Three Meditations

This month, I offer three short meditations.

Something and Nothing

Whenever we suffer, something unresolved exists for us. Better to say: the unresolvedness creates a something where there need be nothing.

With nothing, there is peace and engagement. With something, there is unsettledness and preoccupation (“suffering”).

Something arises from a belief to which we are attached. The attachment comes from believing that the belief means something about me. Which presupposes that there is a me—that is the first belief.

Believing in a me, we have created something of ultimate importance, leading to ultimate attachment. It is the foundational trap.

Something unexamined persists: the unexamined me persists.

On examination, something disappears: the examined me disappears.

Every something is an opportunity, an opportunity to examine an unresolvedness. As it resolves, we lose something and regain nothing.

 

Perspective

The perspective of the moment always seems real.

Everything we understand is organized around this perspective of the moment. (What is true now has always been true—even if it wasn’t yesterday.)

What happens when this perspective becomes less important?

Look and see.

 

Suffering

Suffering is a product of our system, not of our circumstances.

It arises from believing certain perspectives to be true. By themselves, the perspectives have no power. Belief gives them power.

Belief is akin to light passing through film in a movie projector—without light, the film moves through the projector, unnoticed by all except the projectionist. But with light, the film fills a screen and sweeps a host of viewers into its story: the drama of life is created.

Beyond the drama, which consumes an enormous amount of energy and attention, life is here and now—enigmatic and sacred—for those who pause to see.