Everyone who lived at that time,
not being as wise as you young ones are today, found it rewarding enough in their simplicity to listen to an oak or even a stone, so long as it was telling the truth.
Plato, Phaedros
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
We try to be fully present in everything we do. We focus on just walking when we walk, and when listening to others we try to fully listen, not thinking ahead to the answer. The vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn writes beautifully on giving whatever we are doing our full attention, taking care of one moment after another. Each event is important even if it is just washing a cup. In that way we are fully open to the happiness that is possible right now, in each moment, if we just have eyes to see.
We learn this looking at nature around us and seeing how in silence each tree is perfectly complete in this moment. Nothing needs to be added. We are reminded of the old philopsophy maxim – actio sequitur esse- or action is based on being. Everything we do, all our happiness, is rooted in the heart. We touch into the heart every time we remember to be fully in each moment, not leaning onto the next, not always trying to be elsewhere or someone other than ourselves. Sitting practice strengthens this too: we do not try to feel anything particular, we drop all of our planning and additions and being in relationship to just this moment, to just being.
An oak tree is an oak tree. That is all it has to do.
If an oak tree is less than an oak tree, then we are all in trouble.
Thich Nhat Hahn
So be reposed
and praise, praise, praise
The way it happened
and the way it was.
Patrick Kavanagh, Irish Poet, Question to Life
In our practice we work at turning toward every aspect of our experience and holding it in awareness. At times this is hard and we can only do it for a brief moment. Some of the things that happen in a day can be unwanted, and we cannot truly say that we “welcome” it. But try this: See if you can be more aware of what your mind quickly labels as “unpleasant” or not what you “wanted” at this moment. Then see if you can name what is happening in your body and in your mind in that instant. Maybe creating this momentary space could help you see the thoughts, feelings and sensations as passing events in the field of awareness, and to not over-identify with them or be overwhelmed by them. Practicing in this way, we try to be present with all the experiences of our day rather than avoiding, contracting or pushing them away.
Can you accept the moments of anger and fear as guests,
be willing to receive them with kindness without feeling obliged to serve them a five-course meal?
Christina Feldman
Gratefulness sprouts when we rise to the challenge of surprise. Gratefulness can be improved by practice. But where shall beginners begin? The obvious starting point is surprise. You will find that you can grow the seeds of gratefulness just by making room. If surprise happens when something unexpected shows up, let’s not expect anything at all. Let’s follow Alice Walker’s advice: “Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.”
To expect nothing may mean not taking for granted that your car will start when you turn the key. Try this and you will be surprised by a marvel of technology worthy of sincere gratitude. Or you may not be thrilled by your job, but if for a moment you can stop taking it for granted, you will taste the surprise of having a job at all, while millions are unemployed. If this makes you feel a flicker of gratefulness, you’ll be a little more joyful all day, a little more alive.
From there it is only a small step to seeing the whole universe and every smallest part of it as surprising. From the humble starting point of daily surprises, the practice of gratefulness leads to these transcendent heights. Thomas Carlyle pointed to these peaks of spiritual awareness when he wrote, “Worship is transcendent wonder” – transcendent surprise.
Brother David Steindl-Rast
We practice in order t
o become more awake. This includes becoming more aware of the various strategies we use to avoid being with a basic fear. We have numerous ways to deflect any sense of insecurity, of not being in control, of not always being sure of where we are going. So we have a tendency to look to ourside sources or achievements for support, to define ourselves by what we do or by some labels or badges. We are often afraid of just being ourselves, because we have learnt to believe that it is not enough. And one of the preferred ways to deal with this today is that we try harder, we do more.
However, what we find when we practice is that there is nothing to do, and even less to hold on to. There is simply this moment, this breath. Nothing needs to be added to make it compete. We rest in it, and in some way we are complete in it too. We do not have to place more demands on it. We slow down the chatter in the mind. We do not have to search in order to be. And that is the greatest liberation.
The arrogant mind never stops looking for identity, and this identity always defines itself through atributes: “the beautiful one”, “the smart one”, “the creative one”, “the successful one”………. We are always searching for something to be.
Dzigar Kongtrul, Light Comes ThroughI have spoken at times of a light inside, a light that is uncreated and uncreatable to the extent that we can deny ourselves and turn away from things, we shall find our unity in that little spark inside, which neither space nor time touches.
Meister Eckhart
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