I once had a spiritual realization. The insight was: "The earth is not your enemy." Until that point, I hadn't realized how, subconsciously, I had been carrying a deep-seated sense of resentment about simply being on the earth. I resented, in Hamlet's words, "all the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to." I resented all the things we each have to do to live on this earth. I felt, again subconsciously, a deep sense of resistance toward all the forces of time, place and circumstance which seemed to be pitted against me. From the moment of my realization that the earth was not my enemy, I began to consciously make my peace with the earth and things of the earth until I reached a point of knowing that the earth is not my enemy because the earth is my friend. When the first climbers reached the top of Mt. Everest, Western newspapers proclaimed, "Man conquers Everest." When asked for his perception of this event, a great Eastern sage said, "Why not just say, Man befriends Everest." We can heal our world by befriending it.
FRIENDLY WORLD
Einstein once said that there is really only one important question: Is the universe a friendly place to be or not? Is our world friendly? How do we really see our world each day? Are the people in our life sincere and cooperative; do they have our best interests at heart? Is our attitude friendly and open and receptive; have we made friends with our world? Or are we having a conflicted relationship with our life? Do we say, "It's a jungle out there—you have to get yours before someone beats you to it." We can see the people and situations of our life as either hostile or friendly; the choice is ours. As we see it, so is it unto us. A friendly man was once asked about his town. He replied, "It's a very friendly town; everyone helps his neighbor." An unfriendly man when asked the same question replied, "It's a cold and hostile town; people are aloof and judgmental; no one helps anyone." Let's make sure that we are living in a friendly universe, and the universe will be a friend to us.
WHERE IS BEAUTY?
We say tritely, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Or sometimes, more naively we say, "Beauty is in that lovely sunset or that tree or that human face." Yet have we ever really thought about how we discover beauty for ourselves? When I was in India, I had heard so much about the Hindu religion, yet it was very puzzling— I couldn't find Hinduism anywhere. The people I met didn't talk about their religion; in the temples, no one was preaching about Hinduism— no matter where I looked, I couldn't locate anything directly connected with this religion. Then one day, after several months, it suddenly dawned on me: it was all Hinduism. Hinduism was so all-pervasive that it influenced everything and everyone in that culture. And suddenly, everywhere I looked, I saw it. From the taxi driver lighting an incense stick to a Hindu deity to the street vendor fingering his prayer beads— everything I was seeing was Hinduism; it had been so close, so immense, so interwoven with everything that it took a long time for me to see it. So, too, with beauty. It is in all and is all— don't miss it.
TWILIGHT VISION
There is a great joy in seeing the silver, pink, gray luminous twilights these evenings in our city. These twilights have a mystical, almost ethereal, otherworldly quality about them. There is a soft glow suffusing the silver gray sky. When we look at this sky at dusk, we have to think that that sky is why they call New Mexico an enchanted land. We can feel spellbound with wonder at these magical skies, letting them fill our hearts with gratitude to God for the miracle of life. It's very healing for us to look up into our skies during this time of year and feel deep inside ourselves our connection to the delicate beauty we see. Don't get so lost in our human cares and concerns that we miss all that wonder right there spread out before our eyes each evening, costing nothing more than a looking and a seeing with the heart. Remember to look up into God's beauty.
THE RING OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY
Fritz Kreisler, the great violinist, was once in a small music shop in a foreign city. He asked the proprietor the cost of a violin in his shop. The proprietor mentioned a sum of money. Kreisler said, "I'll be right back— I want to see how your violin compares to the one I have." Kreisler went around the corner to his hotel and soon returned with his own violin. When the owner saw the violin, he immediately summoned a policeman. "This thief has stolen Fritz Kreisler's violin," he shouted to the policeman. Since Kreisler had no identification with him, the policeman was all set to arrest him. Kreisler thought for a moment, then he picked up the violin and began to play. With tears in his eyes, the shop proprietor waved the policeman away. "Only Fritz Kreisler could play Mozart like that," he said. We can always tell the ring of truth and beauty beyond any deception— we need only listen with the ears of the heart to know the real when we hear it.
