The Anchorhold of the Heart continued...
We...what we do with this anchorhold...
Life. We. Us. No ONE is Overlooked!
When we experience both depression and spiritual solitude, we seek shelter as we would anchor and moor a boat near the safety of the shore.
At times, it is a momentary pause in the great ocean of experience and at other times it is a steady refuge of renewal and overhaul. Whether it is amid daily experience or a longer period of stability, the heart seeks to secure itself by means of a heavy weight fastened to the end of a chain or rope.
The sinking heart is a heart attempting to stabilize itself in order to continue onward and inward.
It is important to reckon with the place of the anchorhold and the reason to drop anchor.
Is the heart broken and in need of repair? Is the heart empty and in need of fuel? Or is it a mixture of any or all these realities?
What seems to be essential is to reckon with the reality of the heart and what we do at the place of the anchorhold.
If we are broken-hearted, does going to bed repair the broken heart?
If we are exhausted, does willing ourselves to continue on a reasonable and prudent approach?
If we are empty, where do we go to refuel?
Is it this way for us?
We must be willing to study our mind and heart in pursuit of forgetting ourselves. We must remember what we seek, otherwise our mind will take center stage and we will be forever cycling in our sadness, exhaustion and confusion.
Language is merely an assistant to the ways of the heart. The ears listen to the words and carry them from the mind to the heart. The language of the sea is particularly relevant to the language of depression and the spiritual hermit. Both moor themselves somewhere to discover, find and secure something that brings prelief and peace.
The depressed heart attempts to find the “lost beloved” and the spiritual hermit attempts to find the “unknown divine.”
Below is a reminder for us to take shelter in the precepts everyday whether there is a storm or fine weather.
PRECEPTS
DO NO HARM.
CULTIVATE GOODNESS.
PURIFY THE MIND.
DO NOT KILL.
DO NOT STEAL.
DO NOT LIE.
DO NOT MISUSE SEXUALITY.
REFRAIN FROM DRUGS & DRINKING INTOXICANTS.
TELL THE TRUTH.
DON’T BRAG ABOUT YOURSELF AND PUT SOMEONE ELSE DOWN.
DO NOT BE POSSESSIVE.
DO NOT HARBOR ILL-WILL
CULTIVATE ENLIGHTENMENT.
TAKE REFUGE IN BUDDHA, DHARMA, SANGHA.