“Breadcrumbs and Elephants”
There are at least two versions of the story. In one, a man tosses breadcrumbs into the air every day. When asked why he does this, he says, “To keep the tigers away from the village.” When told that there are no tigers within a thousand miles of the village, he says, “See?”
The second version has a man standing on a street corner snapping his fingers continually. When asked why he does this, he replies, “To keep the elephants out of the city.” When told that there are no elephants in the city, he says, “See?”
For a while last year my meditation practice and the upheaval of my life seemed to be in lockstep. The more I studied, read, and sat, the more seemed to be happening in my world. It was a period of breakneck speed of change, perfectly coinciding with the meteoric learning curve that happens whenever anything is new. In short order I moved cities, put a career back on track, re-established every aspect of my personal and social life, changed representation, went back to school, and all while developing my spiritual practice.
But when the pace settled into normalcy, as it inevitably had to, my instinct was to wonder what was wrong with my practice. What are all these tigers and elephants doing here? I’m tossing the breadcrumbs and snapping the fingers, so what gives? Obviously, there’s something wrong with this whole sitting and meditating thing…
The premise, of course, is totally backwards. The practice is of awareness of what is, and a path to the end of craving. There is nothing in it that says that the externals of your life will change, there is no promise of job offers and development deals, new houses and cars, or eternal sunshine. If there is a promise, it is that through understanding things as they are, you will be happier. This could mean that absolutely nothing changes except how you feel about things.
But without even that simple understanding, that may not come true.
In a twist of irony, I may have been able to understand my causation/correlation snafu because of the practice itself. Having trained myself in awareness to a modest degree of proficiency, my mind was open to see what was happening. That, and a handful of conversations with fellow practitioners, whom I now thank.
So… if you’re confused, or stuck, speak with your friends, and continue to meditate, meditate, meditate. And if it comes to it, feed the elephants the breadcrumbs…
Just want to say that I discovered your site via the film Looking for an Echo……so we are all looking for a “place to in Harmony”……..Thank you very much for your this.
There was an episode of “The Simpsons” where Maggie tries to teach Homer about specious reasoning by picking up a rock and claiming that it keeps tigers away. She didn’t end up teaching him anything, but she did learn how to get her father to give her five dollars for a rock.