Someone once said that we are all Clark Kents looking for a phone booth. We want our transformation to be quick, painless and complete. We want to shoot up to the stars, as long as we don't have to leave home. But our life works as an unfolding process. It's helpful to see things in terms of process rather than result. Too often we weigh situations by how much progress we have made. If we don't see progress in a situation, then we think we have failed or are going backwards instead of forward. Yet as Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, said, "You do not depart from the process [of your inner development] even for a moment; what you depart from is never the process." There is a way of being in this life that is not based on sheer striving and achievement, that is not competitive, non-comparing. We can relax our way into things— we don't really need to push and shove. We can stay true to our innermost nature which guides us surely and safely to that which is ready to receive us. 

When we loosen and relax our grip on ourselves and the people and the situations in our lives, we discover ease and peace right in the midst of everything that is going on. We find that, as we release our need to control, dominate and manipulate ourselves and others, there's a simple and natural way for things to work out in our lives, without effort or struggle, and in ways we couldn't have calculated or predicted. When we feel separate, we want to control; when we feel in harmony, it's easy and simple to let go and trust the basic goodness of life to align us with our good. So let's let go to inner harmony. 

In Zen there is a saying, "No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place," meaning that things are really unfolding in a harmonious order— even when we can't see how. Often we are trying so hard to fit things into a meaningful frame of reference that we are unable to see the perfect order already inherent in whatever is happening. There's a natural order, harmony and the rhythm to this life. We are continually frustrated and defeated as long as we are trying to impose our own sense of order on the order that already exists. When we simply ease up and let go, we discover the beauty that was always right there in front of us. Peace discovers beauty that anxiety can never see. When we are anxious to know how it's all going to work out, we are like the person frantically looking for his glasses; when he finally calms down, he realizes the glasses are right there on the front of his nose. 

Last weekend I happened to be near Alamogordo, New Mexico and stopped at the White Sands National Park. When you first drive into the park, you see a lot of scrub bushes with bits of sand here and there. And I thought: yeah, that's interesting, seeing white sand in the midst of all the weeds and bushes. But as I kept going farther and farther into the park, I began to see more and more sand, actual dunes, and finally I was surrounded and engulfed in a vision of white, like an ocean of sand. There was still sand and blowing sand; the ground was covered with sand, the sky from the wind was covered with sand. Everything was an exquisite, pristine white— unlike anything I'd ever seen or imagined. Sometimes we come upon an unexpected doorway to beauty. At first glance, it seems nondescript and mundane. But then as we go deeper, as it reveals itself to us, with a shock we feel that power of beauty to awaken and jolt us out of the ordinary into the realm of vision. 

St. Catherine of Siena once said, "There is no way to peace. Peace itself is the way." Sometimes we think that we have to find peace first, then we'll be able to act. Or we think that through our actions, we will eventually come to peace. Yet peace itself is an action. When we let go of all of our anxiety and fretfulness, our trying to make things work out, trying to manipulate ourselves and others, when we drop all of our anxious striving, we discover the peace that is already there at the center of our being. When we find this gentle peace at the center of who we are, we can relax, let go and trust that this peace will take us to where we need to be and will bring to us all that we need. No matter what is happening or not happening right now, we can relax this moment and let go to the peace at the center of ourselves and know that this peace will support and sustain us now and always. 
 

Kahlil Gibran once said that work is love made visible. Do we love what we do in this life? Then we are bound to prosper. How could we not prosper and thrive if through our work in the world we are expressing the joy of life. I was recently listening to a jazz trio at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. The three musicians were so obviously in tune with each other they were as if melded together to form a center of harmony through which their music could joyously erupt. Even though the room in which they were playing was busy with people coming and going, some them paying hardly any attention to the music, these three musicians were so focused, so wedded to their art that their ecstatic smiles never noticed anything but the joy of their music-making— thousands of listeners could have been there or no one— it was all the same to these three wonder-makers. 

Ram Dass once wrote a book called Be Here Now. Sometimes it seems that we are living our lives as if we'll be here, eventually. When I was in India, I met a young man who was assiduously studying the ancient Buddhist texts in Sanskrit and Pali. He said that after another fifteen or twenty years, he would understand these ancient writings enough to attain his enlightenment. I asked him what about in the meantime; what was he doing for enjoyment , or happiness? He said that all that was postponed until the completion of his studies in about twenty years. Even though this may sometimes be a person's true life path, perhaps we can spend too much time in postponing our arrival. John Lennon said, "Life is what happens while we're busy making plans." This is a beautiful time of year. Let's not let the electric joy of this spring slip away from us because we're so busy with our plans. Now is when we are alive. Now is the time for our realization of the beauty and goodness and wonder of this life. 

