The most spiritual book I have ever read is - guess what? - not a religious book! (I also happen to think that spirituality and religion are two ENTIRELY different things.) It is a book about a kind of modern-day Robin Hood, called Simon Templar, also known as The Saint. What makes him different from other anti-heroes, what makes him extraordinary and trandscend above the rest, what makes him spiritual, is utterly simple. He smiles.
That's it! He doesn't pray. He doesn't do religious stuff. He doesn't try to be more holy than anybody else. In fact, he kills when it's called for. It's his approach to life and fear and danger that lifts him up and sets him apart. He refuses to allow his spirit to be crushed. And that, to me, is more spiritual that all the religious costumes and rituals in the world. For me, singing is spiritual. Laughing is spiritual. Doing the right thing is spiritual. Helping the weak is spiritual. Self sacrifice is spiritual.Here are a few excerpts from the book The Saint's Getaway (1932) by Leslie Charteris, to help you get acquainted with Mr Simon Templar.
"Simon Templar drew a deep breath. Then he fired from his pocket. His gun, with a half-charged cartridge in the chamber, gave no more than an explosive little cough, which merged into the sharp smack of the bullet crashing home into the single electric light switch by the door; and the room was plunged into impenetrable darkness. The Saint hurled himself sideways. Right behind him he heard the dull plop of an efficiently silenced gun, but he was untouched. He twisted like an eel, and his hand brushed a pair of legs. They heard his grim chuckle in the darkness."
"And, knowing her man, she understood. The clear blue of the night was in his eyes, the georgeous madness that made him what he was thrilled in his touch. His words seemed to hold nothing absurd, nothing incongruous - only the devil-may-care attar of Saintliness that would have stopped to admire a view on the way to its own funeral.""He came to his feet with the lithe swiftness of an animal, settling his belt with one hand and sweeping back the other over his smooth hair. The cold winds of incredulity and common sense flowed past his head like common zephyrs. He had his inspiration. The flame of unquenchable optimism in his eyes was electric, an irresistable resurgence of the old Saintly exhaltation that would always find a new power and hope in the darkest thunders of defeat. He laughed. The stillness had fallen from him like a cloak - fallen away as if it had never existed. He didn't care."
"Monty Hayward looked at him, and was amazed. The bleakness was still in the Saint's eyes, but suddenly there was a twinkle with it as if the sun had glinted over two chips of blue ice. There was the phantom of a smile on the Saint's lips - a smile that had still to reach the careless glory of pure Saintliness, but yet a smile that had not been there before. And the Saint spoke in a voice that showed his smile."
Footnote: Ever watched a baby laugh? (If you haven't, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCl9exidaUY ) My youngest was chuckling at 3 months. A baby cries when it feels pain or discomfort. But how does it know joy and happiness, when it doesn't know sorrow? The only logical reason to me is ... babies are born with human spirits. 10 Oct 2010.
