It’s Okay to Fail
Posted: Monday, January 04, 2010
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
"A solitary butterfly resting on a leaf with wings folded. So motionless. Is this a symbol of the hushed, natural world of all beings? In this silence will I find that which I can only now long for?"
(From "A Year to Enlightenment" day two)
Make that happen now. Leave all of your thoughts behind for a few minutes and just walk somewhere, alone. Plenty of time to think later.
Feel the cool air on your face. Smell the season. Hear your footsteps as they greet the earth. Taste a snow flake or a rain drop on your tongue. See the world in its stark beauty just this once while your thoughts are left behind. Be alive for a change instead of in that persistent fog of mental gyrations that abuse you so.
Be that butterfly. Fold your wings and just "be" for a few precious moments in time. Nothing to accomplish now, no battles to fight, no points to make. Just be, quietly, peacefully, at ease with yourself, nobody is watching you or judging you. You can now, for a few moments, be a complete failure in the eyes of the world and no one will criticize you. You can waste as much time as you please now. The past is now long gone, just a memory. The future too much to handle for this little walk that's almost over now.
And suddenly, you find yourself back home.
You turn on the TV for company and check your emails, check the weather, check the news. Nothing has changed in the last half hour.
But maybe you have.
In those brief, empty, silent moments of your little walk, perhaps you have changed. Maybe the silence and solitude touched something unfamiliar as your mind relaxed for just a few minutes with nothing in particular to do. What was that space that you just experienced? Why did it touch you so deeply? Why does it seem so real compared to the TV and the computer?
Why don't you investigate this silence further? Has your last ten years really helped you understand life at a personal, rather than a contrived, predictable level which is not understanding at all but only conditioning? Can you throw out all your opinions and emotionalism, your ideals and beliefs, and just be?
Try it now. Take all the judging, even of this little article, along with all the opinions and arguments and replace them with silence. Can you do it, or is the ego so strong that you cannot even be silent for a moment without making a point? Can you relax and be unguarded for just a little while, or is that asking too much?
In the absence of thought and opinion, what happens? Are you afraid to let your guard down in case someone convinces you that you are wrong in your convictions? Will you ever be able to see past your conditioning and beliefs, or are you programmed for life? Is it possible that there is life beyond your enclosed world? Can you ever be totally free from it all, or will you be bound until you die?
With wings folded, can you just be? Even for only a brief moment?
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Yeah e, I find solitary moments in my live as being quite beneficial. When I take walks by myself my mind just drifts into the unknown. I also find it very relaxing just sitting at home at night and letting my mind drift.Thanks for your input David. For myself, solitude, aloneness, poverty, dispassion; these kinds of things impact me in beneficial ways, and I usually end up a better person for it.
Best...........e
You are the Dalai Lama of SW!Nice job!Thank you little Grasshopper :)
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