THE REAL THING
My wife and I were visiting New York City a few years ago. We were walking down 57th Street one evening when we passed a stand where a man was selling watches. The man said that they were Gucci watches. When we asked how much they were, he said, "$10.00." I said, "You can't buy a Gucci watch for $10.00." He said, "How about this Rolex for $15.00?" Sometimes we are tempted to settle for imitations in this life when our hearts yearn for the real thing. We each have a deep craving for authenticity, be it a material object or a spiritual experience. We want the highest and best for ourselves and our world. We don't have to settle for a second-hand life— we can choose the real, the good and the true. Inside of each of us there is that which nothing in life can imitate or falsify. We are here on this earth to find and express our unique, authentic self to and through our world.
AFFIRMING THE BODY
Our culture tends to give much allegiance to the intellect and things of the intellect. Many of us view the body as something we just have to put up with. But the body is our mode of being on this earth. The body is the vehicle for our experience of life here. It moves us through time and space. The body is really our great friend and ally. We don't need to struggle with the body; we can make our peace with it quickly. Learn to cooperate with the body— treat it with love, respect and dignity and be grateful for all the incredible blessings it gives each of us each day.
THE MASTER'S TOUCH
Once at an auction, the auctioneer held up an old battered-looking violin and asked, "What am I bid for this musical instrument?" There were a few desultory responses, "$15, $20, $30." Just when the auctioneer was about to bang his gavel on a bid of $35.00 for the old violin, an elderly gentleman worked his way through the crowd, came up to the podium, picked up the violin and started to play. As he played the instrument, the crowd became hushed, awestruck and enchanted by the great depth and beauty of the music. At the end of the piece, the old man reverently set the violin down and disappeared into the crowd. The auctioneer picked up the violin and asked ,"What am I bid for this violin?" "$20,000, $30,000, $40,000," was the response from the crowd. All it took was a touch from a master's hand to reveal the inherent value of the instrument.
TYING A SHOE LACE
There is a saying in Hasidism (Jewish mysticism): "I go to the great teacher, not to study the scriptures, but to watch him tie his shoe lace," meaning that it is a great joy and spiritually liberating to watch a true master perform even the most simple of tasks. There is an ease and elegance of movement about someone who has mastered the art of living. It is like seeing a very beautiful work of art or hearing a great symphony— our veins thrill with the energy of appreciation when we see a gifted person perform the ordinary tasks of life with precision and care. There is an innocence about such a person that captures our hearts. And we realize that that same innocence and beauty we see and feel in this person is also in us.
THE ZEN CAT
My gray cat rubs against everything— the doors, the walls, the stove, the refrigerator, me, my wife, the floors, the bookshelves; he gives everything in his path a friendly rub. He doesn't make much of a distinction between animate and inanimate objects; he enjoys a kind of cosmic 'rubbing-against-ness' with all things. It's interesting how free he is. He has such a tiny brain compared to us. He loves the sun; wherever the sun-spot is in our house, there he is, curled up in silent cat ecstasy. He loves the bushes in the back yard for scratching. They say cats need to be petted and touched. But the gray cat lets everything touch him. His rolling around on the newly mown grass is the Nirvana of cat-dom. He seems, with his little, tiny brain, to think that this earth is already a paradise, ready-made for him to experience unending joy. He's simply always blissed-out, and he can't even sleep without the loud purring of his pleasure at being alive. Such a tiny brain, such a big heart, filled with sheer delight at the way things are.
