Nourishing Awareness in Each Moment

One cold, winter evening I returned home from a walk in the hills, and I found that all the doors and windows in my hermitage had blown open. When i had left earlier, i hadn't secured them, and a cold wind had blown through the house, opened the windows, and scattered the papers from my desk all over the room. Immediately, I closed the doors and windows, lit a lamp, picked up the papers, and arranged them neatly on my desk. Then I started a fire in the fireplace, and soon the crackling logs brought warmth back to the room.

Sometimes in a crowd we feel tired, cold, and lonely. We may wish to withdraw to be by ourselves and become warm again, as i did when i closed the windows and sat by the fire, protected from the damp, cold wind. Our senses are our windows to the world, and sometimes the wind blows through them and disturbs everything within us. Some of us leave our windows open all the time, allowing the sights and sounds of the world to invade us, penetrate us, and expose our sad, troubled selves. We feel so cold, lonely and afraid. Do you ever find yourself watching an awful TV program, unable to turn it off? The raucous noises, explosions of gunfire, are upsetting. Yet you don't get up and turn it off. Why do you torture yourself this way? Don't you want to close your windows? Are you frightened of solitude - the emptiness and the loneliness you may find when you face yourself alone?

Watching a bad TV program, we become the TV program. We are what we feel and perceive. If we are angry, we are the anger. If we are in love, we are love. If we look at a snow-covered mountain peak, we are the mountain. We can be anything we want, so why do we open our windows to bad TV programs made by sensationalist producers ins search of easy money, programs that mak our hearts pound, our fists tighten, and leave us exhausted? Who allows such TV programs to be made and seen by even the very young? We do! We are too undemanding, too ready to watch whatever is on the screen, too lonely, lazy, or bored to create our own lives. We turn on the TV and leave it on, allowing someone else to guide us, shape us, and destroy us. Losing ourselves in this way is leaving our fate in the hands of others who may not be acting responsibly. We must be aware of what programs do harm to our nervous system, minds, and hearts, and which programs benefit us.

Of course, i am not talking only about television. All around us, how many lures are set by our fellows and ourselves? In a single day, how many times do we become lost and scattered because of them? We must be very careful to protect our fate and our peace. I am not suggesting that we just shut all our windows, for there are many miracles in the world we call "outside." We can open our windows to these miracles and look at them with awareness. This way, even while sitting beside a clear flowing stream, listening to beautiful music, or watching an excellent movie, we need not lose ourselves entirely in the stream, the music, or the film. We can continue to be aware of ourselves and our breathing. With the sun of awareness shining in us, we can avoid most dangers. The stream will be purer, the music more harmonious, and the soul of the filmmaker completely visible.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The first question to ask yourself, according to the Algerian philosopher Albert Camus, is suicide. Is life worth living? Everything else is details, which comes after. The main characteristic, he says, of anyone's life is their inner struggle with life's absurdity. How can you accept this strange world you live in?

Thich Nhat Hanh (who, for most of you who've not heard of a him, is a bit of an idol of mine =) ) writes "We feel there is a vacuum in us and we don't want to confront it. We find distractions, try and run away from looking at our problems, we are afraid of being alone with ourselves." This is often so subtle that we don't realise that we do it.

I would say, that the solution here is not to run away. The life and personality of a wise person is characterised and inspired - both above and through their everyday tasks - by an ever-fresh confrontation with this bizarre universe and their place in it. Suffering is when, largely subconsciously, we run away; we don't accept reality, and try to change it just by wishing. Dostoevsky claims that we must love life above all else, regardless of logic, because this is how to find meaning and how to be happy. The realisation that it's all real - that the world exists beyond the idea of it you have in your head - and the realisation that we are all conscious and in the same boat, kickstarts compassion.

To cap it, and quote Socrates, wisdom begins in wonder =)

I know i ramble. Sorry x

Forever Young - Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.


Anyone else still got their yellow card?