Empty Ambition

I have failed at accomplishing many of the tasks I had hoped to achieve by now. However, 'failure' is not a fair characterization of my past few decades -- failed ambitions perhaps.

I am a fan of the idea of monasticism, especially the Coptic variety. Coptic monks, both historical and contemporary, seem always to have something to say to me, either in their writings or in the way they live their lives and accept their deaths, and I have had a gold mine of blessings in having corresponded with a couple.

Recently, perhaps the most famous living Coptic monk wrote a letter I felt was directed squarely at me. His Holiness Shenoudah III, the patriarch and figure head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, had an excerpt of one of his books published in a magazine. I reproduce it here, hoping it will give as much comfort to others as it does to me. Quoting this is difficult for me, since by doing so, I confess a serious flaw in my own character that I am only now recognizing: ambition.

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An excerpt [translated?] from "Release of the Spirit":

Do you know what things you ought to escape from? Escape from the interests, the hopes and desires. Escape from all such things if you really want to attain the release of the spirit.

My beloved brother, please let me go a little deep into you heart to talk to you frankly: You have great hopes which you are much concerned about and which occupy part of your heart. They even occupy your imagination and so that when you are alone they come to you as daydreams and when you are asleep you dream of them. You have certain aims which you know most and cannot deny. You want to be important, you want to be known by others and venerated by them. You have hopes regarding fame and good reputation, authority and power, hopes regarding wealth, social positions, knowledge, titles, future, appearances and credit. You have certain desires concerning your home, food, clothing and various pleasures of the body. You do not live in the world but in fact it is the world that lives in you, and dominates over your heart, your mind, your imagination and your will. As for your spirit, it is imprisoned within all this; it desires to be released of the fleshly desires, as "the flesh lusts against the Spirit" (Gal. 5:17).

These hopes and interest make you miserable, my beloved brother, because not all of them can be achieved.

This of course makes you discontented. You long for such things and this longing makes you unhappy. So, you make your plans and seek the means to achieve them: you think, meet certain people, write down notes, go and come, strive and try hard; then you sit and wait. You may get bored and tired of waiting and of having hope. You may get desperate and become anxious or feel afraid of failure. Thus you become unhappy. Perhaps your labor and attempts end up unsuccessful and you do not attain your desire, thus making you even more unhappy.

A more dangerous consequence is that you may go astray because of such hopes and desires and fall into deceit, beating about the bush, fawning and flattery, lying or worse things. This is what one of the wise men once said, 'A person will certainly fall into hypocrisy if he wants to hide something within himself.'

I know that you feel tired and I pity you. But when will you live in the fire of hopes! What is amazing concerning such worldly desires is that they make you unhappy even if they are realized. For when you attain what you desire, you will be pleased; such pleasure leads you to seek more. As the Lord Jesus Christ said: "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again"(John 4:13). And when one feels thirst, one seeks water to quench one's thirst and the more one drinks, the more one will feel thirst and desire for water.

So, my beloved brother, I want to discuss the matter with you calmly. Why do you hold fast to certain worldly desires while you know that "the world is passing away, and the lust of it"(1 John 2:17). You are like me - a stranger on earth and the hour will come when you will leave the world and all its possessions. You have come naked from your mother's womb, and naked you will return (Job 1:21). You will be forced to leave the world with its glory, wealth and fame and descend into a pit in the ground like any other person. Whatever authority, pleasures or fame you attain in this world will not protect your mortal body against corruption or prevent the worms from feeding off of your body. On judgment day, you will stand before God destitute of all worldly possessions. You will keep nothing from the world except your works, whether they be good or evil.

Therefore, my beloved brother, it is not good for you to confine your interests and hopes to this earth. Do you not remember that this earth brought forth to you thorns and thistles! It had once accepted the blood of Abel the Righteous and the cisterns hewn in it can hold no water (Jer. 2:13).

Take an example of our fathers the saints who lived on the earth before us and whom the earth was not deserving to be trodden on with their feet. Those holy fathers did not attain that holiness except after emptying their hearts of the love of the world and its worldly material. They no longer had any desire or lust, nor any possession in the world. And because they did not hold on to anything in the world, it was easy for them to leave it - they longed for their departure.

As for you, my beloved brother, you still have some worldly desires and, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21). Your heart clings to the dust and its glory so that the spiritual matters lose their value in your sight. This is the same temptation with which the devil tried to tempt the Lord of glory, "the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me" (Matt. 4:8,9).

Now, consider, if you possess all such things and lose your soul which you imprison in a golden cage of desires, what will this avail you? Your soul wants to be set free.

Heart of Soft (a new song of mine!)

Heart of Soft
(my song's working title -- got a better one? please share! Hope you enjoy it.)

by Joseph Bishara
copyright Joseph N. Bishara
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A heart of soft / and a mind of steel,
And these two things / will help you feel,
I've thought oft, of a heart that's soft,
and a mind of steel.

Laughing often, and loving much,
A helpful hand, a baby's touch,
one more moment, with the ones you love,
Laughing often and loving much.

BRIDGE:
Words were spoken by a man in his dying day.
He said, "Child, if you want to live, don't let time blow away."

a second mile / a higher road,
a better friend / a lighter load,
ears to hear / the grace bestowed,
a desert quenched / as the water flowed.

Salt of earth / a common man,
sacrifice / take a stand,
an amputee / made whole again,
for the greater good / and the common man.

BRIDGE:
With every breath it seems, we're closer to our graves.
Let's live our lives and do what's right to make our better days.

A heart that's soft / and a mind of steel,
And it's these two things / that help us feel.
Set your thoughts aloft / with a heart that's soft,
and a mind of steel.