as 'power' and 'glory' are anthropic in origin. With that in mind, it is difficult to see how or why an ordinary universe should really be a manifestation of a monotheistic God.
Aww, thanks guys
That's a good point Duff, there certainly are those that see the universe as God whilst engaging in an authentic Buddhist practice. In fact that has to be one of Buddhism's main attractions doesn't it ‒ a path that is therapeutic just as much as it is devotional.
Ooo, ooo, what's this controversy around the Big Bang!? Do tell
(BTW – that's actually Mike and mine's kitchen in the picture up there! I'm so pleased they used it.)
@Hokai: Didn't you used to have a comment here? You'd put a quote here from something you'd written previously about being ordinary, it actually began with the words, "Being ordinary …". Anyway, I was struck by some of the things you said, especially the bit about outwardly maintaining convention whilst your inner experience is open as the infinite (paraphrased). It reminded me about Ram Dass's story of meeting his teacher Neem Karoli Baba who insisted on being given a high dose of Ram Dass's LSD. I always remember how Ram Dass describes Neem Karoli Baba afterwards as appearing totally normal, at one point even caring for a new-born baby. I guess that goes to show you can never really know what's going on in someone else's head! And also, that ultimately the ordinary and extraordinary can be integrated into a single person's life.
Yeah, for some reason it's gone, so here it goes again. Anyway, I liked your piece, and offered for comparison something I wrote awhile back (the whole piece is <a link="http://hokai.info/ws/?p=8">here). Excerpt: "Being ordinary is essential, even though it’s quite impossible to define what would constitute fundamental normality, since it seems to always be a matter of tension between openness and convention. Fundamental normality is not social normalcy, though the latter may appear as a sterilized expression of the former, and be of some support when we seek balance. Ultimately, however, even being weird is a luxury, generally less available as our spirituality matures (even by Aleister Crowley’s standards!). One comes to appreciate normality as something exceptional, inherent in the natural way our senses work and our mind cogitates. Granted “normality” as a notion is being transformed irrecoverably through the process of spiritual inquiry and unfolding, even so much that one might think of purification. There is a sense in which normality functions as an anchor in the open field of reality-expanse, somewhat similar to nirmanakaya in the esoteric Buddhist notion of two/three/four/five bodies. There is something decent and basic and skillful in the ability to retain and exhibit conventions, while your innermost experience stands open as infinity. This is also known as ordinary mind, unbound by convention or eccentricity. In esoteric Buddhist thought, interestingly enough, each thing is a limpid symbol of what ultimately is."
"The message is clear: magic lies in paying attention to the ordinary." Couldn't agree more:)
Thanks Hokai,
It seems that being ordinary is something that the seeking mind doesn't want to relax into. It may play around the idea. But it's always thirsty for its own conceptual creations and 'Enlightenment' is probably the most extreme example.
I hope this article is able to add to the much needed deconstruction of 'otherness' and help reveal the inherent freedom in all of us which is natural, innocent and obvious.
There is nothing to see other than the fact of seeing, nothing more to know than the fact of your own knowing, nothing to be aware of other than your own awareness. This is what we are, it is simple and free.
You wrote:
"There is something decent and basic and skillful in the ability to retain and exhibit conventions, while your innermost experience stands open as infinity."
This is it. This is when all ideas of apparent otherness and limitation are seen through as mere conceptualisations and life becomes One. Then you can sip your cappucino, get up for work, fill in your tax return, knowing all these experiences to be only yourself: luminously empty yet beautifully full.
Your Friend,
Mike.
For years I have believed that it is important for me to be able to live in the daily "ordinary" world while practicing unconditional love, acceptance and joy. It has certainly required practice but each day it gets a bit easier…How else can I be of service to my fellow man if I cannot live in their world and identify with their experiences?
Thank you for a lovely inspiring article
Thanks Lef for your kind comments!
For many years I also practised joining together the world of spirituality and the mundane and ordinary world which confronted me head-on. Sometimes a marriage seemed to work smoothly, other times the split was too great and there was disharmony not only between me and the world, but with me and myself.
But as we mention in the final paragraph – if seen clearly and directly this spilt between world and self, just does not exist. There are no gaps in reality. No marriage is required between world and practice. There is just what there is – This – and This is always total and always whole.
It obliterates the myth of 'separation'.
When this is seen, then all attempts at 'trying' to get somewhere fall away – with immense relief and celebration. There is no 'world' out there – There is no 'you' in here : there is only ever the unfolding beauty of This…This….This…
Your friend,
Mike.