Picture: Bus on India’s Mountain Roads
Decision Making goes right to the heart of how we live our lives. From deciding what to eat to whether you buy a new car, house, or make a business or professional decision, decisions are an important part of everyone’s life.
Being an aspirant for realization means that decision making may look different for you than for others. If your spiritual life does not inform you about the way you make decisions, then it has not penetrated deeply enough into your life. For some, simply making the decision to meditate daily and attending Center meetings may feel enough. But once you enter into your everyday life, there may be little carryover; you suddenly revert to habits that may, or may not serve you. It bears examination to observe how your spiritual life moves into the most basic ways you live.
First of all, you create the intention that every part of your life—what you do, what you think— will be in concert with the spiritual principles you believe in; this congruity keeps you from hypocrisy. Whether it be home life, business or profession, leisure time, or poking around on websites, you are in keeping with your higher ideals? When you make a decision to purchase something, you do it in accordance with a calm, centered state of being.
It is in that calm state of mind that you take the next step in decision making. Smart decisions require that you gather what pertinent information you can before proceeding to making a choice. So many poor decisions come about from not thinking through the consequences, or not taking the time to consult with those who have seasoned experienced with what you are doing. Such information gathering will help you to avoid many mistakes others have made and make the right choice.
My father had a very ugly grandfather’s clock he kept in his study for several years. When I asked about it he said he had ordered it by phone, thinking the advertising was accurate, and he did something very rare for him, he made a snap, impulsive decision. When he received the large clock he of course immediately saw what a huge mistake he had made. The reason he kept the clock sitting in front of his desk, instead of consigning it to a funeral pyre as it deserved, was to remind him never to repeat that mistake again!
After gathering adequate information, then reason it through. Some people add up the pluses and minuses of a decision on paper, others reason out in their head or talk it out with others. Is this decision right for you, as well as for those the decision effects? Are you calm, centered? Or are you acting out of pure desire nature, impulsiveness, fear or greed? No good can come from the latter, even if it happens to be the right move, because you have not been in concert with your higher nature. One method I have used for making bigger decisions is giving it the “24-hour rule.” Wait 24 hours before you make a final decision. It is amazing how clarifying a one-day cycle can be.
Finally, what distinguishes “the men from the boys,” spiritually speaking, is giving the whole decision to God. This takes discipline, a calm-centered mind, and surrender. When you have gathered information, reasoned it through, then in your mind surrender it all to God. You pray, “Lord, make this be for the highest good of all.” When you have given it to God, then listen quietly within. Do you feel a green light, go ahead full speed? Or do you sense a yellow light, proceed with caution? Or do you have a red light, stop right here and now? If inner direction makes all of your plans and anticipations suddenly come to a complete stop, it can really test your resolution to give it to God. Perhaps you feel something is being taken away from you in that moment.
I met a man who ran an internet café in India. When I told him I was traveling in India as a pilgrimage, he shared two incidents from his life. It was obvious he did not regularly think about God, but he had some fascinating experiences. When he, his father and an uncle were coming down from the mountains by bus they had left early and paid extra money to take the express bus. This bus made few stops and arrived hours earlier than the second bus; what we would call the “milk run” bus. The second bus stopped for anyone who waved it down, even if that person was still high up the mountain from the bus.
When they stopped at one of their few scheduled places, they stood around the bus taking in some fresh air before they boarded again. A swami who had been riding on the bus approached the uncle and told him that the three of them should wait for the milk run bus and not proceed on the express. This man’s father was not in favor of listening to the swami, but the uncle said they should not ignore his advice. So, they waited for the follow-up bus, as the father quietly fumed.
Finally, the second bus came and they boarded. As they made their way down the curving mountain roads, only as roads can curve in the mountains of India, they came to a group of people standing on the road. The bus stopped and all got out to see where the express bus had plunged hundreds of feet down after missing the curve. The uncle asked the swami why he had selected only them to get off the bus. The swami said he saw the mark of death on everyone on the express bus except the three of them. They turned to look down at their certain fate except for the swami’s intervention and were deeply disturbed, yet felt very blessed. When they turned to thank the swami he was nowhere to be found. The mystery deepened when they asked others from the bus where the orange clad swami had gone. Every one of them said they had not seen any swami on the bus.
Thus, God can seemingly interfere with all your well-made plans, but what of it! Is He not the loving hand behind everything that happens in His devotee’s life? When He tells us to get off the express bus we are so happy to travel on, we are best served in listening to Him.