"Honor Thy Father And Mother"

When I was 18, my father asked me how can I consider myself spiritual when I am not obeying my father. I think that this is a common problem that needs to be addressed.

Nobody wants their children to become spiritual or to become artists. They want them to live comfortable bourgeois lives. When Buddha was born, the prophecy was that he was either going to become a great king or the founder of a major religion. His parents wanted him to become a king, so they did what they could to keep him from developing spiritual sensibilities. However spiritual reality found him anyway, and he gave up all his comforts and all his advantages to found Buddhism.

Most artistic types are highly spiritual. Which means of course that they will be taking religion seriously. The correct advice to these people is to think things through. “Honor thy father and mother” does not mean “buy into the errors of thy father and mother.” You can honor your parents without practicing the wrong things that they believe.

In a Russian movie “Bolshoi,” a woman tells her daughter, who is a ballerina, that she is selfish. No, she is a star. By being a ballerina she brings much more pride and fame to her family than she would have done if she had pursued a more conventional career. Her mother benefits from this as well. She has a family member being a star, which is not a common thing to have happen.

My father has turned around and now likes my translations and my writings. He says that he is proud of me. I do not dishonor him at all. I took the lead to do something valuable. And now even he supports what I do.

Usually parents aren’t evil; but many have wrong beliefs. It is necessary to separate the valid from the invalid. Honor thy father and mother; do not buy into their errors. Instead do what would actually give pride and joy to them. And in so doing end up doing what’s right both by God and by the world.