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More praise for Enlightenment Town
“I am not a religious man. Perhaps my few years incarcerated in a South Indian missionary boarding school cured me of this quest. But as Jeffery Paine intimates, even those of us who are ‘postreligious’ nevertheless seek some ‘hallowed understanding’ of the human condition. Paine writes such vivid stories about Crestone’s eclectic spiritual characters that, I have to confess, I am charmed beyond belief.”
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The next level, Anam said, is religion itself. And religion is a very serious business. You have a lot to think about now: What’s the morally right thing to do? Is it in accordance with divine law? Do I have a good conscience? You are shouldering grave responsibilities — enough to hunch you over as you bear so much dogma, duty, and goodness. It’s a 24/7 job, with good works instead of vacations; it’s a school in which ethical satisfactions take the place of recesses, and the homework assignment is for all eternity.
The third level of religion comes after that, on the other side of Bible reading, temple attendance, and good works. Religion is not left behind, but your way of living now allows its truths or insights to materialize on their own. Sacred manuals are no longer necessary; you seem to know without trying to know. After continual striving and duty rendered, finally after age sixty, Confucius said, he could do what he wanted without going against the path. (How such a harmonious state of being comes about is investigated in part 3 of this book.) Father Dave appears today to be that kind of almost effortless Christian. As for Jesus’s teachings, they are no longer found only in scripture: effortlessly, automatically, they arise in his thoughts to meet whatever the situation is, and opening his eyes wide, he sees the teachings on display all around him. First thing after waking, Father Dave enters into contemplation, which is deeply gratifying, but for him the experience feels not all that different from when he cuts firewood or goes into town for groceries. Everything has become liturgy.
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