Balance of Life

by Gregory Allen Butler

The balance of life is crucial to holistic personal development. I learned of its importance sitting on a hill in India late at night, many January’s ago, listening to a very special soul reflect on the purpose and meaning of life. He was asked, “How do we balance the material and spiritual aspects of life?”

And then this man, whose name was Eruch Jessawala, the embodiment of simplicity, said with his gentle voice: “Plan your material life as if you are going to live a thousand years. And live your spiritual life as if you are not going to live to see the sun rise in the morning.”

I go back to that night often, as I find it the epitome of practicality. In just two sentences he uttered volumes of philosophical wisdom on finding balance in life -- of how to live in the world and yet not be of the world. He illustrated a way to do our work in the world, and yet not be attached to the work.

What does it mean to plan your material life as if you were going to live a thousand years? I think it means to build a solid foundation. Take the time to discover your purpose in life. And then take the time to become a master at what it is you want to do. Have patience. Have vision. Believe in yourself. But do it with love, whatever it is. Whether it’s shining shoes or being a brain surgeon, or a rocket scientist, do it in such a way that the light of your being touches the heart of another. For when we can express in our actions what the source of being commands in our hearts, we are following intuition, tuning into divine life -- the perfect blending of the inner and the outer.

Love is the key. And why do I say that? For love never runs dry. The more you give, the more you have. The inner bank account keeps growing. The heart becomes a cornucopia of bliss.

Would you live life any differently if you knew you only had a few hours left to live? I remember seeing the film, The Titantic, and seeing three musicians who continued to play their music as the ship slowly sank. That made an impact on me -- three musicians continuing to express their souls in the midst of a crisis -- and yet it made so much sense. It seemed the ultimate example of living in the present moment. That is being on purpose. Not resistant to a new chapter in life, but cherishing every last word of the present chapter as well. It’s an involvement and a detachment at the same time -- the ultimate balance of life.

Relinquishing what you are for what you are meant to be is a mystical process – an expression of being made possible by surrender. It is the transcendence of resistance. For all of creation is nothing but that – of finite consciousness endeavoring to know itself – of life becoming an expression of the truth that resides within.

I’ll leave you with the words of Rumi, the great Sufi poet who was born 800 years ago this September who is now the best selling poet in the English language. He expressed this idea in the following verse:

I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,’
I died as animal and I was man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet, once more, I shall die as man, to soar
With angels blessed; but even from angelhood
I must pass on; all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel soul,
I shall become what no mind ever conceived.
Oh, Let me not exist! For Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, “To Him we shall return!”