One mo’ time
I thought of this poem today when we were having a dharma talk after meditation. My question is why does it seem natural to seek permanence when truly we live in an impermanent world? The desire to fix things in a time continuum is a survival technique, but it might also be what is helping us to die – wars are fought over people trying to keep possession of a thought, creed, or place that might have already changed.
So if we are in a world created by our own thoughts – why not let your inner voice tell jokes, why not believe in magic, why not help yourself to a keen fantasy life that will feed your dreams and string you along from one breathtaking moment to the next?
Things to Think
Think in ways you’ve never thought before.
If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message
Larger than anything you’ve ever heard,
Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats.
Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,
Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen.
When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven,
Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that it’s
Been decided that if you lie down no one will die.
Robert Bly