My Treatise on the Sacred and the Mundane
When I turn down the alley towards the parking lot behind my office, I am presently filled with a level of excitement that helps me know I am at a good place with my company and my career. I include presently in that statement because it has not always been the case and I am certain I will feel differently sometime in the future. The ebbs and flows of how we feel about our jobs and our lives is natural.
For the purposes of our discussion, driving and turning down your driveway is a mundane task that is being elevated to the sacred.
This does not quite fit the well known Buddhist teaching from celebrated thirteenth-century Buddhist philosopher Dōgen Zenji (1200-1253), “In the mundane, nothing is sacred. In sacredness, nothing is mundane.” Which is better understood colloquially as “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” Future thinkers such as Alan Watts, a beatnik pop philosopher, have redefined these statements as “the mundane and the sacred are one and the same.” After speaking with one of the only Zen Buddhist I know, David JP Fisher about Dōgen, I am here to say that in the Zen world, given that only the present mundane moment exists no matter the task, there is no such thing as the sacred or that since there is only one moment nothing exists but the sacred.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, driving to work is a mundane task that one performs dutifully day in and day out. And because of the mundanity, it provides a good litmus test for how you are feeling about the place or situation that you are about to enter. Does your head and heart feel boisterous or is there a pit in your stomach? Those times where I have had a pit, I have had to sit with it, except it, and hear the message contained therein. Presently, turning onto the alley from Roscoe or School fills me with excitement about the day to be.
Why is that?
Vinyasa or flow yoga often returns to down dog as a “resting” pose. For the untrained, let alone the uninitiated, down dog is challenging and feels very active. As you continue with your practice, you understand that while active, it is a resting pose. Recently I was deep in thought while cleaning some baby bottles and the kitchen for the 42nd time that day and it occurred to me that the mundanity of fatherhood or everyday life becomes the resting position of down dog during the flow of living with and raising a family or simply living.
Part of the reason I feel excitement over coming to the office is because I have come to a place where I allow the mundane flow of life to energize me. Truth be told, I don’t have a choice for, as I discuss in a previous newsletter, that baby is going to cry! The other reason is legitimate excitement about where the real estate market and where Be Realty is headed in 2024. Why am I excited about 2024? Because of a deep sense of commitment to the day in and day out tasks that will lead to success.
Are you in a place where you feel comforted and maybe even energized by the steady thrum of your life and your effort? Or are you feeling sadness behind your eyes? A pit in your stomach? If you are, that’s fine. Sit with it. Let it be. Accept it. Listen for clues to help you find fullness from your day to day. And when you are ready to talk through it, whether you are a client or a real estate professional, reach out to me. Maybe a shake up in your career or where you live is the message you will receive from sitting with your pits.
