The Journey of a Thousand Miles
The saying “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” comes from the Tao Te Ching and is attributed to the Chinese sage, Laozi. If we think about it, every endeavour we’ve ever undertaken began with a single step.
For some people a new venture is easy, but for most, success depends on determination and practice. The spiritual path is no different. So, what is this spiritual journey that we have undertaken or are contemplating about? And what are the steps we take? In the book Be Human – Then Divine we read:
The soul once had wings, said Plato, and it flew light and free in the divine realm. Soaring on updrafts of divine love, it gazed on Truth and enjoyed its true nourishment – radiant, eternal Beauty.
What a beautiful description of our soul’s true home. There can be no earthly journey to compare with this spiritual journey.
The Lord, for reasons known only to him, sent some souls away from their original home to populate the different levels of creation. Many of these souls are now trapped in physical bodies, lost in forgetfulness and illusion, and subject to laws of karma and reincarnation in which every action has a reaction and must be accounted for.
At the end of every life the soul is assigned to the next body where it can most efficiently settle its karmic account allocated for that life. This cycle of birth, death and rebirth continues remorselessly. This apparent hopelessness is not, however, the gloomy end of the story. Since time immemorial philosophers, mystics and saints have maintained that the soul can retrace its steps and return home and once again rise to reunion with its Father.
How do we go about setting out on this journey? Interestingly, our first step is not one that we ourselves actively take. The first step is to meet and be initiated by a true living master. We may think that we find the Master but, in truth, he knows when souls are ready and then he draws them to himself. The mission of the true mystics is to see that the souls of their disciples soar homeward, supported by the Master’s own grace and love.
From Master’s vantage point the destination is already in sight. From our limited perspective the journey has only just begun.
The ancient Greek philosophers Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all believed that, metaphorically, we could ‘regrow our soul’s wings’ under the guidance of a true teacher. They believed that the steps of the journey would be guided by the direction of our attention. We need to shift the direction of our attention, desires and love away from the world and towards our Master.
It is our attention that will determine our steps at this stage of the journey. The philosophers advocated an approach based on daily practice. Their students were asked to live according to the highest standards of ethical conduct. They were required to follow the disciplines of contemplation, meditation, silence and training the mind.
These disciplines also apply in part to our journey, which revolves around an additional three core issues – the Master, love and our attention. We will have no clue about who our Master really is until we reach our first major goal, the eye centre. We also have no idea of what he is actually doing for us on this journey. What we can know about – what we can constantly work on – is our attention.
Our steps are practical and they include the following: we must choose to follow the Master’s example in everything; we must choose to be good human beings; we must be vegetarians; we must give up alcohol, drugs and tobacco products; we must use our simran with attention at every possible moment; and we must try to meditate with attention every day. In Be Human – Then Divine we read:
Practical philosophy guides towards exercising clear thinking, remaining resilient, and making wise choices – choices that will not lead to further troubles and entanglements, but rather to happiness and inner well-being.
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras are the basic subject matter of this book, and these emphasize how the application of right living will eventually lead to an Awareness of the Divine. The ancient philosophers were also clear about the role of the teacher, namely to explain the teachings and give each student the necessary guidance.
Our Masters have the same goals for us. They want us to practise the path diligently so that we too can realize our potential. What we need to remember, throughout each day, is that this is a slow process. There are no shortcuts.
We need to be realistic about this journey. It’s going to be a battleground, probably until the end of our lives. The reason is because our chief opponent – the mind – will be with us until the end of this human life. This mind, with all its cunning, negative, repetitive promptings, can keep us stuck in the quagmire of the world. But it can also, with Master’s grace and our ceaseless diligence, start to free us from bondage.
We will only make the correct choices in this battle if we understand the nature of the enemy. Apathy, laziness and negativity will feed the mind and keep us bound here. Every day, we have to go into battle armed with the power of discrimination, our attention and the power of our simran. In the book Many Voices, One Song we read:
The practice of repetition, infused with the power of the guru-disciple relationship, focuses and stills the disciple’s mind. Once the soul is free of the limitations of the mind, the disciple becomes receptive to the extraordinary reality of the true, unspoken Name. This Name is the goal and destination of bhakti practice.
Our attention is the vehicle whereby we can approach our first goal – the eye centre. Our Masters have given us our simran as the fuel that will empower that vehicle. We all have access to the power of simran if we choose to use it. The words come from the Master himself – they are imbued with his power.
The mind expresses itself through thoughts. Sometimes these are good, necessary and positive. Very often, they can be negative, self-indulgent or nasty and lead us away from the goal. There can be no doubt about the Master’s grace, but our willingness to commit our attention to the battle with determination is not so assured.
Naturally, our journey to the eye centre is going to be slow. The mind has had its own way since we arrived here in the creation. It enjoys being the boss. However, we must always remember who gave us our words of simran and why. Through repetition the mind can be tamed and we can become receptive to the sound current, which will draw the soul home.
It is important for us to try to do as much simran as possible throughout the day. Simran turns us towards our Master and helps our love and devotion grow. It also prepares the way for meditation, the most important activity in our lives. Bit by bit, our simran gradually erases bad memories and habits. It puts an end to compulsive negative thinking. Our attention and our vigilance can swing our attention towards the soul. This is our choice.
Every round of simran is a blow to the power of the mind. We don’t know where we are on our journey – and we don’t need to know. We just need to keep taking those little steps, until one day they’ll become an avalanche of love that will take us straight into our Master’s arms.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step of simran. Let’s keep taking those steps.