Emerson may have said it best when he observed that “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” God knows I’m sincere when I say “a-men” to that poetic crucifixion of anal-retentive as a life style. I’ve been there and I’ve done that one. Still do on occasion. Hobgoblins die hard.

One of the classic examples of the kind of unenlightened attitude that is guaranteed to trash serenity is found in the tenacious investment most of us have in defending and perpetuating the collection of ideas we currently embrace as the truth of how it is with ourselves, each other, and the world we live in. I’ve got it figured out. Don’t mess with it. Embrace my point of view, “Viva my status quo,” and we’ll get along fine.

And how we cling to our petrified notions defining how Is-ness should behave in our presence. Even when it becomes distressingly apparent that our beliefs keep getting in the way of our peace and serenity, we still find it enormously difficult to step outside our current points of view and explore the promise of a fresh perspective.

Even when... our beliefs keep getting in the way of our peace and serenity, we still find it enormously difficult to step outside our current points of view and explore the promise of a fresh perspective.

Sengstan, the Third Zen Patriarch, called that tendency “cherishing opinions.” He went on to teach that “the Great Way is not difficult for those who do not cherish opinions.” He reminded us that liberation does not require great knowledge of esoteric spiritual principles . . . it only asks that we “cease cherishing our opinions.” And let’s understand that he’s not saying “have no opinions,” he’s simply encouraging us to remember that having our opinions accommodated is not nearly as satisfying as preserving our serenity.

It’s a teaching identical to the Jesus ethic that encourages us to “lay up not for ourselves treasure on earth.” The operative word being “treasure.” Both teachings are encouraging us to be very mindful about falling in the trap of assigning “treasured” or “cherished” status (ultimate significance) to anything that falls within our human experience. That includes all the material symbols of wealth and status and all the human behaviors that we have come to value and cherish so desperately. But cherish we do, and pay the price of lost serenity and dark nights of the soul.

The intention underlying our tendency to create “cherished” and “treasured” collections of appropriate and inappropriate, desirable and undesirable, good and bad, and right and wrong, seems evident enough. We’re all just taking a run at making a little sense out of this ever changing flow of form and circumstance we call our lives. Get it qualified and defined so we can understand it. Tighten down the margins so we can deal with it. Housebreak Chaos into consistent patterns of predictable, principled, manageable civility so we’re clear on what to cherish and what to chastise.

Yeah, right! Carl Sandburg was hip to the likelihood of that ever bearing any living fruit. He wrote, “We run round in a ring and suppose, while the Secret sits in the middle and knows.”

And what does the Secret know that we seem to have such a tough time embracing? I’ve got a hunch that one of its revelations would be an invitation to relax and learn to “dig Infinity!” just the way it is, rather than obsess about pruning each moment of it into conformity with some cherished notion of how it’s “gotta be.”

And let’s make sure we are clear here. This is not about giving up every dream you’ve ever dreamed about how you’d like your earth-world to be. To have some definite ideas about the kinds of things you’d like your material experience to include motivates the creative activity that adds immensely to the joy and satisfaction of our earth-lives. Go for it! Just remember not to assign your earth-bound dreams “treasure” status, or cherish them so intensely that you’d sacrifice your serenity if they don’t work out.

Remember, the material symbols of wealth and status in and of themselves are not our problem. Lots of folks who are wealthy and powerful within the ego domain of our earth-world are also quite compassionate and spiritually awakened.

Likewise, there are plenty of ascetics wandering around who don’t have a spiritual clue. The problem is not the “stuff.” The problem is the neurotic pursuit of wealth, influence, status and fame, as if they represent the keys to the kingdom of contentment.

The “hobgoblin of little minds” that Emerson speaks to evokes for me an image of a being who has painted him or herself into a corner of philosophical and cultural dogma so rigid they have become essentially unavailable to anyone embracing even a slightly different sense of things. There are no leaks in the margins of their belief systems. Every being or situation they encounter is measured by the cold calculus of an ideology that demands absolute agreement with its points of view across the whole spectrum of human possibility. They are frustrated, hostile, grandiose, arrogant and scared. They are folks caught up in the human predicament Jesus called the struggle to pour “new wine into old wineskins.”

They are me . . . They are you . . . They are us . . . All of us . . . Everyone of us.

We’ve all been there. Some of us are there now. We’ll all be there again. The important thing is not to deny it. We’ve all got work to do.

Ram Dass once told me that the toughest part, and the most important part, of the journey of awakening is to get to the place where we stop bull-shitting ourselves about how it really is with us. “Bearing not false witness” is a tough spiritual art to master when it comes to the integrity of our self evaluations. Liberation from the “hobgoblins” of cherished belief systems begins with our willingness to acknowledge that we still have some stuck-points. It’s hard work, but it’s the only game in town if you’re tired of hanging out in alternating states of petulance, hostility, disappointment, anxiety, grief and guilt. The key to liberating ourselves from that whole load of useless, unnecessary suffering rests in our willingness to begin knowing the Truth about where our feelings come from.

That liberating insight is available to anyone spiritually mature enough to move out of the victim fantasy and recognize the empowering Truth that all feelings are self-imposed. Nobody “makes” us feel mad, sad, bad, or glad. We do that all by ourselves. Our emotional experience is not, ultimately, contextually determined.

Our capacity to drink the sweet cup of a “peace that passes understanding” is totally dependent upon our capacity to mitigate our cherished opinions in the service of that grace. When we become mindful enough to remember not to invest agreement in any conclusion that is not spiritually informed, we will be done with the tribulations of the world and will join our brother, Jesus, in a state of eternal party-time.

Enjoy the Grace!
--Chad

© 2003 Rev. Chad O'Shea

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