Religious Zen

What is an anchor?

An anchor is something that your life revolves around. It could be an object, whether physical or mental. It could be your family, job, spirituality, yourself, a hobby, a specific person, a god, or even just an abstract idea.

An anchor is your foundation.

“Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.”

-Augustine

An anchor is something that fulfills you as a human being. In the same way, your anchor will also define you as a person. Think of some noble or famous people that you know of. You can usually narrow their entire lives down to a simple but profound purpose.

Mother Theresa’s life, for example, could be defined by caring for the sick, orphaned, and poor. This was her focus. The majority of her life’s efforts revolved around the goal of caring for those less fortunate. Of course this was not her only anchor- she was a devout Roman Catholic. Even so, she is remembered today more for her humanitarian efforts than her private religion.

Not every anchor needs to be of the highest order of good. Donald Trump’s anchor could be said to be financial success. He is known best for being good (for the most part) with business. Whether it be real-estate or reality TV, Donald Trump’s life can be summed up with words like business savvy, and successful, as well as wealthy. Is this the noblest of things? It is up to the individual to decide what is noble for him or herself.

Both Mother Theresa and Donald Trump have other attributes than what I have said. You could call these mini-anchors. The main anchor, though, is what defines you as a person. For what you put value in the most, people will see it most in your life.

You anchor can (and most likely will) change. For many years of my life I was deeply involved with my church. I didn’t grow up in Christianity, but it found me in my early teens. All throughout high-school I attended church religiously (sorry, bad pun!). I volunteered in the youth group there and became very passionate about helping others. My anchor for many years was the idea of going to a Bible College and getting trained to be a Pastor. That was it. Almost the better part of a decade I absolutely devoted my life to the idea of being the head of a church, or a youth group.

Things changed, however. For one, and something I never regret, I got married. Other factors were involved. A church backed out on many of its promises as well as ending up being authoritarian to the point of being scared of missing services and taking up nearly 25 hour work weeks (while still being paid nothing).

I needed to save up money to go several states away for Bible College, but at the same time I was married and church took up almost all of my time. Because of my focus on this anchor, I turned down jobs that would hold me down for too long. I also turned down jobs that would interfere with my church schedule. Going to college to attain a regular degree was out of the question, because I had to go to a Bible College for the possibility of a job later on. My wife and I eventually came under heavy financial stress. While it did not effect our marriage, it did effect us.

Eventually I came to my senses. I am not saying that Christianity is not the way to go, or going to a church is bad. For me, though, it came to a choice. Do I focus on a possible position in the church and seek to please people and what they came to expect of me; or do I focus on myself and family so we are stable and happy, and so I could focus on what I want out of life?

Eventually I enrolled in a regular College and left the church altogether (which is a different story in and of itself, and one that I’ll write about at a later time). After that my anchor became helping others. Not really turning them to a Christian god (I have since reassessed my views and values), but to help them be the best they can be. For me, there is nothing better than to increase the consciousness and higher-thinking of another human being. I absolutely love it, and I plan on devoting the rest of my life to it. Why not? I started a blog about it!

After beginning to rely solely on myself and my wife, things turned around. Our financial situation got much, much better and we are now living the beginning of our dream together! I will never ever regret the choices I have made, nor the anchor I have chosen.

While your current anchor could be something you are very passionate about, don’t be so unmovable as to think it will never change. Helping others will always be a life goal for me, but my anchor may eventually turn into something else.

An anchor is also something to turn to in times of trouble. After 9/11 many people crowded into churches, synagogues, mosques, open coven circles, and other buildings/spaces used for worship. Their anchors had suddenly changed, or gone back to, something that was dear to them: religion. It is also one of the most likely things people will turn to in a calamity, whether global, national, or personal. Your own anchor will be something in which to seek refuge. It may not be raining fire down all around you, but perhaps you want to seek solace? For many, computer games are an anchor, and also a way to seek freedom and escape this life temporarily. If it is not self-destructive and can help you cope with stress and other life challenges, who is to say that religion is more noble or greater than a round of Mortal Kombat?

How to find your anchor.

You already learned what my anchor is, and if you read Religious Zen often you will find out more about it in the future. It is time for you to find out what your anchor is.

Take some time to assess your life from the view of another’s. From the outside looking in is sometimes the best way to look at a situation as well as your own self. This is also a principle in some meditation practices. Simply write down a list of attributes or actions that people know you for. List as many as you can think of. You may even want to come back later after resting on it. After writing down everything people say about you, and everything you can attribute to your life so far: what can your life be summed up as? Try and put those attributes into something actionable. Turn them into an “I” statement. For example, “People say I am funny,” could be turned to, “I lift the spirits and bring humor to other people.” Don’t be modest with this, and also be brutally honest- this is your life’s anchor! It is what it revolves around! Think of everything both good and not so good.

Other examples:

• “Friends say I am loyal” turns into, “I am loyal to my friends.”
• “My family relies on me financially,” turns into, “I bring wealth into other lives but my own.”
• My spouse says that I am their hero,” turns into, “To someone, I am a hero.”
• “My best friend comments that I inspire them,” turns into, “I bring inspiration to others.”
• “People I meet often think I am rude,” turns into, “I cause others to sometimes view me as a rude person.”

Once you’ve gone through the list adding those actionable sentences, and it could go into the hundreds, you can finally decide on an anchor if it isn’t apparent already. When you’ve figured this out, consider if it’s an anchor you WANT. Do people know you by good things or by things you dont want to be known for?

Indeed, there is a difference between an anchor you want to have and an anchor that you have through your actions over time. What do I mean by that? At first, my anchor of helping others achieve their full potential was something I wanted, not something I currently did at the time. Now that I have been living that anchor for awhile, as well as beginning Religious Zen, I can say with confidence that that is now my anchor.

There are people out there whose anchors revolve around being hurtful to others. There are far too many who take joy out of bringing misery and heartache on their fellow human beings. Is this you? Or is your anchor- that which your life revolves around- something that you don’t desire it to be? Consider changing your anchor around. Begin focusing and making deliberate changes to your life and to those around you. Eventually you will no longer be known for [just] the bad things, you will be known for what you want to be known as. It may be success, fame, intelligence, athletic prowess, strength, compassion, inspiring others, or any other number of goals.

Whatever it is, it will be you.

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