Clean Hands and a Pure Heart…

I am sure a good many of you have heard of the story of the “100^th Monkey”, a long used metaphor, for depicting the notion that our biology is somehow connected and that when a certain level of critical mass is achieved, evolutionary leaps are possible.

For those of you who may need a refresher, the story goes, that monkey’s of the same species but isolated from one another on a tiny island chain, were discovered by researchers to be engaged in some interesting behavior. Some small number on one of the islands began to wash his fruit in the stream prior to eating it and his companions began to do the same…when the critical mass level was reached or the metaphoric 100^th monkey joined in, suddenly all the monkeys on all the islands were washing their fruit in harmony with their unseen and unknown brethren. A leap into the possible from an unseen and unknowable source.

The reason this old story came to my mind is that I have noticed a relatively new behavior in myself. I have always been a regular hand washer, before meals, after gardening, and of course after the use of the “facilities”. But just recently I have noticed a measureable increase in the frequency of, and time spent, lathering my hands in the warm water of bathing them…and I wondered…is this new attention to detail mine? Or is it that I am merely one of the 100 or so, monkeys in the chain of humans, who are overly concerned with germs and cleansing every surface of every nook and every cranny.

In other words a shared, non-attached participation in the concerns that populate the focus of my brethren on our string of separate islands…floating in the vastness of space.

I really do think that is the case, germs have become a focus of the collective egoic mind, and so each of us feels the pull in some way or another, and thus commercials for every conceivable form of germ chasing pop up by the score, grocery stores provide germ wipes at every entrance, and we all think twice about taking peanuts from the open bowl on a bar top.

Here is just one small and arguably somewhat innocuous example of the shared nature of our deep connection. Beneath what our eyes can perceive we are all One Being, and what affects me impacts you.

In the new Stillness that is slowly growing in my heart and mind I come to realize that my “purpose” in life is not what I am doing, or achieving, or becoming, or able to sell, nor is it how I am perceived, received or recognized. My impact on Life, the human family and the return on investment that life has made in me is not to be found in some Great Calling in the outer world, running to and fro like a lost soul…searching out acceptance and approval, but rather the moments of increasing depth of commitment to acceptance of the current moment.

In other words can I wash my hands, and be awake to it, at the same time? Can I know the where, when, how and wherefores of my moment-by-moment experience? Can I stay right here, focused on the singularity of the current moment as it unveils itself to me, completely and fully invested in the expression of the self… as It washes hands, palms, fingers, and wrists…in the smooth glide of bubble oiled movement of hand to hand service.

That is my Calling and it is yours too…

The egoic mind would have you believe that monuments to your greatness/specialness/uniqueness need to be built in your honor, labored over, sold in the marketplace, and chiseled into the cornerstones of great buildings…and all that might in fact may become true about you, thru the generations and beyond, they will study the greatness of Einstein, Emerson, Lao Tzu and Buddha. But each of these men said plainly, often, clearly, and with commitment that there contribution arose from the capacity they had developed to stand in the stillness, to focus the whole of themselves on the singular moment of the current experience.

For the world to experience the phenomena of the 100^th monkey, the evolutionary leap into a higher order of existence, greatness is not required…simplicity is. Can you back away from the convolutions of the story telling mind of illusion, in favor of the groundedness of Being? Can you know yourself in suds and warm water? Can you open yourself to the deep peace hard-wired in your right brains hemisphere? Can you live, move and have your Being, in the calm center of the timeless Now?

If you can, then you are doing the heavy lifting the world is so desperate for. If you can’t, you are part of the problem…no matter how spiritual you may hold yourself to be. I know that sounds harsh, but we must awaken from the dreaming of becoming “light-bearers” that has so captivated so many good minds, sending them seeking after a new brand of illusion and misperception. Spiritual materialism is just as deadly and deadening as is the more regular brand of materialism.

I have a friend who is fond of quoting the words of the I Ching when he says to me, “prior to enlightenment I chopped wood and carried water…and after enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water”. Here is the truth of the thing, enlightenment does not move in the world of Form… it is the Ground of Being, the Formless - Nameless - Selfless - Suchness out of which we came, and to which we will return…and in the meantime… if you cannot find your God in the chopping of wood or the washing of hands, then it is you who are lost and in need of purification, not the world.

Our contribution lies not in the outer, but in the Deep Center. Einstein said his only desire was to “know the mind of God”; he traveled that pathway thru the austerity and singularity of numbers and their abiding mystery. Anything, anywhere, at any time…numbers, the chopping of wood, or the washing of hands…can carry you to the Deep Center.

When the Deep Center is finally accessed everything else the world has to offer loses its color and appeal, nothing has a greater value than the peace so freely given at the Deep Center of things. Even small moments, or tiny breaks in the perceptions of the egoic mind provide enough tinder to flame the fire of warmth and welcome, that burns so brightly at the Deep Center of things.

Fear evaporates in the Deep Center and home becomes a place of arrival…rather than a constant seeking.

From an author, whose name has escaped me, comes this description of the Deep Center…”a few times in my life, I’ve had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think. These times are so clear…the world seems so fresh, as though it all just came into existence.”

The Silence can drown out the noise, and Feeling can heal the obsession of thinking and free us all from the madness of the lost self.

My prayer for us all…May you make your small contribution of Silence, which is so necessary for the 100^th Monkey to appear. May you choose the quiet of contemplation over the drama of appearances, so that the birth of a new order may arise and fill the hearts and minds of all who are to come…this is both your duty and your freedom, your mandate and your gift, your obligation and your ease.

Clean hands and a pure heart, this is all that Life asks of us. May all of your doing be clean of the needs of the egoic mind, and may your heart return to the purity that so aches for you, the lost one, the wayward son, the homeless self….

And So It Is…

Adayre R. Miller

8/10/10