on a mid-September morn
fording a stream
barefoot, pants rolled up,
holding boots, pack on,
sunshine, ice in the shallows,
northern rockies.
Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
cold nose dripping
singing inside
creek music, heart music,
smell of sun on gravel.
poem by Gary Snyder
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We are not really known for being quiet and reflective, are we? We are so business-like and goal oriented that I fear we often miss the profundity and sheer joy of the moment.
For some, meditation is an arduous discipline. Sincere Zen masters and their students intuit a certain liberation that smashes and supersedes the incessant, superficial duality of temporal existence. Thus, their monumental striving to cease striving; to attain Nirvana; to find harmony with the essence of all things. They seek a place of joy and celebration in the "eternal now".
My question is, when did life in the "eternal now" become more theirs to seek and enjoy than ours?
“10 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Luke 12:27 AV)
We think so linearly, so literally, that until we actually have a lily before our eyes, we cannot proceed with the exercise! And yet, the Christian art of "considering" allows us to enjoy the moment to the fullest, whatever may be the object of our meditation.
Have you ever thought about how life as a Christian is not like a book divided into chapters or a TV show that ties up all the loose ends once a week? Being a Christian is more a constant state of being. Whether issues and tensions resolve or not, we are the constant in the equation... we are the living testimony of the presence and transforming power of the Son of God.
Of course, the Zen masters fall short. The best they can hope for is emptiness and relative quiet. But for the Christian, what does, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27) mean?
We should be the ones brimming with joy and enjoying the moment!
Well said my friend. I have recently been reading some comments by the Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi (a fascinating person) on peace and Buddhist "mindfulness". I have been privately lamenting over her struggle to seek the present without Jesus, and I have prayed for a messenger to bring the Gospel to her. I first stumbled across the Christian principle from Jesus' comment, "Before Abraham was, I am." The conscious present is profoundly important to Christians and gives us a freedom, peace, and joy unknown to non-Christians. It seems to me that without this freedom the conscious present can only be attained through a process of distanciation which seems, in my opinion, to remove someone from the full, overwhelming sense of the present. Well... I don't know if this makes any sense... I really enjoyed your blog article. Thanks,
ReplyDeleteLarry
What didn't make any sense to me was "distanciation". I'm unfamiliar with that term.
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