Paul Gauguin's Tahitian Landscape (1891). Original from the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Alice Walker has good advice for all of us who practice mindfulness meditation:

As a meditation teacher, I'm happy when folks describe feelings familiar from childhood resurfacing in meditation, such as waking up in the morning and feeling excited for no particular reason.

Feeling causelessly excited by life; it just bubbles out of our true nature, which we uncover in our meditation practice.

When our kids were little Katina and I would delight in watching them play in the big yard in our old house. Our son would spend hours in perpetual wonder and surprise, digging in the yard, looking at bugs, and playing with lizards and geckos.

We delight in the company of children because they remind us of our own wondrous capacity to be surprised and delighted. Mindfulness meditation allows us to play in a kind of continual surprise, as we let go of that heavy know-it-all part of us, and just bask in the unfolding moments.

Abraham J. Heschel, the late polish-born American professor of Jewish theology, had this to say:

What a thing to say–that he is the most maladjusted person in society!

He is saying we could do well to challenge the messages we receive on multiple media channels toward mediocrity and mindless consumerism.

Luckily for us, mindfulness meditation has a built-in channel of innocent delight and contentment. As we sit quietly in meditation, contentment seeps into our being like the smell of the sweet pikake blossoms on the evening breeze.

Abraham J. Heschel again:

Meditation simply helps us stay content and sane in this crazy world.

Genuine contentment is one of the most revolutionary acts for a person in the 21st century; it goes against cultural norms and conditioning. This all begs the question: just what is this contentment?

For me, it’s about being happy with who I am right now: overweight, under-exercised, and not looking forward to the hour-long drive home in heavy morning traffic from my night shift job.

The blogger Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui, a working, single mom who writes about minimalism and the anti-consumption movement, recently wrote:

I used to feel quite depressed. A part of me was still consumed with fantasies and expectations: my kids, my marriage, my meditation practice, my night shift job, my... My... My…and “I” always fell short of those fantasies.

I’m much happier now. I am living Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui’s line above:

Nothing terribly dramatic happened. No huge epiphany. No burning bushes. No lights, sparks or kundalini rush.

Discovering contentment was about letting go of these fantasies, and realizing that life was truly amazing without them. I would even say–especially without them.

It was about embracing my limitations and ceasing the railing against them.

As we silently watch these fantasies arise and fall within mindful awareness, we see how powerfully they filter our perceptions, how they distort our view of things, just as they are.

We experience the relief of letting thoughts come and go. As psychologist Elisha Goldstein says:

The mind doesn’t need to go blank–we just need a little distance from thought so we don’t tumble along with them. As we gently let them pass through us, and we see how incredibly awesome this precious life truly is, just as it is right now.

As we expect nothing, we join hands with Alice Walker and Abraham J. Heschel, living frugally in surprise and amazement.

Take care,

Tom

This week's teaching is a reflection by the Catholic Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast. My thought on this--Let’s allow our meditation practice affirm this belonging.

Still Life with Fruit (1905) by Odilon Redon. Original from the Yale University Art Gallery.

This week's poem is by the Zen monk Ryōkan Taigu (1758–1831)

My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;

Every year the green ivy grows longer.

No news of the affairs of people,

Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.

The sun shines and I mend my robe;

When the moon comes out I read Buddhist poems.

I have nothing to report my friends.

If you want to find meaning,

stop chasing after so many things.

This weekly newsletter offers personal reflections on the Early Buddhist teachings. They are merely the stray thoughts of a lazy meditator, nothing more. Authoritative teachings and commentary are on our resources page. Forwarded from a friend and like to sign up? Easy sign up here. Thanks!