At least three out of 365 days should be declared a soul-holiday, a vacation for the spirit to recover. Just half-a-week — to ponder, reflect and reconfirm that “what is essential is invisible to the eye.” An intermission from busy frenetic lives, to deliberately dial-down all physical, financial and worldly concerns so that the spiritual side can come to fore.
To see beyond the face that stares back from the mirror. Not to take an inventory of crow’s feet and sunspots, but to affirm core principles and ensure that the moral compass is working well. Do we still like what we see? Or has the spirit withered from being neglected and ignored?
No matter what our station in life may be, whether a powerful leader or the lowliest follower, the questions are the same: how far have we gone in life’s journey? Are we on the right path? Where is the final destination? Are the things we consider important, really important? Have we defined our priorities correctly? Have we found meaning in life? Are we breaking our backs for the right goals?
Is happiness about attaining the corner office and making big bucks? Are we at least contented if not happy? Can we really park the Ferrari next to happiness, as Garfield said? Is there truth to the passage, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his soul”? Or as The Catcher in the Rye protagonist Holden Caulfield said, “Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.”
There is a growing belief from sociologists and life coaches that the world is becoming depressive. Even in our own happy shores, the number of suicides has risen to an all-time high.
Eckhart Tolle, author of The New Earth, posits that unhappiness is caused by the Ego that pegs self-identity on looks, wealth, property, career, social position. Hence, any setback or loss demolishes self-identity, which, in turn, diminishes self-worth.
“Ego is much more than an overinflated sense of self. It can also turn up in feelings of inferiority or self-hatred because ego is any image you have of yourself that gives you a sense of identity.” It can make us forget that the essence of our being is intangible and indestructible — our true self. Some call this Soul or Spirit, Higher Being, Inner God or Universal Good. Whatever we choose to name it, whatever faith and religion we subscribe to, there is a definite correlation between the nourishment of the Soul and inner peace and contentment.
Tolle might have been referring to Ego-attitudes captured so well in J.D. Salinger’s 1951 cult-classic, The Catcher in the Rye, dubbed the bible of depressives. The famous writer-recluse connected with readers from every generation, post-war to millennial. Holden, his lead character, drawled, “The thing is, it’s really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs — if yours are really good ones and theirs aren’t. You think if they’re intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor, that they don’t give a damn whose suitcases are better, but they do. They really do. It’s one of the reasons why I roomed with a stupid bastard like Stradlater. At least his suitcases were as good as mine.”
The baby-boomers, Gen X and Gen Y, nodded their heads in vigorous agreement. They know exactly what he means. How true that envy walks hand-in-hand with sadness. “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself” admonishes the poem Desiderata, penned in 1927 by American writer Max Ehrmann. Salinger describes depression vividly: “This fall I think you’re riding for — it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement’s designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started.”
Desiderata counters “Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
“Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.”
In a moment of clarity, Holden realizes his purpose in life. “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around — nobody big, I mean — except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.”
Tolle notes that “When you see the difference between your voice and the reality of the situation, that’s the beginning of awakening. This is often a moment — a flash that sizzles and disappears. Initially you still lose yourself again, and the old thoughts arise, but gradually, you gain awareness, and the dysfunctional thoughts subside. It’s a gradual transition, this bringing in of your awareness, because the ego doesn’t want to change.”
We all need a holy pause. For the next 72 hours, let us get to know our True Self.
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