My Time as a Monk

As of this writing I am still in Thailand, with quite an experience to share and a lot of integration still to go.  This time in Thailand, I did something I never thought I would do - I was ordained as a monk.  As it turns out I was only a monk for one day - the incessant heat exhaustion proved too much for me and I had to cut it short to honor my body, but I only cut it short one day and I got what I wanted from this experience and then some.

I went thorough the whole ceremony with my brother-in-law in Lan Sak, a village in Uthai Thani, Thailand.  It's a small farming village pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so this was diving off the deep end.

The ceremonies were very elaborate and very touching.  My wife and her family spent a lot of time preparing and setting this up.  It included a large party with 1,000 guests and a recording artist singer, a "music-mobile," this truck that has a full band inside that drives around playing music while people dance in the street and we sat in the back of a truck collecting donations (and getting VERY hot).

First ordained as monks.

I like this picture, pretty much my last picture as a monk - right after this was the ceremony to complete my monkhood.  If you look closely you can see I'm sweating all the way through the robes.  But I made it through a very challenging night with the heat and sleeping on a mat on the floor. Also made it through a series of ceremonies, each of which came with heat exhaustion.

Here is the merit ceremony, where I got to sit in front of the group as a monk and receive offerings.

Another POV, this was earlier on the first day.

Villagers in front of the "music mobile."

Where we slept.  And yes the second floor is much hotter than the first. Especially at night.  Showers were a barrel of water and a bowl, and let me tell you, they felt GREAT!  Loved the showers there.

It was indeed a spiritual experience, but not in the ways I imagined when I was first invited to do this.  And it's reframed my relationship and practice of spirituality greatly.  The whole "in the clouds, fighting entities" thing isn't where it's at.  God is present in people, and connecting with God is connecting with that presence, not sitting alone in a cave or at an altar playing some version of Dungeons and Dragons.

The most spiritual aspects of this experience were the places where I felt that realization and that connection.  And by the way, the spiritual aspects of my experience with Hurricane Isaias was similar - it's not about the weather as much as people.  It's about finding that interconnectedness that also opens channels inside yourself.  Praying in a temple is more ritual than spiritual. 

 I'll have more to say about this as I integrate this experience, along with the earlier hurricane experience at my Florida home right before this, and the interesting election, which was a disaster everywhere except my home state of Florida. So a lot to unpack and integrate.