I notice that indeed,
people still walk around like they are ether casing after something,
Or,
Something is chasing after them.
It’s as if they are trying escape from something or avoid something else.
Even on the beach when I take long walks…
Sure, there are folks walking for exercise…
Good on ‘em…
But,
Lot’s of these folks are walking like they are carrying the weight of the world…
Hunched over, back arched, head pointed down. Teeth gritted,
smile decades faded into a scowl… now persists as their ‘resting face’.
Even on one of the world’s most beautify beaches…
They carry their personal dreads like heaps of heavy baggage.
Each time I see one of ‘them’…
I straighten my back, I allow a big natural smile…
And I enjoy each step.
I walk slow…
Perhaps to make up for all those years of running around.
Always late for work, late for play, late for everything and yet…
Never feeling like I ever “arrived”.
True,
When I worked for ‘the man’…
Once I rushed into work…
I’d kick back and hang loose the whole day
😉
I recall when I quit working for someone else…
I never got a break…
I’d say:
“I haven’t had a days rest since I quit workin’”
:-O
Now that I’m almost 64… my knees and joints aren’t so agile…
So,
Even if I wasn’t planning on doing a walking meditation…
I need to do some sort of therapeutic slow walk.
Ether way…
I walk … “Zenfully”.
When the call to attain the highest states of human consciousness is heard…
And the volition to follow through with earnest…
One needs to put all other distractions aside….
24/7
During transitions of deep sitting ‘Insight’ meditations and Jhana states
A walking meditation allows one to remain in the ‘every present moment’…
In Advaita Vedanta… “I Am”.
“ I Am That”… that which is not this or that, but everything and nothing at all.
“We” are like a mirror… the mirror does not think about what it reflects…
It simply reflects what is present
without adding commentary, bias, or agendas…
When we sit…
We just sit.
We don’t think or analytically contemplate…
We don’t pine about the past or fret about the future.
We just sit.
If a thought arises…
be aware that it arises… and passes away.
There is not permanence.
It just… “Is”.
“We” don’t do…. “We” just….
Be.
When we walk slowing in meditation…
We are not in a brain dead zombie state…
We are just aware.
Being aware of the countless things
in each fraction of a second that…
Arise….
And pass away.
Walking slowly becomes a natural gait..
Similar to learning meditation…
The focus on the breath, exclusively is fundamental…
Being mindful of each small motion of entire process of…
Breathing…
Is now translated into…
walking.
Spend some time to “notice” each moment that arises…
And also,
Notice when they pass away.
When it feels natural…
Allow yourself to broaden your awareness…
Starting with the mechanisms of foot motions…
Then,
To the flow in which your ‘walk’ is going…
Notice the beauty…
Perhaps it’s the fresh air… beach air or forest air…
Or just warm or cold air…
If a bird chirps or car can be heard…
Take notice…
Then let it go… don’t let it start a mental conversation…
Just Be…
“You’ll” notice things, sensations, thoughts, feelings…
You’ll also see, feel, or somehow connect with whatever arises…
On my forest mountain bike riding…
The newborn leaves seems to pull in my full awareness…
I feel it like I observe my own… well being.
Then,
“I am” the old leaf, then, the falling leaf and leaves just below me and
the compost of leaves below that…
Layers and levels of …”Me”!
Inseparable… Non Dual as experienced in nature.
This is a form of Samadhi.
The localized perception “I” have of “Me”, an embodied me my ego creates…
Becomes…
Disembodied.
There is no stronger attraction to any of the particular leaves…
There is simply an acceptance of what “Is”…
There is no longer a perspective that is ‘coming from any other location’ …
It’s like:
“Boundless Spaciousness’… but way beyond the ‘material base’ perspective.
The material ‘lineage’ of our bodies goes back over 13.8 billion years ago
to the latest Big Bang…which carries a lot of history.
But,
The ‘Eternal’ True Nature of ‘who it is we could be’...
There are vast amounts of material written about the philosophies of our True Self.
But just to put it into a reality we can collectively understand…
Whatever happens when our bodies flat line…
Some traditions of Zen and Advaita Vedanta
masters that invited their disciples for the final days…
Took note that their masters were able to convey that…
“Nothing Changes”.
To a fully Enlightened being…
One that abides in the True perspective…
Maintains unshakable Equanimity
that is unaffected by the chaos of this ‘life’.
Seeing the inseparableness with all that ‘Is’…
This perspective…
Is what “Never Changes”.
Speaking to those that had a ‘near death experience’…
No, they didn’t almost die…
They died.
And got better…
Awareness was still … and always aware…
To the Enlighten Masters…
“Nothing Changes”.
But,
To all the rest of us ‘sentient beings’…
Most of us just have absolutely no way to relate to such a perspective.
There really is nothing to compare this material life
And the timelessness of Consciousness.
We just have to enjoy whatever solace there is to know….
“Everything is Always Already Alright”.
So…
Don’t waste your time here in this life memorizing so called ‘sacred text’…
Sure,
Learn it, practice it… then forget it…
Just live it.
Whatever happens after we are liberated from this body…
Will remain ‘Ineffable’…
As far as the body goes…
It’s like H2O… when H meets up with two Oos….
It’s water… it has no other addenda…
Our molecules don’t have an agenda…
If they can contribute to someone’s garden…
All the better.
The other aspect of ‘who we think we are’…
However groovy it will be…
There will be no ego that jumps up p& down with glee…
“This is awesome… I’m jumping with glee”!!
All the ways most of us have come to measure ‘glee’ or happiness…
Will not even be an option.
It will be much, much simpler than our simplest imaginations…
😉
And for now…
That’s gonna have to be…
Good enough.
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