99% of our suffering comes from believing in our thoughts. And when
we have lost our center, our Presence, we believe that our thoughts are
the world. We call them the "future."
But since we were so wrong
about the future in the past, it is delusional to continue believing in
it. In fact, we have no idea what the future will bring because the
future does not exist. An enlightened definition of insanity would be,
"mistaking the world for your thoughts about it."
Have a bracing
cup of green tea. Gather some wood and light a fire. Take a barefoot
Winter walk at midnight in sparkling moon-grass. Slap yourself in the
face by plunging your head into a cold forest stream. Or plunge into
seva, service, to someone in need.
Instead of believing in your thoughts, believe in the warmth of your
skin, the rhythm of your heartbeat, the touch of your hand, the grace of
sensation. Use awareness to divinize your sensuality. Awareness is not
thought. Awareness is the space that irradiates creation before a
thought arises.
When we
return to the empty ground of awareness, we become sane again. We gain
courage. Courage is waking up from the dream of the future.
Only
in the present moment are we response-able, because only in the present
moment are we available. Pay attention to the person right beside you.
This relationship is the politics that matters. If you are alone, pay
attention to a flower.
As your Presence expands, become aware of
your living relationship with the stars. Feel them tingle in your body.
Your solitude is the hub of cosmic community, a vast wheel of Sangha
whose center is wherever you are, whose circumference is infinite.
Let this breath deliver you from the chatter of your mind. Inhale: the
universe pours love into your body. Hold this gift in your chest and
cherish the Creator. Exhale, filling the galaxy with peace. This is a
very profound form of action, free from re-action.
At this very
moment you are deeply connected with everyone. There is no "else." The
revolution is to breathe. The radical act is to be present.
Flower photo by Kristy Thompson
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