Small choices large
It is common to be pushed from one course to another by discomfort, or pulled out of place by desire. Some traditions would have you separate yourself from those energies, holding to the center and less involved in those tides. By creating a distance between ourselves and the objects of pleasure and displeasure, we are able to recognize our habitual reactions, and by recognizing, remain balanced.
Through this practice, we humans reduce the anguish of living, and support a measured and compassionate response to others and to the world around us.
While we can bring light to a blindness in this way, we may only succeed in illuminating a small patch of the world, and risk isolating ourselves from a true and vital involvement in the dance of life. If we follow a path of detachment without seeing into the heart of its teaching, we risk disowning the vital energy which is the birthright and bond we share with all living things.
It is through our desire for a partner that the seed of life is watered, and because of it our beautiful children are delivered; delight in the color and texture of life gives our short term on the planet greater value, and meaning in its own right. Meanwhile, it is the sting of dis-ease that urges us to improve our condition and the condition of those within reach; in its scar we carry our wisdom and our history.
Yes, we must first become familiar with our wants and our worries, and step back from them, through physical or meditative practices that train the mind and the heart. But even as we do so, we step in again: that is the dance. We greet life the teacher, we bow to death the teacher, and smile at their instruction.
We learn to be informed, and not influenced; that as we mature and gain skillfulness in the art of living, our ability to choose healthy and vibrant paths increases. We learn to make better choices, and we can go further and further in without danger: further into relationship, further into community, further into the things of the senses – taste now, because your tenure will soon be up! – the best place to be is at the edge of your knowing, with your eyes, ears and hands wide open.
