Human by Design: From Evolution by Chance to Transformation by Choice by Gregg Braden

Author:Gregg Braden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hay House, Inc.
Published: 2017-09-23T04:00:00+00:00

THE FORCE THAT CONNECTS ALL THINGS

On another frosty Tibetan morning, this time in a different chapel of the same monastery, we found ourselves seated with the new abbot. Only minutes before, we’d been led through a meandering, stone-lined passageway that led to this tiny, cold, and dimly lit room. As we waited for the abbot to meet us, I remember thinking to myself that we could only imagine the conversations, teachings, and initiation processes that had occurred in the very place we found ourselves that morning. In the distance, I heard the faint sound of leather sandals slapping against the cold stone floors. I knew that it was the abbot coming for our meeting. As the sound grew louder, I could feel the growing anticipation in the room with the realization that our meeting, though delayed, was really going to happen.

The abbot pushed aside the heavy tapestry that hung in the doorway to keep the cold air out (or to keep the warmer air in the room). With a huge grin, he touched the thumb of his right hand to his heart, fingers together and pointing toward the sky, in a half prayer mudra, while the other hand held on to his robes as he glided across the room. Following the formalities of introductions and the blessing of the khatas—ceremonial white silk scarves that each person who meets him traditionally offers him for blessing—the abbot signaled that he was available for questions. It was here, nestled in the silence of the ancient monastery, that I asked a question regarding the topic of the book I was writing at the time, The Divine Matrix.

“In your tradition,” I began, “what is the force that connects us with other people, our world, and all things? What is the conduit that carries our prayers beyond our bodies and the stuff that holds the universe together?”

With the smile that never left his face, the abbot held eye contact with me as our translator repeated my question in Tibetan. What happened next came as a surprise to me and the others in the room.

Immediately the two men—the abbot and his translator—began a loud and lively exchange with animated gestures and enthusiastic emphasis that began to sound like a Tibetan shouting match! While my Tibetan is terrible and I couldn’t understand a single word that either man was saying, the nature of the conversation seemed obvious. They were struggling with the meaning of my question and where it fit into the abbot’s teachings. He was accustomed to answering such questions from familiar students who had already studied with him and had years of training that would prepare them for such a conversation. But the abbot didn’t know me. He had no idea of my background, my traditions, or my spiritual experience, and he simply didn’t know where and how to begin his answer.

Answering me as he might answer a lifelong monk would be like parents telling a young child where babies come from without the child first having the benefit of knowing about the biology of intimate human relations.

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