NOT NOT THERE FOR JOY
There is a Zen saying, "The enlightened person is not there for joy, but the enlightened person is not not there for joy," meaning that when we set out to capture joy it always eludes us. Joy is something we come upon; it is the unexpected dazzling beauty that suddenly captivates our hearts. We can't imprison joy in the narrow confines of our expectations. Joy explodes upon our horizon when we are simply open and receptive. There is a story about Ramakrishna as a boy of seven, carrying rice in two buckets across a field in Northeastern India. Ramakrishna happens to look up as a flock of wild geese soar across a purple sky. As he gazes at the wild beauty of the geese crossing the sky, he actually collapses in an ecstasy of joy, the buckets of rice spilling in every direction. When we are tempted to try to trap the beauty and joy of the moment into a tiny thought-construct, remember we are not here to capture joy but to be captured by joy.
JOY
How long will we postpone our joy, waiting for the right moment? Remember the saying, "Are we having fun yet?" Are we? Or are we waiting for conditions to improve before we can allow ourselves to enjoy this life? Don't get caught in when-it-is. We say: When I get through school, then I'll be happy. We finally graduate and then we say, I'll really be happy: When I get a job, or When I get married, or When I have a family, or When I'm financially secure, or When I retire. We really don't need to wait for the right time to feel joy. Today, right now, we can look at the beauty of the sky, the trees, the simple gifts of this earth and feel joy in our hearts to overflowing.
GOTAMA, THE BUDDHA
May is traditionally the month in which the Buddha's birthday and his enlightenment are celebrated by hundreds of millions of Buddhists around the world. In about the 6th century B.C. Siddhartha, a prince of northern India, having despaired of finding the end of sorrow either through worldly or ascetic ways, sat under the Bodhi tree, and in deep meditation, experienced Nirvana, or ultimate liberation. Siddhartha's name is changed to Gotama Buddha, 'the enlightened one,' and he becomes the founder of a major world religion, based on the experience of enlightenment, which has influenced humanity for twenty-six centuries. It's interesting that the Buddha released all the traditional ways, both spiritual and secular, of his time, all the teachings, paths and teachers, before his own enlightenment experience came to him. Perhaps we too can find our own way when we let go and let ourselves be totally open for a new way to dawn in our hearts. The Buddha was once asked, "Are you an angel or a saint?" "No," he replied. "Well then what are you?" "I am awake," the Buddha replied.
HEROES
When we think of heroes, we think perhaps of those who have distinguished themselves with bravery in the military. Or we think of people with great athletic ability and prowess. Or we may even think of entertainers, great musicians or even actors or actresses. Generally, someone is a hero in our culture who has performed great deeds of daring and bravery or someone who has demonstrated great artistic or physical excellence. Yet there are cultures in which people are considered heroes who are able to demonstrate abilities of great peacefulness and calm; those who can sit for long periods of time in deep and unbroken concentration and meditation; those who can manifest tremendous inner clarity and spiritual insight. It's interesting, that whereas our culture places a premium on activity and feats of the body, there are other cultures which affirm the value of inner quietude and give great admiration to mental and spiritual acumen. Perhaps we can learn from these cultures to balance our notions of the heroic with more spiritual values.
SIMPLE OPENNESS
Sometimes we are too skeptical for our own good. Two shoe salesmen, one an optimist and one a pessimist, were sent to the same undeveloped country on selling assignments. The pessimist wrote his home office, "They have never heard of shoes here, I am returning home." The optimist wrote his home office, "They have never heard of shoes here; send me ten more salesmen." If we get too jaded and closed-minded, we may be missing the opportunity that can only be seen through the eyes of innocence. Hope finds away which fear and doubt cannot see. Maybe each of us is in life right now to simply open our hearts and surrender our distrust. This may be the time to release our suspicious thoughts— to have a more positive and accepting outlook on our life and its possibilities for us. Let's say 'yes' more than 'no,' and see if we don't feel better, freer and more happy.