Each day we can give thanks for the gift of this life. We didn't earn this life. It is given as a free gift to use as we choose. We are so free to move through time and space and enjoy this beautiful earth. This vast universe has limitless possibilities— only a fraction of which we as yet have explored. We are only beginning to be aware of the incredible opportunities for our further enfoldment in this world. All the great spiritual leaders have pointed to a cosmic dimension to our life that each of us can achieve by simply recognizing it and surrendering to it. 

Sometimes we may take for granted how well we are really doing. Chuang Tzu, the great Taoist philosopher, said, "When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten; when the belt fits, the stomach is forgotten." On a physical level, when our body is functioning harmoniously, we are hardly aware of the body at all. It is only when something seems to go wrong, then we become aware of the body— and then we tend to be critical and condemning. Look, we say to ourselves, about our body, it's causing me problems again. Yet if we stop to think how well the body has done by us over the years, we can be profoundly grateful for its overall smooth functioning— in spite of all the junk food and chemicals of one sort or another we have poured into it. Just the fact that the body, with amazing intelligence, beyond any computer, digests, processes and assimilates our food for us— how astounding! We can be deeply grateful for all the loving care our body naturally bestows on each of us each day. 

As we observe this Memorial Day by taking time out to remember and acknowledge the memory of those who died for their country, we can also take the time to acknowledge others in our life who have also passed on: family members and friends— people who have touched our lives, deeply or otherwise, and who are no longer with us on a physical level. As we take the time this weekend to remember these people in gratitude and recognition for the love which passed between us, we can also take time to remember and acknowledge those others who may not have passed away, but who are simply not in our lives right now, for whatever reason. We think of all the people who have shared life with us over the years. From childhood onwards, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people have touched our lives. This is a time for remembering. Let's remember with gratitude anyone who comes to mind this weekend for the sheer fact that so many good people have touched our lives. Albert Camus said that to live one day on this earth provides enough memories to last a lifetime! 

When we feel tired or anxious or stressed out, let's remember there's a healing power in learning to laugh at our predicament in this life. We are here to enjoy— not unjoy— this life. When we take ourselves or our lives too seriously, we forget how to have fun, to relax, to let go— to see the humor of just being who we are. We usually are trying so hard to be somebody we forget that we're a part of everything. Perhaps when we are too serious and uptight, we should take a look at our nose or our ears or think about the last time we did something silly. Let's don't be so adult that we lose all sense of feeling good and glad just to be alive. Og Mandino says, "I look to see if my name is in the obituary column each day— if it's not there— ah, what a great day!" 

Idries Shah tells the story of when the legendary Nasrudin was once shown a beautiful woodland scene with a clear blue sparkling lake nestled in the middle of a great forest of trees. After viewing the picturesque scene for a while, Nasrudin turned to his fellow admirer and said with a deep sigh, "Ah, if only...." "If only what, Nasrudin?" his friend asked. "If only they hadn't put water in it," Nasrudin sighed. Many of us get caught in the "if onlys"-- If only we had more money. If only we were in the right job or right relationship or right family. If only someone understood us better. We can spend so much time regretting the givens of our life, that we lose track of the beauty and joy each day brings to our hearts. We can release all our regrets by simply deciding that this life is a wondrous gift, enchanting beyond anything we can imagine, better than anything we can conceive. 

I have a saying— Rule #1: there is only one presence in this life— Rule #2: when it appears that there is something other than the oneness of all life, go back to Rule #1. The medieval definition of fortitude is: fear is not possible for a mind to whom nothing is alien.. As we release our sense of separation from all life, as we let go of dividing life up, more and more we feel a sense of peace, harmony and order. The one life everywhere manifests as all of us. We see ourselves as separate individuals, but we can also affirm our inherent unity with all. We are a part of the nervous system of this universe. We are at home on this earth; we also are at home in farthest stars in the most distant galaxy; we.are of the oneness of this life. 

