It’s getting harder to take my evening walk since the time changed and the sky is completely black. Last night I turned east to walk into the rising full moon, but tonight the moon will rise an hour later.
The sun is going down in a river of dark blue cloud with pink edges so I turn west to view as much of it as possible. As I walk, the sky grows more and more fantastic, a ripe display of oranges, golds, pink, salmon, red and green all folded into the undersides of rippling storm clouds. And for a graphic touch, the Cerrillos hills are silhouetted in front, black forms cutting into the bright display.
When I turn again, the light reflects off the stalks of purple asters gone white, and heavy dried sunflower heads hanging parallel to the ground.
I ponder my recent I Ching throws. In the past few weeks I have received 51, “Shock”, (above); 64, “Before Completion”, (the last hexagram); and 3, “Making a New Beginning.” I have dreamt of planes falling from the sky and a dark horse whose name I can’t speak. How much of this reflects me and how much reflects all of us? Trick question.
I think about the upcoming election tomorrow and remember 2004. How shocked I was, we all were, with that outcome. I was most shocked that there was such an eerie silence on the internet and on the phones. No one called, no one emailed. I wasn’t blog-happy then, so the quiet was unnerving.
Looking over my shoulder, the view is arresting. I decide to walk backwards so I won’t miss the silent fireworks.
Let’s not be shocked this time, no matter what the outcome. Imagine every possibility, every manifestation and let’s make one promise: let’s not let shock paralyze us. Will your greatest hopes be dashed or realized? Keep centered either way.
A shock can be a death, an injury, an unbearable loss, or it can be as small as tripping over a stone in the path. Whatever makes you aware that a problem exists, shock is the teacher that wakes you up.
In Zen, we are all enlightened, we just don’t realize it. What shock will you experience tomorrow? How will you respond? Will you collapse in despair? Will you throw yourself to the winds of celebration? The I Ching recommends maintaining balance, being centered in every event.
Rinzai Zen was practiced by the samurai and teaches an abrupt awakening, but the Soto tradition of Zen was practiced by the farmers and continues to teach “just sitting.” If you are Soto and you attain enlightenment? Just go back to the pillow and sit some more.
Ha! How stupid I am, walking backwards. I can merely step forward into the sunset and complete the other half of my journey in the full view of the changing sky, as gaudy as an opera set.
