Roland Merullo's novel charts the spiritual process of transformation in the life of an ordinary American who travels across the country with a Mongolian monk. Here is an excerpt on the spiritual practice of you.
" 'I'm curious,' I said to Rinpoche, after I'd been running the question through my mind for an hour, 'what you think about the war, terrorism, September 11, and so on. I finished your book last night, I liked it, I learned from it, but you don't really address specific issues there, so I'm wondering what your stance is on all this.'
" 'All this is the world,' he said after a moment. 'This has always been the world. I feel this world as a sadness in my own body.'
" 'Right. Me, too. But what I meant was, from your perspective, from a spiritual perspective, what is the right response to something like the terrorist attacks? Is it ever right to go to war? In self-defense? In others' defense?'
"Another long moment of silence, and then, 'Jesus let people nail him in his hands and feet. He did not fight them.'
" 'Right, okay. But that was Jesus. What if you don't have the courage or spiritual advancement to do that? What if your children are being attacked and you don't think it's right to allow it to happen?'
" 'You should protect your children.'
" 'All right. So what is the correct moral stance on the war, is what I'm asking.'
" 'There are people,' he said, 'who are past being hurt, beyond being hurt. You should know this is true. You should try to become one of those people, to make an understanding with yourself that you are not your body, that you are something bigger. That is your work on this earth, do you see? Every experience here is to teach you to do that. Living, dying, every experience.'
" 'And if that's beyond you at this point? I mean, if you are someone who still identifies with his body, then what?'
" 'You should try not to war.'
" 'And if you try and can't avoid it? If you think it might prevent further killing in the future?'
" 'You should try not to kill to stop killing. Try. It is very hard. Sometimes I think it is not possible for many people. Only to try is important. Even not to have violence in your thoughts is important.'
" 'Not easy.'
"He made a one-syllable laugh, something without much humor in it. 'This is not a world for easy.'
" 'All right. Have I used up my questions for the day?'
" 'No.'
" 'Okay then, why are there evil people in the world? Why are there people who rape and kill and abuse and steal from other people and fly jetliners into buildings? Why is it all set up this way?'
"He lifted his hands, as I'd seen him do before, and let them fall back to the tops of his thighs. 'Every day,' he said, 'many times every day, you can go one way or the other way. You can go with anger or not go. Go with greed or not go. Go with hate or not go. Go with eating too much or sexing too much, or not go. Two ways.'
" 'The digital universe.'
