―
When
I growing up, being called a "space cadet" was not a
good thing. Unless you were an astronaut-in-training at NASA
(or, perhaps, a Trekkie), the term was a put-down. The folks who didn't
pay a lot of attention to the seemingly endless concerns and activities
of high school and college life? They just weren't "cool."
Although I didn't
realize it at the time, some of these space cadets were actually marching, perhaps even dancing, to the beat of a different drummer. In doing so, they had a leg up on the rest of us.
Why?
Our legs were fully engaged
spinning the hamster wheel of an invisible, but very captivating, mind
cage. Scrambling to conform to the rat race of the "real world," we couldn't afford to just space out.
Compelled by our thoughts and feelings about doing it right, going
for the
gold, being all we can be, etc.,
most of us were continually trying to get with the program presented to
us in a culture steeped in capitalism, scientific materialism, racism,
and the other "ism's" that serve to oppress the human spirit.
From
the time we woke up until the time we fell asleep, we were being
conditioned by the world around us to disregard the spiritual dimension
of life.
Sadly, most of us internalized the values and norms the mainstream society long before we had the experience or the skills to realize what was happening. We didn't see that our society's "conventional reality" was a house built on the ever-shifting sands of what the Buddhist call the eight worldly concerns.
Rather than taking the time to "consider the lilies" as Jesus had
counseled and explore the spiritual dimension of our lives, we became
increasingly fixated on the material and psychological "needs" presented
to us by the mass culture.
Some of us, like me, deeply wounded in childhood, were racing to escape the anathema of being called a "loser." So, "taking no anxious thought about tomorrow" never crossed our minds. Achieving, succeeding, and winning became everything.
The
space
cadet seemed not to take such things that seriously. It seemed that he or she could
frequently let go, relax -- and journey elsewhere.
Aboard the Starship Enterprise
These days, I will gladly accept the title of space cadet. I've found that space, what some folks call "inner space," is the final frontier. In
fact, as we voyage in the present moment to the precise edge of this
ever-unfolding frontier, we see that inner and outer space are merely
concepts. In the gracious spaciousness of Mindful Awareness, each duality appears as two sides of the same coin. In the embrace of impermanence, that coin is flipping
eternally though a boundless One Love. In
this realm, heads and tails may exist -- but there is no winning or losing.
Once
I got a taste of the boundless and infinitely forgiving space at the
heart of reality, I knew that I was all in. Although I've had some
crash landings and have encountered some space monsters over the years,
I'm grateful to have signed
on for the voyage. Most every morning, I choose to step off the hamster
wheel -- and go into free fall. I simply sit still for a swath of time.
Some people call what I do meditation.
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