Objects of Devotion

"Wait! I'm no 'devotee'!" 

 

Well, maybe you haven't done a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, or Mecca, or Bethlehem, or Jerusalem, or a pyramid in the Andes, or Sedona. Or maybe you have and found nothing worth your devotion. 

 

It's still a worthwhile question.

 

To what or whom are you devoted?

 

What might this question mean?

 

As I'm wont to do, I checked the dictionary. Here's one I found that it close to the sense in which I mean it when I ask: "Ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle."

 

Now, I'm willing to acknowledge that there are people on the planet who are devoted to nothing. I have no idea what percentage that might be. 

 

For purposes of this essay, though, I'm going to assume that most of us are devoted to something or someone, or perhaps several things or several someones. The question I'm asking, then, is, are you aware of what/whom is/are the object(s) of your devotion?

 

One way to think about this might be to ask you how you spend your time and energy. You might even get quantitative about it: how many hours per day do you dedicate to thinking or doing something about:

Take your time with this process -- the obvious answers that occur to you at first may not be the deepest truth for you. Perhaps you spend a lot of time, energy, and thought to the pursuit of relationship, but is it for love, or is it for something else, like security? Perhaps you spend large chunks of your time working, to what are you devoted when you work? Money? A feeling of satisfaction for having helped someone? Prestige? And if it's one of those things, what does that reflect in terms of your devotion? If you are seeking money, for example, is it devotion to being loved, or to feeling secure, or to freedom, or to your children's well-being, or to something else?

 

Give yourself plenty of time and space for this inquiry. Stay curious throughout. The only point of this exercise is to bring consciousness to your devotion. Might some better choices come from being aware of the identity of the objects of your devotion? 

 

Sure.

 

But don't rush into fix something you find that you don't like. Fixing is not the point.

 

The point is consciousness. Let consciousness do the work.