A few months ago I had the privilege of being a panelist at a youth forum sponsored by the Vedanta Society of Northern California. It was held at the Vedanta Retreat in Olema, a holy community and sacred place of stunning natural beauty on 2,000 acres that adjoin Pt. Reyes National Seashore.
The topic for the weekend forum was Living an Ideal Life in a Real World. I was awed by the intensity of the 30 or so young people who participated, and by the seriousness and subtlety of their questions. The panelists, besides me, were Professor Ron Epstein, of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, and Swami Prabuddhananda of the Vedanta Society in San Francisco.
The panel spoke to the question of An Ideal Life: How Close to It Can We Get? We were invited to speak briefly about our religion, and then to field questions from the retreatants. My part of the program was to say a few words about Christianity (5 minutes only!), and then respond to any questions.
I was surprised to discover that being asked to speak for only 5 minutes about such an enormous topic caused me to realize its absolute essence for me. Stripping away the whole story, the whole philosophy, and everything else, I could see what matters to me in my ordinary life. I even had extra time, so I was able to give the participants a how-to list for living faithfully in this real world that we find ourselves in.
Here are my two lists:
How to be Christian (Christ-like) in Everyday Life
1) We love God, and we know that we are God’s beloved. (Don’t forget this—ever!)
2) We love each other (as ourselves—so we have to love ourselves first.)
3) We are kind to everyone, whether or not we like them.
4) We forgive one another—and we are forgiven by God.
5) We trust God, no matter what. (This means we don’t get to worry and obsess about everything all the time.)
How to Live an Ideal Life in the Real World
1) Have a spiritual practice of your own, and do it—daily.
2) Be in a community of people who support you in your spirituality, with whom you can talk and listen and learn and give and receive comfort.
3) Make sure there is joy, fun, release, and laughter in every day.
4) Know others who are different from you:
• Find someone from another faith tradition and get better acquainted—maybe even cultivate a friendship with them
• Read Huston Smith’s writing on the world’s religions
• Once in a while, visit another religious service besides your own
5) Be kind and forgiving to everyone you meet—even when they’ve messed up. Extend that same grace to yourself.
6) Find YOUR GIFT and be passionate and committed to bringing it forth into the world in this lifetime.
Here is the quotation by Jesus that I closed my presentation with, from the Gospel of Thomas (Saying 70):
”If you do not bring forth that which is within you,
that which you do not bring forth will destroy you.
If you bring forth that which is within you,
that which is within you will save you.”