First, I will quote the original spiritual story by Guy Finley, and then I will share my thoughts on the story…

There’s a man who has been by himself in a prison cell with a dirt floor, crude stone walls, and there’s two windows one of which looks out towards the ocean. All of the sudden, he hears a scratching noise, and he looks down at the ground that is furthest away from the window facing the ocean. He sees the ground moving, and he starts to think he’s losing his mind. But soon the ground breaks, and up pops a head with long hair and a beard… it’s a prisoner.

And the prisoner says “Sssh. Listen. A group of us have been tunneling for about six years, and we’ve finally reached your cell. We have ways to cover up my entrance into this, but now it’s all on your shoulders, man. All you have to do,” he said while pointing out the window towards the ocean, “you just start digging here and go down about six feet and about 75 feet in that direction and there is freedom, and we’re outta here!”

“Oh, I love that! That’s great; I want to be free!”

“Okay, I’ll check back with you in a few weeks.”

Two weeks later, the pops back in to check on his friend’s progress, and his friend nods back with great affirmation. “Yeah, I’ve done it.”

So the man who was providing the instructions pops down the hole, and two seconds later pops right back up and says, “What have you done?!?!?”

“Huh?”

“I told you to dig in the direction towards the OCEAN! This tunnel that you dug goes back under the wall and into the prison yard.”

“Well, the digging was easier in the other direction…”

The way I see this story (and you may discover something entirely different!) is that the main character incorrectly thinks that the shortest and easiest distance is the correct way to go. The result of this, is that the digger finishes his task very quickly but rather than leading all of his fellow inmates to freedom, instead he hands them right over to the prison guards by digging a hole back into the prison yard.

What he doesn’t realize is that sometimes the “shortest” and immediately “easiest” answer is not always the easiest answer in the long run. The digger failed to see that even though it was easiest to dig towards the prison yard, it actually is the hardest choice he could have made… because it’s going to be a lot harder for him to continue living in the prison.  (This is especially true, since he will probably get in a lot of trouble with all the inmates whose escape plans were ruined by the diggers incorrect decsion).

This is a beautiful metaphor for the spiritual journey. Often we take shortcuts or try the easy route because we do not fully understand the big picture. I myself am prone to this — I know that there are great benefits to meditating, and yet I choose to do other things with my time. I know that exercising would be great for my body, and that a little exercise now will prevent many health problems in the future… and yet I do not exercise.

I obviously still have more to learn from this story… more to embody. Sure, I understand the story at an intellectual level.  And even some at a soul level. But my current “easy” choice of not incorporating meditation and exercise into my daily life serves as evidence that I still have work to do so that I can truly embody and know these lessons at a soul level… to become the teaching (not just “know” it).

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