"Mindfulness and Meditation allow us to open our hearts, relax our bodies, and clear our minds enough to experience the vast, mysterious, sacred reality of life directly. With Practice we come to know for ourselves that eternity is available in each moment.

Your MMM Courtesy Wake Up Call:
Musings on Life and Practice
by a Longtime Student of Meditation

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Give It a Rest, Buddhy!

"We seem to have lost the ability to just be quiet, 
to simply be present in the stillness that is the foundation of our lives. Yet if we never get in touch with that stillness,
we never fully experience our lives."  
-- Roshi John Daido Loori,  
Finding the Still Point

"Breathing in, I calm body and mind. 
Breathing out, I smile. 
Dwelling in the present moment
 I know this is the only moment."
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

As someone who is approaching my 74th birthday, I grin when I find myself sometimes talking about "the good old days."  

As a teen, I used to roll my eyes whenever Dad proclaimed that what folks called "progress" had distinct problems.  

Now, decades later, I get it.  As Bob Dylan once sang, "Ah, but I was so much older then.  I'm younger than that now."

As I glance at the cellphone sitting alongside the keyboard and notice that I'm currently sitting here with 6 tabs of information on this browser awaiting my beck and call (quotes, pictures, wikepedia, dictionary, email, blogger), I am quite aware that there is something deeply unsettling about the nature of "life as we know it" on planet earth today -- at least here in 21st century America.  Having compared notes with other geezers, it seems there is a consensus: The rat race has only gotten worse.

Although, I can't speak about how it may feel in other parts of the world today, I do remember having a conversation with an immigrant from Vietnam years ago, a co-worker in a spiffy New Age natural foods restaurant, bakery, retail store complex in Madison, WI.  As we sat in the alley out back (with one eye out for the manager), he lamented that the entire pace of life in the U.S. was unhealthy, uncivilized and inhumane.  He had come to believe that the entire fabric of life in his homeland, Communist or not, was better than what he and his family was experiencing in the US.  He was making plans to go home.

And that was thirty-five years ago!  

That was before everyone had a PC, a cell phone, and a gazzillion cable channels to choose from.  Back then, I still had the time to sigh and stretch out when I got home from work, reach for the TV Guide, look through the listings, then get out of the chair to stroll across the room to change the channel. 

Nowadays? 

It seems that most of are on remote control, bombarded with stimuli and activity, sped up and wired for action in most every waking moment --or thinking about it.  Even at rest, our minds are constantly on the move with a dizzying kaleidoscope of images and sounds and thoughts zipping through our awareness continuously.  Awash in constant stimulation, scurry, and noise, time seems to have collapsed -- leaving no time at all.  

And -- surprise, surprise -- most of us are often feeling a bit breathless; increasingly stressed out, restless and anxious.     
 

Give it a Rest, Buddhy!

In all the major religious traditions that I've studied over the years, there is a deep recognition that Stillness and Rest are not only important -- they are crucial.  

As mystics throughout the ages have proclaimed, at the core of Reality, there is Quiescence, a Vast, Profound Stillness.  It is an essential part of Our Being.  Although we can get swept up in the activity and constant sensory bombardment of today's world, I think it's important to remember that even the OmniProductive God of the Old Testament, working hard enough to create the entire Universe in only six days, then took a day off  --and proclaimed it Holy!

Of course, as God Almighty, Yahweh could probably kick back and settle right into the Stillness.   For most of us, 
(READ MORE)
it may not be that easy.  Conditioned as we are, it actually takes a commitment, time, effort, and some discipline to cultivate our own ability to relax, focus and become Present to the what my first Zen teacher called the Soundless Sound. 

It takes Practice. 

Adrift in the buzz of contemporary society (which, I think, could be itself diagnosed as ADHD), most of us have internalized the incessant noise and relentless activity of a system build on greed, fear, and ignorance.  That noise and activity lives on in our bodies, our emotions and, perhaps most of all, in our thoughts.  Even at relative rest, we may tend to feel stressed -- unless we are lost in the distraction of television, or web surfing.  Oftentimes, these activities actually exacerbate the situation. 

Thankfully, in this day and age we also have access to an entire world of Teachings, and to the meditative practices developed through the ages to free us from this vicious cycle.  If a patently neurotic, addictive, and workaholic personality like myself can do it, I'm convinced that anybody can.   

If we make the decision to commit to a meditation practice, we can learn to relax, to be still, to open our hearts and minds to the Deep Peace that exists in the Heart of Reality. 


Stop. Look. Listen.

Although there is a great value in maintaining a daily meditation practice and taking time to participate in extended periods of meditation (I, myself, am looking forward to the next Be Still and Know Day of Mindfulness on February 16), even the choice to stop what you are doing to pause to take a few deep breaths can transform your day.  

There, in those precious moments, you may become of aware of the amazing world of sensation that you are immersed in, the myriad sights and sounds and feelings that emerge with the inhalation and exhalation of each breath.  Just pausing, taking that time to be Present, can engage the process of returning home to your True Nature.

You could do that right now!

3 comments:

carol said...

Nice post!! Let's face it, we have lived through the best of times,even not knowing we have been living in the Iron age, yet, now we are awakening to the challenges that were always there but hadn't advanced to where technology has lead them. Now we are old enough to 'see' and 'hear' the difference more clearly . Interesting, you say meditation day is Feb 16th. Two days after the push on love, sex and candy. Definitely a good time to sit, pray, and love in moments of reality.

Lance Smith said...

Hey Sister C,
Yeah, the double edged sword of technology (and the force of capitalism and greed.) certainly have created a web that effects our collective consciousness in disturbing ways. Older and Wiser (at times), we can "'see' and 'hear' the difference more clearly."
That leads to moments of tears and laughter,joy and sorrow.

And, yes, A Day of Silent Meditation two days after Valentine's Day will be an opportunity to connect the One Love within and beyond the commercialized Hollywood vision of love.

Thanks for chiming in Carol.

Carol said...

Namaste