The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life Who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own soul. —Thomas Merton
3 NOVEMBER—How else to live but with eyes wide open?
This very moment is not prelude. It is not a warmup or opening act to something else, another greater moment or experience.
Or, if it is prelude it is also finale — whole and complete in itself. There is nothing better that follows. Indeed, there is nothing that follows.
To live this one moment fully is to be wide open — to all that is beautiful, and to all that is painful and heartbreaking. It is to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch as completely and deeply as possible. And more: to be open to other ways of sensing and knowing.
Open to everything and rejecting nothing — rejecting no one.
To live fully is to let go of any need to be right or in control. Indeed to let go of all we currently think and believe and to contemplate the possibility that just maybe we’ve had it wrong all along. Or, maybe “right” and “wrong” have always been a long con.
What if the sky isn’t blue? What if “blue” isn’t blue?
What if 1/6 was not an insurrection?
What if?
May I live guided by truths that reside in the heart and cannot be read in the New York Times or heard on CNN. May I let go of all I currently hold onto. May I die willingly with the moment as it dissolves and passes away. May my solidarity be with the earth and all living things, including my fellow citizens.
May I abandon the confusion of self. May I live in a way that makes loving possible such that there is no me standing in the way of love.
If I repeat myself then so it will be until dawn finally breaks.
May I live in a way that makes love possible.
With eyes wide open.
AH. Yes! Beautiful.