I have been meaning to make several blog posts as of late and I find that the only time I have lately have been sitting at the laundromat.
This also gives me an excuse to practice and hopefully improve my iPhone typing speed and accuracy. So far, so good.
Anyways, I'll start this post talking about my recent trip to Yosemite National Park. It was amazing. I didn't think that I'd want to stay the full six nights as I was alone, however I found that once I was out in nature, I was fine. No, I was better than fine, I was amazing.
I feel peace when I am alone in nature. My mind grows quiet, the gears slow down, and I am suddenly present. 100% present in the here and now. For once in my life, I'm not thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner or worrying about the next day at work. For once in my life, I don't reminisce about the past or dwell on mistakes.
For once in my life I feel free.
That's the power of nature-- that's what God is supposed to feel like. We shouldn't spend our days pining for some imaginary heavenly glory that may or may not be what we think it is or even exist! We must work to build Zion HERE RIGHT NOW. Because that's where we live.
does the zen center downtown in la still exist? if so, you might want to check it.
ReplyDeleteit used to be on wilshire by the ambassador hotel, so i wonder. la seems to reinvent itself every ten years or so.
there is a whole experiential/existential aspect to buddhism which i dig. your grandma was a buddhist so i'm sure you know much more about it than i.
You probably already know that I've always been a big preacher of the "you can't it with you philosophy".
ReplyDeleteWe can't be sure about heaven or hell, if they exist, if we'll get in, and if they'll be want we need/want them to be. So the way I figure it... we *do* know how to appreciate life now... so why don't more of us just simply do that?
Think about that!
yes yes yes so glad to hear this. If we can learn to live with more focus on NOW and less on past or future, not only does our NOW become richer, but we end up having a better past and a more promising future to boot. We win all around.
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