Reflections on a Frosty Morning.
A few weeks ago as I
was walking to work early in the morning, it was crisp with the chill of
a sharp ground frost. A feint red disc of a balloon shaped moon with a sharp, bright,
pencil thin crescent shining in its lower waning quarter, hung
suspended in a star filled, midnight blue sky that seemed to get paler as
the minutes ticked.
Silhouette
branches of leafless trees stood motionless in the stillness of the morning,
each punctuated by the menacing black dots of rooks perched in the canopy like
notes of music on an invisible stave. And as I walked I thought how
beautiful this world of ours is and how small and insignificant we are and then as I walked pass the rubbish and abandoned or stolen
bicycles, I thought of just how stupid, selfish, greedy and irresponsible we
are as a species and how we need to look after this beautiful planet of ours.
Now look at the
photograph. On the 14th February 1990. The spacecraft "Voyager
1" left our planetary neighborhood for the fringes of the solar
system, engineers turned Voyager 1 around for one last look at its home
planet and in doing so captured a portrait of our Planet, planet earth, a
small pale blue dot just 0.12 pixels in size, caught in the centre of
scattered light rays 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) away. And on
seeing this photo the renowned astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist and astro biologist Carl Sagen wrote......
"Look again
at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love,
everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was,
lived out their lives.
The aggregate of
our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic
doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and
destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love,
every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of
morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every
"supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our
species lived there......on a spec of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a
very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled
by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could
become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless
cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the
scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their
misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their
hatreds.
Our posturing’s,
our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged
position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our
planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity,
in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to
save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the
only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the
near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet.
Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand".
Look again at
this beautiful photo..... and now look at the world that surrounds
you. Everything we see, everything we hear. Everything we smell,
everything we touch, everything we taste. From the vastness of the cosmic
dark and the pixel of our pale blue dot to the flap of a hummingbirds wing.
From a baby's first cry, to a beautiful piano sonata. The smell of a rose, a
lover’s caress, the taste of fresh spring water. All of this, a gift to
treasure on this lonely planet as it journeys through space like a life raft,
floating on the giant ocean that is our universe. We fight and bicker and cause
wars. We chop down and destroy the diverse fabric of this beautiful planet like
mad men picking away at the stitching of the life raft, unable to get off,
unable to save our selves and “in all this vastness, there is no hint that help
will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves”.
It need not be
like that. We do not need to make big lifestyle changes to live in harmony
with this beautiful planet that is our home. . Lau Tzu said “every journey
start’s with one small step”. And the first step is to learn to stop and
breathe and enjoy this present moment, acknowledging that our life is only
as long as the gap between this heart beat and the next? We can learn to
“bow” in gratitude to this present moment.
"Imagine for
a moment that everything you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste is your very
best friend. The spoon in your hand and the distant sound of traffic; the
raindrops running down your back and the smell of dirty laundry; the blue sky
and the flavor of cumin—these are not mere passing encounters with
two-dimensional items. Instead, imagine for a moment that everything you are
experiencing is your very, very best friend saying hello.
Such a hello is
much more than just a passing handshake or kiss on the cheek. The sky’s blue
hello invites us to discover something further, something vast and astounding.
The smell of an ocean breeze invites us to explore further, to wonder and
discover. The sights and sounds around us when fully acknowledged are quite an
invitation indeed.
Now, imagine
further that we accept our best friend’s invitation and say hello back. What
would we say and how would we say it?
When we live a
fearless life, we return such a gracious greeting by recognizing unmistakably
that everything we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste is in fact quite
literally our very best friend, and we accept all invitations extended by our
very best friend with decorum and great respect: we “gently bow.”
On the one hand,
bowing is a simple gesture, a human offering, where we extend heartfelt respect
toward another. Standing up straight, looking directly at our world, fully
appreciating the profound invitation, we acknowledge the remarkable
timelessness of it all and we say hello by gently bowing. We actually bow by
gently lowering our head in appreciation. This gentleness has no agenda other
than to softly open and be fully awake to what is fully awake, completely available
and exposed.
Even small
changes in our actions and perceptions can greatly enhance our spiritual
growth. We can start by nourishing the seeds of acceptance, compassion,
forgiveness and patience.
1. Nourish the seeds of Acceptance
When we learn to
accept ourselves as we are, we can begin to accept others without prejudice.
The idea of acceptance starts from within, and can help us grow past viewing
one another (and ourselves) in terms of gender, race, religion, and sexuality,
and realize that underneath everything else, we are all humans.
2. Nourish the
seeds of Compassion
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” (Aesop)
Our personal
happiness is directly related to our ability to show love to one another. Every
action for another human being strengthens our own spirit, whether or not we
realize it at the time.
3. Nourish the
seed’s of Forgiveness
Holding on to
anger is easy – any one of us can do that. What is much rarer and much nobler
is to mindfully break the cycle of resentment, realizing that we too are human,
and that we all make similar mistakes.
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the
strong." (Gandhi)
4. Nourish the
seed’s of Patience
As humans we often
have a need for immediate control and absolute certainty. But if we can learn
to surrender our individual sense of urgency and trust the process, then every
dream of who we want to be and what we want to accomplish can become a reality.
By nourishing these
“seeds” we grow nearer to a universal compassion, in everything that we do and
become.
Develop the “pale
blue dot survival strategy” of one action, one breath, one moment. How often do we find
our selves deliberating that we never have time? So learn to do one thing at a time,
and when you are doing it, do it slowly, do it deliberately and do it completely.
Learn to do less and put space between things. Develop rituals, (think of the
tea ceremony, when you drink your tea drink it mindfully). Designate time for
certain things, such as devoting time to sitting, (Shikantaza meditation). Smile
and serve others, there is much to be gained by serving others, His Holiness
the Dalai Lama said “Benefit others, and if you can not benefit others do not
harm them. Learn to make cleaning and cooking a form of meditation, (mindfulness meditation). Think only about
what is necessary, and live simply and enjoy life.
So I wish you all
good health, love, peace and happiness through out 2016
With love and best
wishes.
Leon
The Stillness
Project.
References:
Carl Sagan, Pale
Blue Dot, 1994
Fearless at Work:
Timeless Teachings for Awakening Confidence, Resilience, and Creativity in the
Face of Life’s Demands by Michael Carroll. 2012
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