Yesterday I led my class through a mediation that was really a description of one of the falls I went to in Oregon. I closed my eyes and just shared my experience of the sights and smells and sounds of the forest and the delight of the waterfall....mmmmmm......they loved it. Had a long time student share a similar experience with me that she had in Hawaii and her feelings of being where she was meant to be for the first time in her life. Not geographically, spiritually. She soooo "got it."
Then I walked outside. Ugh. Maybe it was geographically. (Is that even a word?) I am experiencing climate shock. There are 2 times a year where I have a tendency to throw a major hissy fit over something I can't control. This being one. This weather sucks, why would anyone choose to live here, it's like wet soup laying on your arms the minute you walk outside but of course you are trapped inside with cabin fever because the asian tigers will suck your blood the minute you go out in the hell that is known as the dc area...I HATE IT HERE!!!!
The other is when I am scraping 3 inches of ice off my car with bleeding knuckles. Wishing for spring. Like I (and many others) are wishing for fall. Maybe longing would be a better word. Ugh.
So the question is: Is it worse to go somewhere beautiful and have an amazing experience completely unlike your reality? Or to just stay in your reality and have to suck it up? In other words, do you do more harm to your psyche by finding out there really are better worlds (geographically and spiritually) then just staying put and working on your world? Even though there is so much you cannot control?
I know what the Zen masters would say. "the only reality there is rests inside your head/heart"
The Taoists say, "we are all the Way, even the humidity" well, maybe they wouldn't have put it like that exactly.
The Buddhists would say, "comparison is one of the truest paths to suffering"
Did they live in Washington? Do any truly enlightened beings live here? Or are they enlightened enough to leave?
Just wondering......
1 comment:
I find it helps to cope with the reality of today to know - really know- that there are many beautiful places in the world. All I have to do is close my eyes and remember and I am there again. It also helps when dealing with the idiots of the world to know - to really know - that this world is also full of beautiful people. I just close my eyes and ears and i can be with those people again in my heart. nameste
Post a Comment