Sadhana
This morning at the Supreme Court of the United States. I have been getting better about engaging in difficult conversations. This is a straightforward point to make: “relief first.”

This morning at the Supreme Court of the United States. I have been getting better about engaging in difficult conversations. This is a straightforward point to make: “relief first.”

It was just approaching the deep dark of the solstice when I left for places warm and light. Last week, when I got home, just by comparison to the sultriness of southern India, it felt dark. This morning, though, I noticed earlier morning light. When the wake up call sounded, I was deep in a rather wonderful dream in the violet-tinged landscape of the American southwest. As I had an early meeting at another governmental agency that required me to walk 10 blocks further than my usual walk to work, and I did not want to miss my regular morning practice, I had to get up right away.
The light through my second floor skylight seemed softer than it had just a few days earlier. Instead of being absolutely dark, there was enough of a hint of dawn that there was no need to turn on the light just to walk downstairs. I thought perhaps a little of yesterday’s snow might have accumulated. No snow. It was just the first glimmer of the days starting to get longer. When I walked past the Capitol on my way to the meeting, I saw several robin red breasts. With global climate change, many of them now do not fly farther south for the winter.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Much is made by Westerners of the exhortation in Eastern practice to be in the present moment, but it often is used as justification for a feckless disregard for others, for our history, and for our own power to change and grow.
Being fully in the moment at all times (easier said than done) by virtue of the fullness of presence itself, leaves no room for belaboring the past or being anxious about what might not come to pass, which is wonderful indeed.
To be truly present, though, to live in the “now” is an artful dance. It requires being fully in the moment, while simultaneously honoring and learning from the past and taking responsibility for the future. It is thus that we live best–both recognizing ourselves as beings in the fabric of space and time, yet simultaneously experiencing the universal joy unbound by the limitations of space and time. This is, I think, the ultimate point of the practices.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.