Stillness, these days, is very much a hard won commodity. Those extraordinary beings that learn to develop even a semblance of it in conjunction with living a productive life deserve profound amounts of respect.
This is the direction in which we need to move as a collective.
I want to state at this point that I am NO expert on Zen. I have yet to establish a regular meditation practice, though I do have certain practices which may resemble it.
What I have come to understand of its nature is that, what Zen is trying to create within the mind is an ability to flow through the ups and downs of life without reacting to those ups and downs.
Meditation is something that you can take with you, anywhere you go. At all times, you can use the challenges of life (which tend to be ongoing) to teach you this lesson. This has been the approach that I have taken over the past few years and, though I wouldn’t say I have mastered this process, I would say that I am a little calmer than I have been in the past.
We should all learn to be the eye of the storm. I came upon this concept recently and it stuck with me because it is so true.
The belief is that we have to learn to drown out all thought and establish such a level of peace and balance within our lives that there remains nothing that will disturb us. But, the nature of life is that it is continually flowing.
The nature of our mind is that thoughts arise. The nature of our body is that it wants to move. And, this is OK.
When you stop thinking, when you stop feeling the need to move, when life stops sending you challenges…this usually means only one thing…you’re dead.
In life, many storms come. But, within every storm there is a center that remains always calm. Find your way to that center and build the ability to observe the raging winds and massive currents while remaining still.
Embrace the challenges life sends you as lessons of learning. Those moments arise in order to teach you a new way to live. Enlightenment doesn’t come without having learned a few lessons. The Buddha wanted to understand how to release oneself from the pattern of suffering.
And, so, he learned to flow through the currents of his life. From a certain perspective, there is nothing much more to enlightenment than that. Waking up and realizing that just because things may be hard or that you may not be getting what you want out of life doesn’t mean you need to get angry. There is no one to blame.
The sooner we allow ourselves to release the feelings of anger, regret, worry and victim hood, the sooner we allow the opportunities to come, because that is then where our attention begins to go.
So, that’s my Zen perspective. Find your way into the eye of the storm. Learn to observe the patterns of your life and correct them as they happen.
All emotion arises from within and nothing comes forth that we do not allow. Live in the light of love and abundance.
Peace, Love, Life!
