There is nothing uptight about being careful.
Being careful means paying attention to the ordinary. This word "pay" is interesting. It is an economic term, and the root of economy in Greek is "eco," home, and "nomos," law. Economy is the law of our home. Earth is our home, and our business here is paying attention to little things. Careful attention is the "pay" creation requires of us for the joy of our participation. Paying attention is our rent for the privilege of being on earth.
Carefulness makes a sacrament of the commonplace. It is essential mindfulness: minding our breath, our hands, our daily work, our research. It is discrimination between truth and rumor, between significant events and popular spectacles. The art of being careful may require turning off the news as much as turning it on.
Only when we are careful can we can truly rest, because we are here, and there's nowhere else to be. I wish I could be more careful!
Some of us new age folks imagine that being careful, practicing scholarship, or transmitting the teaching of the master with great precision, makes people uptight and dogmatic. But this is false understanding.
Being careful is Samatta, the beginning of meditation: quieting the mind with the energy of Presence. A clear but silent focus develops into Sattipatana, insight. Deepening our insight through carefulness not only sharpens the intellect, but finally dissolves the intellect into bliss. There is no bliss, no samadhi, without being careful. And there is no conflict between a sharp intellect and a silent mind. In samadhi, the crystal clear intellect is immersed in boundless silence, like a sunbeam in a mountain lake.
Whether you practice meditation, quote the scriptures, build a cabin, or throw a pot, do it carefully. You will not have to do it over again, and your clarity will bring peace to the environment. Clarity of awareness is not just you alone: it is the field.
In caring, quietness deepens, and the mind enters the heart.
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