ON WAKING UP Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they dont know it, are asleep.

Theyre born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence. You know, all mysticsCatholic, Christian, nonChristian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religionare unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare. Last year on Spanish television I heard a story about this gentleman who knocks on his sons door. Jaime, he says, wake up! Jaime answers, I dont want to get up, Papa. The father shouts, Get up, you have to go to school. Jaime says, I dont want to go to school. Why not? asks the father. Three reasons, says Jaime. First, because its so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school. And the father says, Well, I am going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the headmaster. Wake up, wake up! Youve grown up. Youre too big to be asleep. Wake up! Stop playing with your toys. Most people tell you they want to get out of kindergarten, but dont believe them. Dont believe them! All they want you to do is to mend their broken toys. Give me back my wife. Give me back my job. Give me back my money. Give me back my reputation, my success. This is what they want; they want their toys replaced. Thats all. Even the best psychologist will tell you that, that people dont really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is painful. Waking up is unpleasant, you know. You are nice and comfortable in bed. Its irritating to be woken up. Thats the reason the wise guru will not attempt to wake people up. I hope Im going to be wise here and make no attempt whatsoever to wake you up if you are asleep. It is really none of my business, even though I say to you at times, Wake up! My business is to do my thing, to dance my dance. If you profit from it, fine; if you dont, too bad! As the Arabs say, The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens.

O BUENJU Duhovnost je buenje. Veina ljudi,a da to i ne zna, spava. Roeni su uspavani, ive uspavani, sklapaju brakove uspavani, podiu svoju djecu uspavani, ak umiru uspavani a da se nikad nisu probudili. Takvi ljudi nikad ne shvate tu arobnost i ljepotu onog to zovemo ljudskim bivstvovanjem. Znate, svi mistici- katolici, pravoslavci, kao i nehriani, bez obzira na njihovu teologiju, bez obzira na njihovu religiju- saglasni su u jednom: da je sve u redu, sve je u redu. ak iako vlada nered, sve je u redu. udan paradoks, zasigurno. Ali, naalost, veina ljudi nikad ne shvati kako to da je sve u redu zato to spavaju. Proivljavaju komar. Prole godine na panskoj televiziji sluao sam priu o ovjeku koji je pokucao na vrata sobe svog sina govorei: Dejmi, budi se ! . Tata, ja neu da ustanem. rekao je Dejmi. Otac je rekao viui: Ustaj, mora da ide u kolu! . Ne elim da idem u kolu. sin je rekao. A zato ne eli?-upitao je otac. Na to je Dejmi odgovorio : Zbog tri razloga. Prvi je zato to je kola tako dosadna. Drugi, djeca me zadirkuju. Trei, ja mrzim kolu. A otac je rekao: Pa, ja u tebi dati tri razloga zbog kojih mora ii u kolu. Prvi, jer je to tvoja dunost; drugi razlog je to to ima etrdesetpet godina; a trei je razlog to to si ti direktor. Budite se, budite se! Odrasli ste. Preveliki ste za spavanje. Budite se! Prestanite se igrati vaim igrakama. Veina ljudi e vam rei da ele izai iz djejeg vrtia, ali nemojte im vjerovati. Ne vjerujte im! Sve to ele od vas jeste da im popravite polomljene igrake. Vratite mi natrag moju enu. Vratite mi moj posao. Vratite mi moj novac. Vratite mi moj ugled, moj uspjeh. To je ono to ele. ele da zamijene svoje igrake, to je sve. ak e vam i najbolji psiholozi potvrditi to da ljudi zapravo ne ele da budu izlijeeni. Oni ele olakanje; izlijeenje je bolno. Buenje i nije ba prijatno, znate. Fino vam je i udobno u krevetu. Uznemirujue bi bilo probuditi se. Ba zato mudar ovjek nee pokuati da probudi ljude. Nadam se da u biti mudar ovdje i da vas neu pokuati probuditi ako ste uspavani. To se stvarno mene ne tie, iako vam ja s vremena na vrijeme kaem:Budite se!. Na meni je da gledam svoja posla, da otpleem svoj ples. Ako iz toga neto nauite, odlino; ako ne, vaa stvar. Kao to bi Arabljani rekli: Priroda kie je uvjek istovjetna, ali, od nje raste korov u movarama i cvijee u batama. Sabina Kolainac 151/12