A Soulful Journey

In Graham Greene's, "A Burnt-Out Case," about an internationally renowned architect, who was considered by his peers one of the greatest architects in the world, finds life tasteless, meaningless. In his search for meaning and purpose, he turns his life away from family, fortunate all else and goes to Africa where he settles in a Dominican monastery where lepers are cared for. There he discovers that when people are stricken with leprosy, there is a time when wild burning consumes that portion of their bodies that will be afflicted. Then as suddenly as the burning begins, it stops. It burns itself out. The nervous system is gone and there is no longer any feeling, any smell, any sight.  For the rest of their lives, these mutilated bodies go on without pain. The monks refer to them as the "burned out." It is better to feel than be anesthetized to life.

"If your goal is not determined by your most secret pathos, even victory will only make you painfully aware of your own weakness." - Dag Hammarskjold

Jiddo Krishnamurti , spiritual teacher, once asked students what they would say to a good friend about to die.   They answered lots of things.   Krishnamurti interrupted them: ‘Tell him that in his death a part of you dies and goes with him.’   - Larry Dosey , Healing Words

Two anecdotes: Condemned to death by Parisian revolutionaries, Louis xvi consumed six cutlets, a big portion of eggs, and three glasses of wine. Louis xvi loved food so much that on his wedding night when he was sixteen years old, he ate himself “breathless.”   When his grandfather, Louis xv, recommended that he might be filling his stomach too much young Louis replied “Why not?   I sleep so much better that way.” Louis xvi is not alone.   Many people consume great quantities of [fill in the needed word here: food, drugs, sex, alcohol] while ignoring the many good things (and bad… but isn’t that what it means to be alive?) that happen to us.   It is like taking a pain killer that dulls all sensation.