Greg Richardson, aka Strategic Monk, is a friend of mine and I got to know him through different Social Media communities. Greg is a spiritual mentor, and leadership and organizational coach, in Pasadena, California. He has served as a criminal prosecutor, an executive, and a university professor.
The desert is a place of arid desolation. On a planet covered and defined by its water, the desert is nearly as far removed from life-giving water as anyone can go.
For longer than we can remember, people trying to understand the Depth have been drawn to the desert. The seeds of Western monastic life were sown in the desert, but the story reaches back far beyond that. Like the Christian Desert Mothers and Fathers, people put the comforts and distractions of cities behind them to seek Depth in the desert. The desert frees them from the need to hold onto what holds them back, cleanses them with heat and wind.
Life in the desert is about carrying just what you need, and no more.
The Depth of the desert is not the same as the depth of the ocean or of the deep woods. The desert does not draw the mind's eye to the far horizon or to the highest branches of the tall trees. The Depth of the desert draws us inward, to discover the Depth within us.
Setting aside what does not matter, the desert clears away what keeps us from recognizing our true selves, our own core values.
The desert is a place of wisdom and clarity. As the extraneous is worn away by the swirling sand, our essential selves are revealed. The desert requires an economy of words, an economy of effort. What is not essential is unnecessary, and is smoothed away.
The desert scrubs away pretense and false hope. The desert abrades our outer shells into dust, and polishes the precious gems of our deepest truths.
I sit, gazing across the deep desert within me, as the dry heat and wind reveal my inner essence.
Where do you seek your Depth in the desert?
How is the desert cleansing you?
How is the desert cleansing you?
To learn more about Greg check his website StrategicMonk.com and follow him on Twitter at @StrategicMonk.
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[Image by Mike Baird]
