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The pathways mortals choose are many and as varied as the mortals who choose them.
Those who choose the life of the intellect may spend many years studying the words of others, memorizing and retelling what they’ve absorbed from books to all who will listen to them. Very often, the intellect is self-contained and unpracticed. When confronted with a real life situation response is not from the knowledge gleaned, but from their own innate ignorance: They cannot apply what they’ve learned because what their learning consists of is memorized words.
Those who choose the life of the body may spend many hours in gyms and in health food stores and in cosmetics and clothing stores. Some even choose to reconstruct their faces or their shapes with the help of plastic surgeons. They spend all their spare time with others with a body-bent, displaying themselves where they can be seen. The first thing they say to someone they meet is ‘You look ‘ good, or tired, or some way or another. Their minds are completely occupied with outer appearance, their own and everyone else’s to boot.
Those who choose the pathway of heart may spend many hours thinking about their loved ones, those less fortunate than they, those they meet in every social situation, those whom they have harmed or who have harmed them in some way, those who have special needs, those who have a proximity to them in some way, neighbors and such. And they spend countless hours tending to other people’s business, volunteering, attending every local function, involving themselves in every community event, carrying food here and there, sorting old clothes for the homeless, making countless political phone calls, and so on.
Those who choose the pathway of spirit often spend many years studying metaphysics, reading scriptures, practicing a religion, looking for miracles, praying for favors, asking absolution for their own misdemeanors, teaching or guiding others who come their way and imagining themselves to be angels, saints, or saviors.
Those who choose the pathway of Tao are content to apply what they learn and use their intellect to discriminate between want and need; they take care of the health of the body and keep it clean and fit as though it were the home in which they live; they tend to the life of the spirit, allowing the ebb and flow of life force energy to move freely through them to the world and back again. In this way, they leave the heart free to help ease the suffering of folks who choose the more frantic, chaotic, or delusional pathways of life..
Om Mani Padme Hum. H’Art of Zen
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