ARANYA TALKS The Spiritual Virtues

Part 4: Waiting

Waiting

The practice of patiently waiting is a form of renunciation. Renunciation is one of the most fundamental requirements for anyone seriously intent on walking the spiritual path. It is a value that can be found in all the major spiritual traditions. To renounce is to let go – of false notions of self, God and the universe, and fundamentally letting go of being driven by my own egotistical self-centred desires, instead upon myself to be a channel for the Divine.

Waiting as a form of letting go

A dictionary definition of waiting is: "the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or event."

No-one much likes waiting. We only need a slow internet connection or to spend some time in a queue to remind us of that. There's something I want and I haven't got it yet. Waiting allows me to see clearly my desires, often in the form of frustration or boredom. To wait is to move beyond ego and desires. It involves humility and surrender. It is an act of patience.

Waiting is not the way of the world which clings; waiting is letting go.

On the spiritual path there will often be this sense of waiting. Seeking is a type of waiting in itself – waiting to find that Someone or Something; it can be found through movement, but the quest can also be satisfied at times by staying still.

A challenge in the spiritual life

What makes waiting more difficult when the waiting is in the spiritual life is that there is no known "particular time or event" – we don't know what the event will be – if any – let alone at what time, we just have to have faith that something will unfold; this requires faith.

Waiting allows for the unfolding of the Divine will, rather than constructing or trying to drive an event at solely a human level.

Waiting, for me, appears as a door which is neither open wide nor is it locked shut. The process of waiting involves some element of ambiguity and risk: we are in a waiting room in our spiritual life at times, trying to see the way forward – there is a sense of a door that we are waiting to see open wide, so we can step in. We will only handle the ambiguity and manage the risk through faith that constant knocking will lead to the door to open.

Lord Jesus said: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matt 7:7-8)

Standing still and knocking is sadhana, it requires perseverance.

This image of the door, illustrating the yearning of the spiritual seeker or lover, is widespread in music and poetry. In considering the virtue of patiently waiting, we will get a little help from our friends, The Beatles.

The Beatles 'The Long and Winding Road', which is presumably about a lover seeking his beloved, can also be seen as the journey to union with the Divine – still the story of the lover and Beloved.

The long and winding road/ That leads to your door
Will never disappear/ I've seen that road before
It always leads me here/ Lead me to your door
You left me waiting here/ A long long time ago
Don't leave me standing here/ Lead me to your door.

When we wait, we usually like to have a sense of progress, an indication of where we are in the process. Shops and government offices often have a system of taking a ticket and waiting for one's number to come up. I can get a sense of how much longer it will be until my number is called. But the spiritual life is not like that. There is no time and space with God. God opens the door when we are ready, and we are not always the best judge of when we are ready.