Adashsikra, January 22, 57 AG (IV).The Fortress and the Church
To provide for the needs of body and soul we need to build two things for ourselves: a fortress and a church. This should not be taken literally but psychologically.
We need a fortress to resist life, to deal well in life. It means general education and preparation in order to ensure a good life for oneself.
The walls of the fortress represent the different sides of oneself that need to be developed.
There is the instinctive wall: we need to learn about the body, how to handle it, train it, keep it healthy and in good shape. This side also means learning about money, how to take care of the financial side. The most important two things to learn about money are: first, that you cannot become rich unless you learn to pay yourself first: that is, to keep aside some money from your salary and learn how to invest it wisely – to build economies, reserves, for times of old age, times of need. It is most important to learn to discipline yourself to delay gratification, from an all-round life point of view. This means to be able to distinguish present good from future good. Secondly, to acquire passive income: that means to have something that keeps making money for you even if you don’t do anything; it has to do with making something and selling it that gives royalties: writing books, or producing music or something like that… Statistics show that your best chance to become rich is to become an entrepreneur. This side of the fortress also refers to comfort and home. Learn what you need to learn in order to get yourself a good house, a good income.
The next wall is the wall of movement. It is learning crafts, acquiring practical skills: how to build, how to drive a car, how to cook, repair, saw, paint, dance – how to become handy with your limbs. Also ability to defend yourself – how to swim, how to fight. Traveling experience can be very useful.
The next wall is the emotional and social wall. It refers especially to learning how to deal with people; you have to be smart, to know how to speak and behave towards different people at different occasions. Know how to behave at a party or at work, how to speak with your cleaning lady as well as with your boss etc. Trying to be polite inside yourself – in your thinking and feeling – as well as outside – in speech and behavior. How to dress appropriately. It also refers to learning something about art: music, painting, poetry, film… For example learn how to play an instrument.
The fourth wall refers to the mind. You must have an active and richly furnished set of brains. First of all you must be very good at the profession you choose for yourself. You must get for yourself the reputation of an expert:
oh, you want to know about coffee roasting, X knows everything about it, just ask him… Learn everything you need to know about your area of expertise. Besides this you must have some general culture to be sure: know a few languages, read a good literature book now and then, know your Shakespeare and your Goethe… Also very important: thinking for oneself, not going with everybody’s opinion.
Of course, some things can address several or all of these sides. Traveling for example: it addresses your social side if you meet people, your emotional side if you visit beautiful places, your intellectual side by opening your mind to new or different ideas, or learning new languages, your physical side, your instinctive side also because you have to cope with uncustomary circumstances and environment, climb mountains or bear unusual climate, eat unusual foods etc.
Another thing to keep in mind is that every one of us has a tendency more to one or another side: one is more artistically endowed, another has a talent for languages, another for engineering and yet other for cooking or healing etc. For a good life you need to take care to develop all sides of your being, not only one; with one only you will remain one-sided and will have a boring routine mono-color life. Life is tough. You will always meet with problems upon your path. (Economically speaking, the days of the stable, life-long working place are gone forever.) All-round development ensures that you can face these problems with relative ease and will be able to find your way wherever life throws you.
The church is a more delicate issue. It means more or less keeping your best thoughts, feelings, ideals, your highest aspirations and beliefs separate from all the rest. Life is often a muddy affair and we don’t always meet good people or good places or good situations. It is best to build an island for oneself, psychologically speaking, to insulate oneself from life. It is sometimes said about brilliant scientists, discoverers and artists, that they stuck with their highest vocation despite failures, criticisms and disbelief from others. Thus Edison who made such genius discoveries despite the fact that he was thrown out of elementary school. You have to keep your best and highest self insulated from the rest, from life-as-usual, otherwise the slightest problem or critique will discourage and disappoint you and make you give up… Do not let criticism, disbelief, depression, negativity, cynicism, temporary failures touch your church. This, by the way, points to one possible meaning of the story of the ark of Noah.
If you think about this a little I’m sure you can find examples for yourself from life or literature or movies about people who have castle and church or not. Some people do not have castles, they are weak and impractical in their dealings in life, and it seems life and other people are always trampling them underfoot. Those who only have church tend to live in imagination and to be always disappointed and complaining about life. Some do not have church, for example in Shakespeare’s “Othello”, the character Iago – he is smart, cunning, perceptive, but has nothing higher in himself, he lives for a cheap, cynical kind of cleverness and only sees the lower side of people; to a certain extent he can be said to have a fortress, but it is not infallible: he underestimates Emilia, he would not believe someone was willing to give up one’s life for the sake of the truth…
These ideas are not as easy as they sound. One should think about them oneself – make them one’s own… Think about your life, what do you want to get out of it, what problems do you expect to face, what are your aims, what higher something do you believe in. And where are you now, how far from or how close to your aims, how many things you don’t know which you wish or should know. How well can you deal with life, people, situations… Are you easily discouraged, do you tend to not take seriously your best and highest aspirations because of what others may say…? Think, find your own examples, make your own plans.
Remember, for the welfare of thy body and soul, to build thyself a castle and a church.
Be good, be well!
References
M. Nicoll – Psychological Commentaries. 1952.
A. Bloom – Shakespeare’s Politics. 1964.
S.R. Covey – The 8th Habit. 2004.
Images: Albrecht Altdorfer - Allegory of the Royal Trip. 1531; Oil on panel; Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/altdorfer/allegory.jpg Vicent van Gogh – L'église d'Auvers-sur-Oise (The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise) 1890 (220 Kb); Oil on canvas, 94 x 74 cm (37 x 29 1/8 in); Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/gogh.eglise-auvers.jpg
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Adashsikra, second orthodox Easter day, 24 April 56 AG (Fourth Age)
