Scout Notes #1
The signal is almost dying. Checkered weather – despite a nice morning, the afternoon was marked by rain. Wet and cold, they reached their destination. But they kept looking...
I sat by the candles in the evening, while nearly a hundred young and old travellers were observing me, when I was staring into the fire, chatting. This time, however, I did not talk about history, about the times of old heroes, or about our predecessors. There were many trips of this type, but together with the team we wanted this year's rally held for over 40 years to have a different tone. So I talked about light.
The study of light has led us to notice the wave-particle nature of this phenomenon. In a nutshell: something else happens "by itself", and something else when we observe the phenomenon in detail. When we look at details, when we are focused, we get different results than when we do not pay attention to details. Behind many complicated patterns and tons of books, there is a simple truth – when you show attention, things happens differently.
When you formulate it this way, you can see that this is not a relationship reserved for light. Yes, light is a good example, but don't we have the same? When we know that we are being watched, we usually behave differently ourselves. Children react differently when they see someone looking at them. Some animals very easily sense that someone is watching them.
It also happens that we use a similar mechanism on ourselves. By increasing our awareness in the area of, for example, caring for the environment, we make it much easier to notice a small habit that does not fully correspond to our self-perception as defenders of nature. By observing our own behavior more closely, we are able to identify problems and fix them – ultimately changing the outcome of the action. Consciousness leads to a different decision. Observation leads to change.
However, can we constantly observe everything around? Are we able to live in the constant tension of vigilance, never having rest from ourselves? Asking myself these questions, I came across** two different ideas** that answer both questions in the same way. The first of them, which immediately came to my mind, was polish scouting and the whole scouting thought. After all, I was telling a story on a scout trip, so it was natural that I thought about it. Although the Scout will exclaim, "Be prepared!", Polish scout will answer "Keep watch!" (pol. “Czuwaj!”), which has a slightly different meaning. To keep the watch is not only to be ready, not only to carry a few meters of string, first aid kit and flint with you when going to the store; vigilance also carries the expectation of mindfulness, attention, observation. The original slogan is also interpreted in this way, but in my opinion the Polish version reflects it much better. And at that moment, I added an inner understanding of light to the scout symbolism of fire – it is the fire of my soul that allows me to observe myself, to change the outcome of my actions, to try to be better. To bring light into my own life and the lives of others, and to be alert – looking for a place and time where I can help.
Connecting this thread with the second idea that appeared somewhere next to it was a little more complicated. In the Philokalia, the concept of nepsis – a state of alertness and mindfulness, which is a sign of holiness – is mentioned several times. It is being spiritually sober and alert so that at any moment we can reject the evil that comes near us. Although I know a lot of people who do not appreciate the theology of Eastern Christianity, for me personally it is a great source of inspiration – but I did not ever think that I would be able to smoothly move from the space of the Scout movement, which is a child of the thought of Western civilization, to the space of reflection of Greek hermit monks, or that these two areas would work together so well.
So let's imagine a person. He carefully observes what is happening in his heart. He notices the problem, the challenges, and responds to them immediately, striving for perfection and holiness. Watches. Is it a monk or a scout? It doesn't matter. This is a person who strives to be more than he is now. One who picks up the gauntlet, thrown by life.
And all this only because someone once began to observe his inner light.
[The photo shows a lamp in the house of Mrs. Zofia, a Polish woman who has been living with her husband Pierre for years in a small village hidden between the hills and a river in the south of Belgium. I spent the night under this lamp during my Camino. In the morning they gave me a jar of honey, which I tried to eat for the next month. This was a light that someone gave to me]