Buddhist poet Gensei (1623-1668) wrote: "The point in life is to know what’s enough–", that is to say, the measure of life's "necessities" for you, as an individual. As May comes to a close, so does Mental Health Month and this seems a good time to look at "what is enough". We are all subject in this digital age to an overload of blatant and subtle attempts at conditioning our emotions to feel we need whatever is cleverly packaged and promoted, whether it is an thing, a place, a practice, an ideology. One aspect of mental health is our capacity to sort through the noise of collective pressure and quietly listen to our own circumstances and inner direction that brings us balance, stability and resilience.
This is also Memorial Day weekend, a holiday that has evolved to mark two pinnacles of American culture--1) an actual Memorial Day of ceremony, prayer, sadness and pride, that honors those U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces and 2) a socially-shaped declaration of the beginning of summer--regardless of the solstice-- celebrated with outdoor get-togethers, travel, and general revelry. The somewhat fragile link between the two is the idea of celebrating the freedom, living the freedom gained by their sacrifice. The link is fragile because revelry often seeks to forget the cost, the human tragedy of war and conflict. Grief can drown us, plunging us into hopeless despair. Collectively and often unconsciously, we seek the same balance, stability and resilience. This polarity extends beyond the military, to the broader fields of life that include suffering and loss, as well as joy and delight.
Ultimately, spiritually, there is an over-arching Peace and Reconciliation of these opposites. That is not a puzzle that we can work-out with our intellect, nor by totally giving ourselves over to dark grief, nor to wild pursuit of pleasure. But we can keep a space inside our mind/heart free and open to 'That Greater Truth', until spiritual recognition finds us. And we can consider--as a unique individual--what is enough. Something in each of us, knows that. (Susan Nettleton)
For Gensei's poem, https://gladdestthing.com/poets/gensei
and for Memorial Day a Rilke poem, https://brktrail.com/dove/