THE LIGHT OF A THOUSAND SUNS
In the East Indian Yoga tradition, the experience of enlightenment or liberation is called Moksha and is described as "the light of a thousand suns." In the Kabbalistic tradition of Jewish mysticism, the experience of the Ain Soph Aur is called that of limitless light. Indeed, we tend to equate the experience of light with that of insight, clarity or realization. When we come upon the solution to some problem, we say, "Ah, I see the light." In psychological process, a person frequently has the experience of going through a tunnel and coming out into the light. We've all seen cartoons in which a character's new idea is pictured as a light bulb. Perhaps more than anything else, more than a new job, new relationship or more money, more than anything, what each of us needs right now is a bright, shining, new thought which clarifies our understanding and pierces through all the obscurities of our life into a new dawn of wakefulness and penetrating light. Be open to the light of your spiritual realization.
MEDITATION
Perhaps we've been practicing some form or other of meditation and at times we may feel a bit stuck. It just isn't going anywhere for us. We've tried everything and still we feel off-center, cut off from a sense of flow. Perhaps we are trying too hard to make something happen, and we just need to relax a bit and let go. A friend of mine had been meditating for some time. When I asked how it was going, she said, "I meditate daily, but nothing is happening." Sometimes we just have to let the nothing happen. Quit fighting with our experience even when it seems not to be working. Meditation works at a very subtle level; when we can feel our hair growing, we know the level at which our meditation practice is working its beneficial change in us. Quit fighting. Be patient and let go of the need for our meditation to be different than it is. Today's meditation is the best of our lives— because this where we are— today. So we can continually release all that has happened in our meditations up to now and just be new, fresh, innocent, open and receptive each time we sit down to meditate— always as if for the first time.
ELECTRIC PEACE
Sometimes we think of peace as a leftover or byproduct: peace is what we get when we are too tired or too old for anything else. We say when someone dies, "Well, at least now he is at peace." Or we may think of peace as a nonfunctional state. There's an apocryphal story about the first President Bush's visit of reassurance to Florida after Hurricane Andrew. The president, as the story goes, visits a nursing home and says to an elderly lady, "Do you know who I am?" The lady replies, "Ask at the front desk, and they'll tell you." So we may feel that peace will come with age. Yet real peace is something extraordinary. Peace comes when there is no disturbance within ourselves or in relationship to our world. This is the infinite peace of the Buddha, the peace that passes understanding of Jesus. This peace is vibrant with energy, potent with alertness and awareness. This peace is filled with tremendous clarity, harmony and order— out of this peace all of the conflicts and divisions of life are resolved.
ELECTRIC FREEDOM
We usually think of freedom as something that will happen some day, down the road, when conditions improve. Maybe when we graduate from school, or when we get the really good job, or when we make all that money, or when the perfect relationship comes our way, or when we retire, or when we will be free to travel, or maybe in the next life—then, then we'll be really free. But as a Zen Master once said, "If you're not free now, when will you be free?" What is holding us back from freedom? Perhaps it's simply an idea we are holding in our mind, a tiny thought that says, "You're not free." or "You can't be free yet." "You haven't earned it, or you don't deserve it." But perhaps freedom is just a decision we make, not something we have to wait for. Perhaps we can just decide to be really free now, and all the energy of the universe will align itself with our decision, and our freedom will be not just a thought but a reality filled with electric possibilities.
THE SLEEPING CAT
When my gray cat sleeps, his paws point up to the heavens in silent cat ecstasy. When he sleeps, he sleeps so totally relaxed, so at peace, his whole being radiates calm and exudes serenity. Someone once said that he never heard of a cat with insomnia. Indeed, my cat never seems to worry about falling asleep. He falls asleep effortlessly, almost anywhere, at any time. He embraces sleep so completely, he entrusts himself to sleep so totally— what a joy to see him surrender himself to unconsciousness with such abandon. Yet he's always available for a gentle scratching under his chin— he'll immediately awaken from the deepest sleep for any experience of affection. And the tiniest sound of a cat food can being opened will immediately propel him into full wakefulness no matter how profound his slumbers. The gray cat is a meditation on how to sleep and how to wake up, how to be totally relaxed and how to be totally awake and alert.