Wednesday, February 28, 2007

How's your foundation?

Sometimes we need to be taken apart, as it were, so that we can establish in ourselves a true foundation. Here is an excerpt from We exist! Why? by Elizabeth Young about just that:
If we are building upon something other than the truth, sooner or later our beliefs will collapse just like a building on a very weak and shaky foundation. I once heard a true story. Some men were constructing a magnificent building and they were well ahead in progress, when they realised that the foundations were not sure. Instead of continuing as some would, they proceeded to take all their hard work apart until they reached the foundation. They eventually completed the building which still stands magnificent today over 100 years later! Would you be willing to start from the beginning if you suspected your basic learning was all wrong? Would the building still be standing today if it had been constructed on a shaky foundation... The magnificent building was deconstructed before it fell down... If we are not mindful and continue to build upon our lack of certainty, we will fall down eventually. Is it not better that we start again before it happens when we least expect it?
A reliable meditative practice will give us the courage and the stability to "deconstruct" our attitudes or beliefs or habitual tendencies so that we can build again on the foundation of truth.

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