Your Happiness Project: Imitate A Spiritual Master

I'm working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone's project will look different, but it's the rare person who can't benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now.

One of the most universal spiritual practices is the imitation of a spiritual master as a way to gain understanding and discipline. For example, in Christianity, many people study The Imitation Of Christ and ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?"

In the secular world, I suspect, people often read biographies for spiritual reasons: they want to study and learn from the example of great lives. As a writer, I steeped myself in the lives of Winston Churchill and John Kennedy, and it seems to me that much of the fascination in these two towering figures comes from people's desire to imitate their great qualities (though of course they both also had some not-so-great qualities).

Oprah is a spiritual master for a lot of people; also--I could be wrong about this--Warren Buffett. Some lucky people have found a spiritual master within their set of personal relationships.

For my happiness project, I decided to study and imitate a spiritual master--but whom? I didn't feel a particular affinity for any potential masters, until I came across St. Thérèse of Lisieux. I'd become interested in St. Thérèse after I saw her praised in Thomas Merton's memoir, The Seven Storey Mountain. I'd been so surprised to see the cranky, monkish Merton write reverently about the sappily-named "Little Flower" that I was curious to read her spiritual memoir, The Story of a Soul. Since then, I've developed a mini-obsession with St. Thérèse. I have almost twenty biographies of her, and "Indulging in a (not so) modest splurge," I spent $75 on a book of photographs of her. Ah, St. Thérèse! She is the perfect spiritual master for me -- the fact that I'm not Catholic doesn't change that.

What figure would you choose to be your spiritual master? It might be obvious to you; it might take you some serious reflection. Once you've identified a spiritual master, try to learn more about his or her life; think about why you picked that particular figure; and, most important, how to incorporate the lessons of that life into your own life.

For example, when I was annoyed when the woman working next to me at the library kept sighing noisily, I was inspired by St. Thérèse: she tells the story of how she once broke into a sweat at the effort to conquer her annoyance when a fellow nun made maddening clicking noises during evening prayers. I could relate.

I'm curious to know what spiritual masters other people have adopted. Have you found someone whose life or teaching has captivated you? If you've identified your spiritual master, please post it--I, and I'm sure other people, would be very interested to see the range of choices.

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Interested in starting your own Happiness Project? If you'd like to take a look at Gretchen Rubin's personal Resolutions Chart, for inspiration, just email her at grubin, then the "at" sign, then gretchenrubin dot com. No need to write anything more than "Resolutions Chart" in the subject line.

Comments

[Tulka2]

Begin as you intend to go along.

When you wake in the morning,

the first thing to do is to smile.

[Fabini]

I would imitate Lanza del Vasto.

[Gabriella Kortsch, Ph.D.]

Hmm.

I work with people who - among other things - are seeking happiness. However, rather than encouraging them to model themselves on someone - a spiritual someone - I ask them to consider several persons of their own gender whom they admire. It could be a figure from history, literature, the cinema, or someone they personally know, a figure from politics, a mentor, a family member, a celebrity. It really makes no difference who it is, as long as these two or three persons are individuals that they admire.

Once they have named those people, I ask them to identify specifically those characteristics that they admire (not their looks, please!).

Then I tell them this (very Jungian, but very useful to know): whatever it is that they admire in these individuals (and generally the characteristics tend to coincide for all the people they have mentioned), is something that is nascent in themselves, but that they have not yet brought into being.

That - the fact that it is still in the nascent and unrecognized stage in themselves - is the real reason why they admire it in the others. Once they have begun to bring these characteristics forth in themselves, they will begin to admire something different in others, in order to continue the cycle of growth into inner freedom and happiness.

Knowing what you admire in others is a wonderful mirror into your deepest, as yet unborn, self.

Gabriella Kortsch from sunny Spain

[Fabini]

In addition of the nascent and unrecognized positive within us, is the negative. Negative projection may also reflect what is in us. An important thing to master is personal insight. I recommend meditation in the Theravadan tradition.

[brooklyncitizen]

Well mine is kind of traditional, a Catholic Nun, but an unexpected choice for me, a reluctant Christian.
I met people in a community group for artists and they spoke highly of Bible classes taught by a Catholic Nun . I had no interest in studying the Bible ( I don't even attend services) but I was compelled to check this woman out. My recollection of nuns from Catholic school was uneventful so I didn't know what to expect.

IT has been two years since I attended her first Bible study and I have learned much about the Bible but what I have learned from Sister is so much more. She is in fact the reason I keep going to class. I have never encountered a role model "in the flesh" (apart from my Mom) that I actually wanted to be LIKE. Approaching 80 she is tolerant , joyful, accepting, funny, witty, tough, intellectual, strong, and rather heavily scheduled. I stand in admiration of her and have met no one like her. Do I want to be a nun? no...but I want to be as actualized and as humane and strong and as incredibly wise.

On that subject I told her once that I hoped to be half as wise as she and she quipped why settled for half? why not try to be twice as wise?.

[alansky]

The premise of this article is seriously compromised by the inclusion of people like Opra and Warren Buffett on same same list as the great saints of antiquity. No doubt people like Opra are doing their very best to make a positive difference in the world and deserve to be applauded for their efforts, but a genuine spiritual master is a horse of an entirely different color. Let's not confuse apples and oranges here.

Furthermore, the practice of emulating the behavior of saintly characters puts the cart before the horse. The behavior of enlightened beings may reflect the inner perspective of such people, but it is naiive to believe that the reverse is true. In other words, there is no evidence that imitating the behavior of saints and sages brings people significantly closer to the inner state of those who have spent their entire lives in search of spiritual liberation. If you doubt my assertion, just look at all the suffering that has been loosed upon the world in the name of religion.

Happiness is a wonderful thing, desired by all. Unfortunately, the history of the human race demonstrates with heartbreaking finality how rare a bird true happiness really is. Personally, here's my happiness project: Don't imitate anyone. Always be yourself, treat everyone with respect and, above all, don't take yourself too seriously.

[OtayPanky]

Alansky: The premise of this article is seriously compromised by the inclusion of people like Opra and Warren Buffett on same same list as the great saints of antiquity.

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To appreciate Gretchen Rubin you have to recognize that she is a masterful satirist. She has the driest wit, and her work is worthy of The Onion.

Enjoy!