The Room Of Devotion

I do not often quote religion, but where I see wisdom I respect it.

I believe it is written in the bible, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

This is a Truth.

But in order for this Truth to be understood, it must unraveled far beyond common levels of understanding.

As humans we live much of our lives in domesticity. Chores. Responsibilities. Obligations.

And this itself isn’t a problem.

But what does pose a problem is if this is all we have.

Some months ago I posted on twitter, “Greater than 90% of professional athletes completely waste their time.” (I do not look for followers. I am forever open for the possibility of That Rare One).

Further, almost 100% of all human beings, be they rich or poor or famous or celebrated, almost completely waste their life.

It is a great irony that the ultra-successful are more besieged by boredom than the poor and the working class.

For the poor and the working class have little time for boredom.

Today’s children are lost in the fantastical and addictive world of video games.

Teenagers and adults are caught in a web of addiction to smartphones and electronics.

This is indeed . . . “the devils workshop.”

If one wishes to live Engaged. And make no mistake, Engagement and Freedom is what man seeks above all else.

If one wishes to be Lost in an endeavor . . .

If one wishes to sidestep the trappings of domestic existence . . .

If he wishes to avoid Zombification . . .

He must Devote his life.

Not to meaning. There is no meaning.

Not to purpose. Life has no purpose.

Not to significance. We are all going to die. What could possibly be significant about a dying man?

Something that a man awakens to everyday, and dives into head first.

Roughly an hour ago, my older son called me from a golf tournament and asked me why he did not do well on Day One of the tournament.

I said to him, “Why you didn’t do well on day one is not the important question. The point is that you haven’t yet entered The Room.”

“What room?” he said.

“The Room of Devotion. You cannot ask piecemeal questions. You must investigate The Truth.”

“I received your text last night about asking The Truth. And I don’t know what the Truth is,” he said.

I said to him, “Because you have not yet decided to walk the True Journey. And do not for one second assume that I am telling you to walk it. That would not be genuine. Each person, if he wishes to become a Bruce Lee, must arrive at the point in his life in which he slams his fist on the table and he decides. He decides that from this point forward, I am going to devote my life to THIS.”

A life that is not devoted is a Wasted Life.

Searching for “meaning” is also a Wasted Life.

I am convinced that I was born in the wrong generation. I have been convinced of this for a very long time.

This world is completely foreign to me. This world does not consist of My kind of people.

I belong to the world of The Ancient Samurai.

I belong to the world of Miyamoto Musashi.

I belong to the world of The Shaolin Temple of Hunan Province.

I do not belong to this plastic, putrid, uninspiring filth of an excuse called “civilization.”

To disappear into a jungle, as Musashi did, train day and night. Investigate the Mind.

And emerge, a Master!

Yesssss.

Goosebumps are beginning to form on my arms.

As I write this discourse, the soundtrack from The Last Samurai plays in my ears.

I remember the dialogue from memory, “I am their captive and I cannot escape. Each day they awake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such Discipline.

It is after many years that I have experienced an untroubled sleep. Everyone is polite. Everyone smiles and bows. But beneath this courtesy, I detect a great reservoir of feeling. And although it may forever be obscure to me, I cannot escape the fact that there is something Spiritual in this place.”

A resounding Masterpiece.

That film was made For Me.

And I was made For It.

When a man’s life is not Devoted, he quietly suffocates. He wanders aimlessly from this to that. He rises slowly from bed. As there is nothing that compels him to rise.

It is just another day. With nothing to look forward to.

This is the problem of many successful people.

I will not tell you “how” to become devoted.

I will only tell you that if you do not, the reality that is your life today, will be your reality on your last day.

And all the days between.

Devotion is a freedom from domesticity.

And the wayward nature of an aimless life.

May you discover the Room of Devotion.

For within it, lies the true spirit of Man.

Namaste.