The Flickering Flame

For meditation to happen, calm and auspicious conditions have to be created. Before we have mastery over our minds, we need first to calm their environment.

     At the moment, our minds are like a candle flame; unstable, flickering, constantly changing, fanned by the violent winds of our thoughts and emotions. The flame will burn steadily only when we can calm the air around it; so we can only begin to glimpse and rest in the nature of mind when we have stilled the turbulence of our thoughts and emotions. On the other hand, once we have found a stability in our meditation, noises and disturbances of every kind will have far less impact.

Glimpse After Glimpse,

Sogyal Rinpoche

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     The idea of making a sacred place to meditate is an ancient one and has tremendous merit as a productive way to start the day. Some would propose that it is locked into our DNA, going as far back as cave paintings. Just walking in; sitting down in a pew of a cathedral or temple, has a calming influence, as my mind is drawn to the quiet in which the place absorbs me. Is it no wonder that many flee to such sanctuaries in troubled times? In my home I found it helpful to make a place I call my private sanctuary for meditation. It isn’t much… a small table with a few pictures of inspirational people… folks I admire (for instance, I have, on one side, pictures of Mark Twain and Chief Joseph… on the other side I have one of Geronimo and another of Jack Kerouac) perhaps a small piece of sacred sculpture, a candle or two, and  an incense burner. This is where the liturgy of prayer and the practice of meditation combine to help me make contact with my concept of a Higher Power.

    There are some religious folks that would think that this practice is a form of idolatry but nothing could be further from the truth. I don’t worship these objects. If anything, they are merely inspirational in the sense that an executive keeps a picture of his children on his desk to remind him why he is there. They are not objects of superstition like a wearing the same socks all season as is often the practice of baseball players. If I could be accused of anything, it would be that these pictures and such are crutches. I can easily accept that criticism because I know I am spiritually disabled. I am as a man who has lost a leg along these lines and I know I will never grow a new one.

    However, after I sit a few minutes in the morning, I have found that my Higher Power is portable. I can take this spirit with me wherever and whatever I do. If the Heart of Compassion is a crutch… so be it. I am forever grateful for the places where the flickering flame is calmed by the air around it.

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