To Live in This World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxjBcklmqFg

Yesterday afternoon the Vice president of the United States administered the oath of office to Scott Brown as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Not my happiest moment.

Last night I was talking with an old friend who after many years of Zen practice had let go of a regular sitting discipline in the complex mix of separating himself from his former community. A good man. With, as we say in Zen, some eye. I’m very fond of him.

He told me that he’s resumed his practice.

I asked why. More as a bit of small talk. The mysteries of why we do things are rarely describable in a few words, and usually the stories we tell about decisions are only tangentially connected to the deep currents that drive us to our actions…

He said he has an elderly relative in the state. She’s not particularly well educated, she’s worked very, very hard all her life. And she listens a lot to Fox News and to Rush Limbaugh and that ilk. She’s afraid of the president. She believes the congress is trying to make us communists. And she voted for Mr Brown.

My friend paused. Then he said he yelled at her.

In didn’t need to elaborate.

We both understood.

The world is a sea of sadness. We are so constrained by our situations. And we, any of us, rarely see but through a glass darkly.

And the first call of our shared way, is to respond with some compassion.

So, yes, he knew.

It was that call to return to the pillow.

Again.

Again.

And maybe next time he will meet fear with compassion…

Sometimes I wonder why I made those vows.

But…

But what else is there to do…