This Moment is Sublime... Wish I Were Here

-
It’s a postcard cliché: The beach is gorgeous! Wish you were here! … The weather is magnificent! Wish you were here! … The skiing is fabulous! Wish you were here! Sure enough, everything is gorgeous, magnificent, and fabulous when we’re off in some exotic locale with only one thing on our agenda – to enjoy each and every moment of our lives.

A really good vacation takes our mind far away from the concerns and drudgery of our workaday world. It gives us time and permission to wander and wonder, to watch and relax. But even as our mind strays far away from our ordinary life, our body is right there with it! It’s easy to live “in the moment” when the moment is so very interesting, carefree, and pleasurable. It’s easy to “be present” when the present is just so gosh darned enjoyable!


The author at Grand Chartreuse Monastery


That’s quite the opposite of how we often live – with our body right here and our mind far away. Like when we’re ostensibly at work, but our mind has clocked out. Or when we’re doing the household chores, but our mind is off lamenting their monotony. Unfortunately, it’s also the case that our “truly enjoyable” moments are often hampered by our mind straying off into the concerns that await us Monday morning! We’re not really “here” for much of our lives, are we?

We wouldn’t need mindfulness training if we simply lived each moment as if we were on the best vacation we’ve ever had. It’s just that our “ordinary life” seems to lack specialness. It’s not always fun, and it’s often quite boring. Sometimes it’s even downright painful to live through. And so our mind wanders off to a better place – one with less pain, or one that’s simply more interesting.

But how is it that our lives lose their specialness in the first place? We’ve only so many moments. Why do we let ourselves fall into the trap of squandering them willy-nilly by not really being present for them? Talk to someone who’s been brought face to face with their own mortality and you’ll likely find someone who has regained an appreciation of the specialness of each moment – no matter how “ordinary” or even painful that moment may be. When we’re waiting in line, driving to work, making our way through our inbox, mopping the floor, and even feeling the pain of our existence, we are always the universe observing the universe. Is that not special enough? Warren Zevon was quoted shortly before his death at a young age: “Enjoy every sandwich.” Indeed, that ordinary sandwich – or the one that the cook put mayonnaise on when we specifically told them “no mayo” – just may be our last. Enjoy it, mayo and all!

Early Buddhists sometimes meditated in the charnel ground, with dead and decaying bodies lying about. Part of their intention was to fully comprehend the impermanent nature of existence. Being in such close proximity to death has a way of focusing the mind. On the other hand, we affluent Westerners are so quick to distance ourselves from death, disease, poverty, hardship, and discomfort, that it quite often takes something personally drastic or life-threatening for us to wake up to our reality once again.

Of course, it needn’t be that way. If we so choose we can live each moment as if we’re away on a great vacation. We just have to slow down and stop running away from our life. We just need to breathe and pay attention. Whether we’re feeling its pain, or we’re filled up with its joy, this moment is sublime! Wish you were here! 


Image
The author is reminded to be mindful at the Grand Chartreuse Monastery.

Copyright 2015 and 2020 by Mark Robert Frank

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dogen's 'Flower of Emptiness' - Part 2

-
Image
Dogen’s Shobogenzo contains a fascicle known as Kuge , or Flower of Emptiness . As discussed in Part 1, kuge is a term that is sometimes used to describe apparitions caused by cataracts or some other eye disease – ‘flowers in the sky’, so to speak. Within the context of a Buddhist discussion, kuge is sometimes used in reference to our obscured vision of ‘ things as it is ’ – vision which presumably becomes clarified over the course of our meditative practice. In Kuge , Dogen uses our more commonsensical understanding of ‘flowers in the sky’ as a means to discuss the true nature of emptiness , shunyata , as he understands it. Thus, the translation of Kuge as The Flower of Emptiness (Nishiyama, 1975). For those who have not yet had the opportunity to read Part 1 , I will reiterate the caution regarding interpreting in a nihilistic way Buddhist teachings related to emptiness . Without correct understanding of emptiness we might misinterpret the teaching that no thing...
Read more

A Buddhist Takes Communion / A Buddhist Take On Communion

-
Image
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” – Luke 22:19-20, NRSV   Yes, at the risk of prompting the eyes of many Buddhist-leaning readers to begin glazing over (What, is this going to be a sermon or something?), and at the risk of prompting the eyes of many Christian-leaning readers to narrow in suspicion (What does this Buddhist know about Christianity, anyway?), I’m going consider how the Lord’s Supper might appear if viewed through a Buddhist lens. In doing so I hope that Buddhist and Christian alike will glimpse something that leads to deeper spiritual understanding within each respective tradition.       Perhaps a little personal background will assuage your curiosity as to why I’m even con...
Read more

Eclipses, Ice Cream, I Love You, Goodbye

-
Image
Our family lost its matriarch this past April. Darlene was an incredibly accomplished professional woman—having traveled the world as part of a wife and husband ministerial team. She was retired by the time I got to know her, though, and most people in our circle simply referred to her as Mom or Granny. Darlene holding one of our newest family members. Having married into the clan somewhat late in life, and with my biological mother still alive, I never quite felt comfortable calling her Mom. Instead, I settled into calling her Darlene. Regardless of what I called her, though, as my birth mother slowly faded away into the haze of dementia, Darlene was there for me as the perfect mother-in-law. But there were times when I felt like an imperfect son-in-law. You see, Darlene poured out more love than I was able to accept. She knew I loved plants and gardening, for instance, and she just kept them coming. Even after we got young cats that made keeping houseplants nearly impossible, the...
Read more