Being Alive

Being Alive

“There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased God to give you the kingdom.”

                                                            Luke 12: 32

“When we are truly alive, we can see that the tree is part of heaven, and we are also a part of heaven.  The whole universe is conspiring to reveal this to us.”

                                                            Thich Nhat Hanh

“The miracle is not to walk on water.  The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, and appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.”

                                                            Thich Nhat Hanh

            Soon the miracle of spring will be upon us with all its glorious color and welcome sun.  We will walk out in it, appreciative of the beauty and sheer jubilation that it mirrors after a cold, gray winter.  At the present moment, however, I look out my study window at the stark black branches of a winter tree set against a perfectly white sky.  I tell myself, “this is the miracle of winter---everything is resting, storing up, creating the possibility of spring to come.”  And still I strain, as I pull on another sweater, and grit my teeth against the cold.

            My son and daughter in law are out in Utah at this very moment snow-shoeing in Bryce Canyon and writing celebratory blogs about the beauty and grandeur of winter in the southwest.  It is beautiful.  I like looking at their photographs on my computer while trying to imagine what on Earth could get me to snowshoe for five miles in five degree weather.  The second coming, maybe?  Naaahhhh.

            The Buddhist teachings tell me, ‘if it’s cold, become one with the cold, embrace the cold, celebrate the cold.’  I’ve tried hard to do this, which of course defeats the purpose.  I just become more cold and miserable.  I feel the cold…and I do not like it…

            The great comfort in all this, if there is any for me, is simply to appreciate being able to feel.  Having a life and a body that allows me to feel cold, heat, joy, loathing, laughter and longing is a miracle of nature.  I recently attended a lecture about the cosmos, the creation; an unrepeatable miracle.  The presenter stressed that all things in the cosmos are interrelated, yet each has a unique role to play.  We human beings are neither lesser nor greater than any other part, but we too have a distinctive purpose.  According to him, we are here to further consciousness, to explore, to name, to explain, to push the envelope of understanding.  We are an essential piece of the miracle of life.  I mean, who else can shiver and complain?

                                                            Keep the faith, little flock!