I just listened to a podcast interview of a writer named Dean Sluyter. He has a book called The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature. After teaching English at a New Jersey prep school for thirty years and spending his summers traveling and studying Buddhism, he decided to write a book about the spiritual messages he sees in the classics. Sounds like a book I need to read.
They talked about The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn, two of my favorite books. Apparently, Sluyter sees Huck Finn as taking the ‘middle way’, the river, between two paths he doesn’t want: the old lady who wants to adopt him and his violent father.
I feel as if the books I’ve written are about characters applying spiritual principles to the struggles they face. I actually wouldn’t know what else to write about. More than a writer or a painter I feel like a seeker. What began with questions like, Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the meaning of all this? I now find myself simply asking, What’s Your will?
I don’t remember where I read it, and I’ve never been able to find it since, but in my twenties I remember reading that the last level of childhood development is spiritual. When we get into our twenties, or late adolescence, we start wondering who we are and what our purpose is. That may not be that big of a deal toady, but back in the 90’s it was. No one was talking about spirituality and mental health back then.
I’ve always found it easier to learn about spirituality through modern parables. Although I’ve read the Bible, and I’ve even read books about the Buddha, I don’t get it. It’s not stuff I can relate to. But if you talk about say, Huck Finn taking the ‘middle way’, I’m going to jump out of my skin. That’s one of the coolest things I’ve heard in a long time.
Much of my spiritual life these days revolves around asking and listening. Prayer and meditation. Asking, What’s in my way? may lead to me noticing a character defect. Currently I’m seeing how I ‘play dead’. I go into a state of paralysis or despondency, unable to cope with a situation or take responsibility for it. I’ve done it since I was a kid. As an adult, through contemplation, I’ve realized that I play dead because when I was a child my mom would get frustrated and fix it. I still use an outdated behavior not realizing why. Not realizing that no one’s fixing it.
Spirituality for me isn’t so much conceptual as it is practical. The answers lie within. Through asking for guidance and patiently listening for it, I can get help navigating life.