Syoro: energy lesson

Energy lessons from a bell in Japan

Kyoto, Enrjakuji Temple, 1996. I stood before the giant bell at the top of the path, with valleys plummeting away below, mountains and trees all around.
I want to ring that bell.
I wonder what it sounds like?
Am I allowed to ring it?
What happens if I hit the bell?
Will I get into trouble if I ring it?
Do I really want to hit the bell? It will be loud.
How loud will it be?
Would it disturb the monks in their meditation?
Would it disturb the forest and the wild animals?
But if it would disturb them, why would they have the bell here inviting to be rung?
But perhaps it is only for them to ring on certain ceremonies, not for visitors?

Perhaps they leave the bell and the hammer here, tempting us?

Do I have the courage to make my own choice about ringing the bell?

Mind games and mental-emotional programs: on and on they went. My guilt, my fear, my self-loathing, my lack of self-love, my non-understanding of other cultures, my resistance, my rebellion, my anger, my judgment, my cowardice, my courage, my sense of beauty, my curiosity, my commonsense, my separation, my grandiosity, my arrogance, my foolishness, my love for others, my concern for myself, my motion, my nervousness, my conditioning by authority, my timidity, my self-doubt…..

Then I came back to myself.
I chose.
I rang the bell.

The deep, beautiful resonance flowed out carrying its energy across the valley, over the mountains, through the forest, through the monastery, through me, and on and on and on……
Infinity.

Even when I could no longer hear it, I knew the sound I had caused was still travelling outward.
And I realized, knew in my heart, in my body, in my mind, the ultimate responsibility of each person for the energy in all their thoughts, words and actions, in every moment, through all lives, in all places and all times.