When we look up at the sky, we notice the clouds passing overhead. We see the comings and goings of the clouds, but the sky itself remains changeless. Sometimes we may lock our attention onto a cloud and forget the vast, spacious sky in which the cloud is a mere passing phenomenon. In our own life, emotional distresses and upheavals are like the passing clouds. Our emotional identifications come and go— the ground of our being remains always the same. There is always a pure awareness at the center of who we are. All of the passing phenomena of our life are like the clouds in that vast spaciousness of sky. It is good to connect with the clouds; it is also good to remember to connect with the vast freedom and expansiveness of the sky. 

A couple once had a parrot who could only say three words, "Let's make out." This was very embarrassing to the couple. They felt that their parrot needed a more refined and spiritual vocabulary. A friend of theirs had a parrot who could only say, "Let's pray." They decided to put the two parrots together so that their parrot would be edified by their friend's parrot. The next day, when they pulled the hood from the cage, the couple's parrot said, "Let's make out," and the other parrot said, "My prayers have been answered!" Let's remember that our life on this earth is an integration between the spiritual and the life of the world. We are not here to deny the world but to affirm the spiritual right in the midst of the world. 

Ours is a culture which craves variety. We seek out the new and the different; we want variety in our food, our music, our clothes, our entertainment. But this pursuit of the new and different also may lead us to change jobs, change houses and cars, and even change relationships. We seem to tire so easily of anything we have to repeat. Yet there is also in this life tremendous value in repetition itself. It takes many, many years to come to know and understand another human being. To really appreciate the depth, subtlety and beauty of an artistic, literary, or musical masterpiece requires a lifetime of study and concentration. T.S. Eliot learned Italian so that he could read Dante's Divine Comedy in the original, which he memorized and repeated to himself over and over again while waiting for a train or a bus. The value of repetitive prayer and meditation lies precisely in the deepening effect of the repetitive act of turning within and surrendering. While we all do enjoy the fruits of variety, let's keep in mind that perhaps our most profound experiences in life come from repetition. 

Let's just let ourselves give up the struggle to fix ourselves, others or this life itself. Sometimes we are trying so hard to improve, to understand, to be appropriate, to be positive, to get somewhere, that we become stuck in trying. We say to whomever will listen, "But I'm trying, I'm really trying." Maybe we are trying so hard, we are getting in the way of our natural unfolding. Relax. Let go of even trying to figure it all out. Let it be. Look at the sky, the trees, the natural order and harmony of this earth. As Chogyam Trungpa said, "The sky is always above us, the earth always below us"— we always know where we are. So we can relax. 

We live in uncertain times. We sometimes feel anxious and unsure about what's happening in our lives. What will the future bring? Will we make it, will we be OK? At some point, it is helpful to release and let go of our anxiety at the uncertain quality of this life. We are here on this earth because we belong here. We are a part of this earth; the earth supports and sustains each of us. The air we breathe gives us life. We may not know what will happen in time. But we can let go now and let ourselves be at peace and feel our connection to this earth in our hearts. 

When I first moved into my new house sometime ago, there was a tree by the driveway that seemed to have a grudge against me. When I got out of my car, this tree seemed to reach out and stab me with its long sharp branches. This was an aggravating tree. No matter how far away I parked, it always seemed to be there to clutch me and tangle me up in its needle-like branches. I thought about rooting it up, but my wife voted against this. Finally, enough of the garage became clear from the move to allow me to park my car inside, and I was freed from my painful encounters with the dreaded tree. One day recently an excited lady came to our door. She asked, "Where did you find such a beautiful Broom tree?" referring to my foe by the driveway. "That is a very rare tree, and how did yoli get it to grow right there?" It is fascinating how someone will see beauty and value where someone else sees inconvenience and aggravation. Which do we want to see? 

Something within each of us keeps us grounded in this life. There is beneficence to this world that we can gently allow to awaken within us. Think about how few things really do go wrong for us. A shoe lace may break— but we whiz along the freeway, we rush around town and we manage to accomplish an infinite number of tasks with speed and dexterity and only minor mishaps. If we are inveterate list makers, it might be instructive to allow ourselves to hold on to all of our lists for, say, a three-month period and then see the enormous amount of things that we completed on time and in an appropriate way. Perhaps if we stopped and for even a moment realized how well we are functioning right now, we could relax and give ourselves some credit and let our hearts be glad that things really do work out for us and order and harmony do prevail in our lives.