Blade: And So It Goes

Wow!

What a course that was.

All I have to say is:

The most exciting, rewarding, harrowing adventures I have are the ones I have sitting by myself doing what the outside observer would think was nothing.

Building an anchor is really hard work.

It’s the baggage: it keeps following me.

This reminds me of the time I was riding my bike down this dirt track on a hot and sunny summer’s day. Suddenly I saw my shadow in the dirt, pursued by numerous tiny shadows. It was a swarm of horseflies chasing me, presumably after my blood.

My meditation practice seemed helpful when it was new because it was new; the swarm had not yet located it.

But, now it has, and so the trouble begins anew.

For help, I turned to the late Zen Master, Shunryu Suzuki’s, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind:

“The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind.”

For, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.”

And so, I went back to the most basic practice, the practice of focusing on my breathing, and there I found peace, for a time.

Ah but, the saga continues. . .