Follow The Yellow Brick Road

 

 

 

 

Almost everyone above the age of, say, 7 has seen, or, at the very least heard of The Wizard of Oz. The basic story of a young girl, Dorothy, who finds herself transported to another dimension and seeks to return home to the life she knows and loves is pretty much well known. 

The opening scenes of the film are in black and white, with a sepia tone added to give it a kind of comparison to the later scenes which were filmed in Technicolor. One of the more memorable scenes in the film is when, after Dorothy's house is caught up in a tornado and transported to Oz, sh wakes up and goes through the house, eventually opening the door and seeing an entirely new and strange world beyond it.

This in essence is the inspiration for this post. Let's look at it from a spiritual standpoint. 

I liken my own personal spiritual journey to that of Dorothy's initial reaction to this development. It might have been easy for Dorothy to just look out that door, see the strange new world beyond, and slam the door shut, refusing to accept the potential changes that the future might hold. Closing said door denies the potential experiences that Dorothy might receive by venturing into the unknown.

A 19th century philosopher named Herbert Spencer once wrote:

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” 

To refuse to let some philosophical ideas to germinate in one's mind, simply because they might conflict with a preset, or inherited, philosophical mindset, in my opinion, is to deny an opportunity to grow. An example would be how I approached spirituality before I became more open-minded in my way of thinking. 

To wit: I was raised an evangelical (and sometimes fundamentalist) Christian. As such, I was imbued with an attitude to accept only Christian ideals and to reject any other concepts as being "of the Devil". That means that I thought I should avoid any competing religious or philosophical ideas as not being conducive to leading a good Christian life. 

But as I became more and more open-minded and curious, I investigated some of the so-called "competing beliefs" and eventually found that not everything in those philosophies were so dangerous. For instance: I have a T-shirt that I cherish which has a drawing of Buddha (the founder of Buddhism) with a motto on it that says "You need to let that $*:+ go." 

Sure, Christianity had it's own version of that concept when Jesus told his followers to "turn the other cheek".  But the quality of not letting a resentment build up in me until it invaded nearly every waking moment never really set in until I started reading about suffering and the effects that dwelling on the past can have on your psyche.

There is a story I once read about two Buddhist monks traveling together. They come a river that is wide and not too deep and need to cross it. Nearby is a woman who also wants to cross the river, but she is afraid. She asks the monks if they can help her. These monks had made a solemn vow in their order to not touch a woman, but the oldest monk obliges and carries her across the river.

After he sets he down, the two monks continue on their journey. But the youngest one is still dwelling on the oldest monk having seemingly forgone his vows by carrying the woman. Eventually the youngest one inquires of the older one to explain his action. The oldest monk responds to this rebuke with "Brother, I set that woman down over an hour ago. Why are you still carrying her?"

Again, one of my favorite episodes of the classic TV series, The Twilight Zone, an episode titled "One More Pallbearer", involved a rich man who held on to resentments against three people in his past. I won't go into explicit detail of the episode, but eventually the man falls victim to his own resentments. He would not "let it go", and even though the three no longer dwelled on those encounters of the past, the incidents had continued to haunt him. 

Letting go of the past and facing the future as a new opportunity to improve has since become a goal for me. Now, do I let things bother me even today that happened weeks, months or even years ago? I have to admit I am not perfect, but the best way for me to approach those potential resentments today is to realize that the past is the past and I cannot change that, but I can do something to prevent those past issues from becoming things that inhibit my approach to the future. I have stepped through that door into Oz and I can either follow the yellow brick road into a future that will be better, or I can go back inside the house and pretend that there is no possible way to progress to a shining new existence. Personally, I want to go and see the wizard and get that new life.

May your spiritual journey be fruitful.

Quiggy