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