Burning The Hut

Benedicamus Domino!

There's a story I heard several years ago which has stuck with me. It's about a hermit-monk named John the hut-burner. He lived a curious kind of life when viewed by our modern standards, for he took time to build a hut, and then after living in it for some time, he suddenly burned it down and moved to another place and began the cycle all over again.

It is a good story, filled with wisdom for our modern age about the virtue of detachment. I myself have loved this story for so long, because there is a lot that I need to learn about this virtue. What John can teach me about detachment goes far beyond the mere physical acquisition of things, though this in itself is a good lesson for me to learn. However, the best thing that this story can teach is how to love disinterestedly and how to let things go if they need to be let go.

I am a collector of things, and also a collector of emotions and thoughts, of loves and hates, yes, and even of wrongs. It is this last thing which can be the most destructive to a soul, for to remember wrongs is to hold grudges and to build up resentments and bitterness, and this hardens us and allows us to wall ourselves off from our fellow human beings.

So, as I think of John and his cycle of building, living, burning and rebuilding, I think of myself and the things in my life that need to be consumed in the fire of God's love. Too often, I hold onto things of an emotional nature until they become caricatures of their former selves, and as they grow bigger and more distorted, they get in the way of what is really going on in my life. However, as John knew, life is far too short to be attached to too many things unnecessarily. His way of coping with this grasping sense of entitlement was to burn the very roof under which he lived and to surrender himself to nature's bounty. My way is not so dramatic, but it does involve a decluttering of both my physical and my mental/emotional/spiritual life. Simplifying is the order of the day, and with simplicity will come freedom and less worry, and eventually, with God's help, the peace that passeth all understanding.

So, on I go in my journey toward joy, and whenever a hut needs to be burned, I hope I shall have the strength to strike the match.

Deo Gratias!