I was just skimming through Robert Johnson’s biography again, searching for some one of his stories. I was looking for inspiration. I found one almost immediately.
He told the story of two men seeking heaven. One was an ascetic, who had spent thirty years meditating. He had meditated so steadfastly that birds had made a nest in his hair and bees had formed a hive around his right arm. The other was a man, who constantly danced for many years. One day a messenger came from heaven and when he met the meditating asectic the ascetic asked him how long before he would achieve heaven. The second man asked the same question. The messenger returned to heaven and when he went back to earth he met the same two men. The first man, who had been meditating for so long, asked the messenger the same question. The messenger replied, “You have nine more incarnations before heaven.” The man gro! aned and said that he worried that he thought the answer was too much to bear. When the messenger met the dancing man, he told the man that he would have to go through as many incarnations as there were leaves on the tree above him. The dancing man laughed and said “So soon!” It was then a voice came from heaven and told him that he was at once going to heaven.
Atttitudes are more important than facts. They change the facts. In fact, in response to my email of yesterday, one man wrote back that he believed that the phrase “AA is not a hotbed of mental health” should be changed to “AA is a hotbed of sobriety”. He said that if we were to be so sane, we wouldn’t need a program. He said that our search for spirituality gradually makes us better and we become more sane as we go on.
I love that. What an attitude. It made me think of Wa! lt G. at the Plant Industry meeting in Md., when he would often say, “Welcome criticism”. Never mind the mental health. Look only to the fact of sobriety. What a positive attitude. “So soon!”, as the dancing man said.
Ned
Bring words and photos together (easily) with