The lesson of spiritual life is not about gaining knowledge, but about how we love. Are we able to love what is given to us, love in the midst of all things, love ourselves and others?
Jack Kornfield, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
Our neighbours have a new little black kitten, who is just starting to explore her area. “Minette” as she is called, comes bounding onto our terrasse, with no fear and pure playfulness. She trusts completely, plays easily and then runs away to scamper up the trees at the end of the garden, only to return two minutes later to start over again. She wanders into the house and out again to hide among the olive and geranium flower pots waiting to pounce. Everything is a wonder for her, a piece of string, a blade of grass.
It is so easy to be at ease with and love any creature when they are confident and without fear, when they approach without defenses. We too were born that way, before our life’s experiences led us to develop caution and defenses. What we try to do in our practice is to get in touch with the natural confidence and joy which is within us , and which is there before the spinning mind takes over. Meditation is simply learning to stay in that natural calm, moving away from the spinning stories by sitting with the here-and-now.
The last two days were lovely and sunny and I took more time for quiet practice, walking and reading. They were calm, easy days. Today it rains, so walks outdoors are less an option, but the same calm remains, even with the noise of the heavy rain. To help myself do this I am concentrating on having a view of this moment, as one that is not attached to any outcome, just as the little kitten demonstrates. A sense of wonder in the newness of each experience, wonderful in itself, a whole world to discover. Jon Kabat Zinn reminds us that this moment is the only moment which we can be sure of. Whatever is happening in this moment is the best that is, with no need to seek for other outcomes. When I do not focus on an outcome, I am in less danger of splitting into me and it, or me and them, making the world and my experience dualistic, dependant on something outside me.
Normally when I am confused or frightened, it is a sign that I have moved from this moment into some story of them and me, good and bad, blame and feeling hurt. And in those moments I find it harder to trust and to love. Letting go of the storylines, however, means that I find it easier to respond to needs beyond my own. So they are all linked: touching into natural confidence leads to joy and joy leads to being able to love. As Jack Kornfields quote reminds us, for real wisdom to open, it has to rest in and demonstrate compassion. It does not remove us from the fulness of life. Minette shows the way. She plays, she trusts, she exists fully without always living in her self-centred mind. She is at ease. She loves.
A similar reflection to the earlier one from Hollis, this time from a Buddhist perspective:
