PURIFICATION

"The Key of the MorMonk is self-mastery. Take away the robes and the ceremonies, the shaver and the beard-trimmer, and what do you have left? A naked man who is, none-the-less, completely in control of himself." ~The MorMonk

PURIFICATION

So, purification kind of snuck up on me. For some reason, I figured I was going to start the purification cycle on a Wednesday or Tuesday. But there I was, Sunday night, thinking about my scheduling, and I realized, "oh, snap! My purification cycle begins tomorrow!"

This would have all been find and dandy, except... well, I wasn't completely sure what a purification cycle WAS. I knew that it began three days before INITIATION, and that it involved eating nothing but whole-wheat bread and water. Originally I was going to make the whole-wheat bread myself, but like I said, I forgot. Luckily, there were a couple of loaves hanging around, and I was able to eat them instead. OK, yes, they were store-bought, but you can't win them all.

I also haven't actually finished the robe yet. I had hoped to have two robes and a cowl finished before INITIATION, but it's looking like I'll be lucky to finish even one. I'll upload some pictures when I finish with it.

Today is day three of PURIFICATION. Despite myself, I have learned a thing or two already.

I noticed something odd began to happen when I began eating only bread and water. Slowly, I began to turn into a gingerbread man. OK, no. Actually, I began to use the internet a lot. A LOT, a lot. Like, I found myself checking facebook every five minutes. Logically, it didn't make any sense; was anything significant going to change in five minutes? Yet I found myself drawn back over and over and over again. Finally, toward the end of the day, I realized what had happened; I had eliminated a compulsive behavior, and the other one was making up for it. Eating for pleasure was out of the question now, so instead, boredom drove me to the computer.

To fix that, I determined that the following day, I would only check the computer once.

DAY TWO.
I checked the computer probably no later than seven in the morning. Not bad, when you consider that I woke up at 5.30 and had been dying to check in for the following hour and a half. Finally I gave in, and checked it.

No news.

Great. Just great. For the next four hours I found myself crawling the walls. Actually, to be literal, I mostly sat in my bed and pondered (meditated, I guess; I am a monk) on how much time I wasted eating and hanging out on the computer. I settled on annoying my brother, who at 10a STILL was not awake. He's fun. Work rescued me from 11a to 3.30p (thank you, Papa Johns!) but by 4p I was crawling the walls again.

Finally, I picked up my guitar and began to play. After about ten minutes, a thought came into my head; "this is boring. Go check facebook." I ignored the thought and continued playing; and oddly, my playing began to improve. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe facebook was one of the reasons that I was still such a poor guitarist after six or seven years of playing. What else was facebook and eating ruining for me?

I had promised myself that I would get a cell phone on DAY ONE, but I had been busy checking facebook. So, I got up and went and got myself a cell phone.

Then, I began to iron out my finances. This actually provided an excuse to get back on the computer... you know, so I could check my bank accounts online. Instead, I just got ready for when I had those numbers available, and reminded myself that it could wait. And you know what? It did.

Then, I went and hung out with my nephew for a few hours. By 'hung out,' I mean I watched Princess Mononoke while he slept in the other room. I didn't even miss any plot elements because I got distracted by facebook or food. It was amazing.

DAY THREE...

... is actually today. Already, though, I've noticed now that because two of my major compulsions are under control, a lot of the minor compulsions are easily controlled. I got out of bed; I prayed; I even exercised. And even know that I'm on the computer, facebook doesn't seem that important. My bank accounts are important, the blog is important, my e-mail is important. Facebook? Ehhh... not so much (as a note aside, should 'facebook' be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence?) You know, when you limit your resources, it's amazing how quickly your priorities iron themselves out.

I'll report on the rest of DAY THREE when I report on my INITIATION... which is tonight. Oh, snap! I also promise to post at least one ceremony, and to post some pictures. Until then...

Godspeed, my child.