More About Blueberries

Crush a ripe blueberry on your tongue. When you are empty of all thoughts, you are present to the berry, the juice, the tang of gratitude, and there is overwhelming sweetness. But if you are busy thinking, you are elsewhere and won't notice the taste at all. This proves that Emptiness is not an abstraction, but the essence of sensuality.

You need the gentlest agreement with the body, an agreement simply to be here. Then the sacrament of a single blueberry sanctifies your whole day.

And just as your tongue savors a berry, so your mind might savor the fragrance of this breath. The wonder of a single inhalation carries a mind-full of energy, and a cornucopia of sunbeams to nourish every cell in your body.

Yet if your mind is somewhere else, lost in memories of yesterday, you won't scent this miracle. Your inner sky will be clouded over and gray. You must agree to be present to your breath, with no other thought or intention. Then you are swept clear by the same gentle yet mighty wind that stirred the waters of the deep at the dawn of creation.

Now if a blueberry can awaken your body's delight, and a breath can recreate your mind, what imperishable beauty blossoms from the core of your Being when you let your heartbeat have its way with you, and sink into the pulse of silence?

These are simple talismans, gifts you have been given for your journey through the world. Don't take them for granted: a taste of the present moment, a breath, a moment of eternal silence.

Don't imagine you are being selfish by attending to these gifts. Let God be present to your tongue, on your breath, in your heartbeat, and you will be a fountain of gratitude that nourishes the earth.