Our problems arise when we subordinate this moment to something else, our self-centered thoughts, not just his moment, but what I want.
We bring to the moment our personal priorities, all day long
And so our troubles begin
Charlotte Joko Beck
I had a similar encounter yesterday with swallows in Emo Park
There are days when I am convinced that Heaven starts already, now, in this ordinary life, just as it is, in all its incompleteness, yet, this is where Heaven starts.
See within yourself, if you can find it.
I walked through the field in front of the house, lots of swallows flying, everywhere! Some very near me. It was magical.
We are already one, yet we know it not.
Thomas Merton
In sharp contrast to all this [current] self-seeking exceptionality, God works through the ordinary. Meister Eckhart gives us a word here:
“If you are doing anything special, you are not seeking God“
Maggie Ross, Silence, A User’s Guide
Enjoying life is not difficult in the exciting moments. However, the key is the ordinary moments….
I like to sit on a verandah overlooking the valley, counting the Pleiades coming up in the cold air, the Crow, the Big Bear turning around the pole as the night goes on.
And that’s what meditation is like really, doing nothing, looking at nothing in particular, relishing the plainness, the life in between.
John Tarrant, Bring me the Rhinoceros
In the course of [my] travels it became clear to me that tranquility and peace have nothing to do with the most beautiful places on earth or the most interesting experiences.
They are only to be found in one’s heart.
Ayya Khema, I Give you my life: The Autobiography of a Buddhist Nun
In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top – the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation – and the plants at the bottom.
But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of Creation.”
We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn – we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on the earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
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