“Just as Drugs, Sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll were popular in the 60s, inquiry about The End is a popular topic among my generation of Boomers,” writes Rico Provasoli
“When it’s time to go, will you be ready?” I remember saying this to myself back in the days when I traveled the globe. I’d glance at the clock to calculate how much time I’d need to hustle to the airport. Dozens of exotic ports of call, always packing light enough to hump my gear to taxis, buses or walk the long boat docks.
I also remember a Zen teacher asking, “If you were going for a long swim, how much stuff would you take?”
As the years have turned my body stiff, muscles now just chicken skin everywhere I look, my 77th birthday on the horizon, I sometimes consider a similar question about the transition from living here, in this aging body, to whatever might await. Will I be ready to go? How much stuff would I be carrying? Regrets, remorse, or hopefully an openness to face the unknown? Or maybe clinging, desperately, to my limiting world of beliefs, assumptions, and projections. Zen often refers this to the moment-by-moment choice of living in Small Mind or Spacious Mind.
Just as Drugs, Sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll were popular in the 60s, inquiry about The End is a popular topic among my generation of Boomers. Many of us are more interested in using our remaining time here to access a deeper Wisdom. But just as many, if not more, are busy zoning out on TV or a Netflix binge. So, how does one go forward with an honest inquiry about how ready they are to travel to the next dimension? Before we say more, it should be noted that our minds are cunning like a sly fox in the henhouse. In other words, we are capable of inexhaustible ways to delude ourselves. Regardless of our sincerity.
But, there are roadmaps available, handbooks to explore the terrain of mind perceptions that mold our beliefs, hopes and fears about the Afterlife. Nothing too exotic for me, thank you very much. I long ago gave up studying esoteric theory and chose the path of the practice of inquiry. My particular flavor of egocentric conditioning leads me by the nose, like a village boy taking a bull to market. I go where I am led. As the years have mellowed my impetuous nature, that compelling sense of urgency in all my endeavors, I have learned to sit still long enough to be guided to the next step. Not by my mind, more by Life. To allow something deeper than my 9-to-5 scheming mind, watching the clock until quitting time arrives before I can actually start to live. An ineffable scent that yes, this is the right direction. A trail guide whispers into my inner ear—yes, just keep going. We might make a few wrong turns, double back again and again, but a faith that defies logic or calculation suggests, faintly, that while we explore, we won’t fall through the ice or step on a poisonous snake in the jungle of our beliefs, assumptions, and projections. Keep going, laddies, for this is no time to dawdle.
To bring this back to here, to now, let’s look at the practical application of these heady ideas. What does it look like in our ordinary life?
Maybe we could give ourselves time to pause. Even for a few breaths. Sip our coffee and enjoy the aroma, the effect it produces in you. We might even put down the paper while we enjoy it. Simply allow the mystery of being alive. Give it air time. The Intelligence Which Animates is always available if we could slow down enough to sense the miracle of life. Maybe we could learn to slow down enough to stop, drop our awareness into the belly, breathe into this precious moment. Or while we are stuck in traffic at a red light, we could always close our eyes and take stock of our good fortune to even own a car, to have the means to fuel it up and the freedom to go wherever we choose.
Without sounding too preachy, we could look at the Persian Poet Rumi’s more well-known quotes: “If you were going to say just one prayer in your life, it would be Thank You.” So maybe pausing in our frantic day, we could slightly bow our heads in gratitude. Sometimes even say aloud or silently the blessings that appear daily in our life. Clean, healthy water: something untold millions on the planet have no access to. Or shelter over our head. Or freedom to read what we chose. Or health care when we need it. Or love. For our life partner if we have one, for family, friends. For all in our life who have loved us. In spite of our flawed attempts to return it, it’s still the most precious aspect of life. How often do we stop, drop and breathe into gratitude for love?
But, wait. What does all this have to do with preparing for the next dimension? How can noticing, savoring the fleeting moments when the focus of our attention is on this most precious now? Some might roll their eyes at the touchy/feely notions of dreamers and get back to the hard task of making a living and demanding a drink after work, when real living starts. As we mentioned before, some are called to explore while others choose to fill their days/evenings with distraction and justification. But those who do give time to settle into the whisper of the sweetness of simple things, leaving the thinking/judging/evaluating mind to the sidelines, it might allow the spaciousness of timelessness to cultivate a capacity to enter a place wise men/women of all ages past and present have counseled us to spend more time.
When our last few breaths arrive, will our focus be on the gifts we stopped to appreciate, or will we fight and claw ‘til the bitter end?
Previously published in the online magazine The Good Men Project: goodmenproject.com – istockphoto.com
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