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peace, love, happiness & understanding 10/3/24
THE OPEN ROAD
peace, love, happiness & understanding
October 3, 2024
I’ve been having a conversation with myself in my journal for the past 54 years, or so. Here are excerpts from the entry for January 16th, followed by a brief essay, “perfect moments,” that I wrote on January 17th, followed by excerpts from what I wrote on January 23rd:
monday, september 16th
perfect day
perfect silence
perfect coffee
this home is a well-ordered place of refuge for two human beings
outside these walls, in some places, perfect chaos and confusion
perfect fear…
perfect sorrow…
perfect healing…
perfect love
the neon sign says: LOVE WINS
so it must be true…
the dance of shadows on the wall…
helping to co-create culture that nurtures—a local and a global culture of peace, love, happiness & understanding—begins with my own deep peace, love, happiness & understanding
a silence that is free of fear and hatred
love for everyone and everything
boundless joy
continuing to improve my understanding of what’s going on here by learning from wise thoughtful intelligent people
in order to be more helpful
to choose wisely
to not utter words that are hurtful
there’s a rough and tumble aspect to human life
don’t be too attached to non-attachement
or to ideas of no-self, ātman, et cetera
don’t forget to laugh and have fun
don’t take yourself or your opinions too seriously
feel the beauty of the blue sky and the puffy white clouds
the green of the leaves on the trees and bushes and grass
the bright flowers
the bright flowers!
i know why buddha held up a flower
the surprising thing is that everyone in the assembly didn’t get enlightenment at that moment
the bewildering thing is that we live in a world that has flowers in it and yet people hurt each other
how can this be?
i guess it’s because there are other things besides flowers in the world
there are, for example, guns…
i feel bad for the people who have lots of guns and no flowers…
in a world teeming with life, everything dies
and new things arrive
new people and plants and birds and bugs and elephants are always arriving
elephants!
wonderful beings!
monarch butterflies!
what a world!
it’s amazing that shakespeare wrote a midsummer night’s dream and king lear
it’s amazing that there are elephants and monarch butterflies
and hummingbirds and pansies
yellow pansies and little bright purple flowers
i’m in love with this world!
perfect moments
is this moment perfect?
yes!
i would like to sing the praise of perfect moments
and so i shall
everyone has experienced perfect moments
and yet many people are dissatisfied, unhappy, miserable
this is puzzling
this very moment might be felt to be perfect
and if it’s not, the next perfect moment might be right around the corner
the older i get, the more perfect moments i enjoy
i get a lot of blessings
i’m a happy man
to the extent that happiness is an art, and not just an accident, it might be the art of noticing and appreciating perfect moments
like this one
i like to start the day slowly, in silence
with a cup of coffee and two shortbread cookies
not by checking my inbox, or reading the new york times
i sit on the couch and look out the window
the backyard is filled with flowers
they are glorious, perfect!
perfect little birds come to the bird feeder
this morning: song sparrows, goldfinches, house finches, juncos
sometimes puffy white clouds float by in the blue sky
every one perfect
this morning the sky is overcast
have you ever noticed that some people say, “i love the rain!”?
on sunny summer days that are not too hot and not too cool, people seem to be in a good mood, more cheerful, more friendly
in portland, where i live, it rains a lot
it makes everything green
but people complain about the rain, and even get depressed
the person who says, “i love the rain!” is doing a kind of jiu jitsu
something that makes most people sad makes them happy
that’s a pretty neat trick
thich nhat hanh used to say, with a warm smile, “the present moment is a wonderful moment”
you might notice that most problems are elsewhere
if there is so much to take delight in, why isn’t everybody happy—at least most of the time?
there are countervailing forces in play
some are external and some are internal
to start with inner obstacles to happiness, we might look at “bad mental habits”
in this computer age, to say we have been “programmed” is a useful metaphor
our experiences, our society, our family of origin have instilled habits in each of us
some of those habits promote well-being
some do the opposite
some people are open, cheerful, friendly
some are anxious, some are angry, some are sad
of course a sad moment can be, and often is, a perfect moment
but to be sad all the time is to miss something that’s good for you—joy!
our external circumstances play a role in our feelings of well-being, or lack of them
a prison environment does not tend to promote happiness and well-being
and yet one of the happiest people i know is living in prison
he has mastered the art of appreciating perfect moments
people in ukraine and gaza and lebanon and sudan and israel are currently experiencing the terrible tragedy of war
and yet the experiences of people in those places are not uniformly bleak
there are perfect moments
there have to be, because an act of kindness is a perfect moment
and surely there must be many many acts of kindness under those terrible conditions
(ceasefire now!—everywhere, always and forever)
human life on earth includes tragedy, violence and injustice
they are exacerbated by fear, hatred, anger and greed
they are mitigated by love and kindness and joy and tranquility
to enjoy a perfect moment is to live—for a moment—in paradise
not the imaginary paradise that will arrive someday if we all just do everything differently than the way we’re doing things now
but a real paradise in this perfect moment
bankei calls this our unborn buddha mind
and asks why anyone would want to exchange their unborn buddha mind for the mind of a hungry ghost
perfect moments don’t necessarily have anything to do with religion or spirituality— although spiritual practices and religious symbols create perfect moments for many people
perfect moments are democratic
they’re available to anyone, anywhere, anytime
special environments, like japanese gardens, are sometimes created so that people who go there are more likely to experience perfect moments
a garden is a paradise
my local tea shop, the tao of tea, is a place where people go to enjoy perfect moments, alone or with friends
in quest of perfect moments, people go for walks in nature, listen to and play music, make art, read and write poems, make love
my own predilection is for simple pleasures
they’re readily available, cost nothing, and require no effort
it is my hope that while reading these meandering words you had a perfect moment
or remembered a perfect moment
or felt the importance of appreciating perfect moments
so that, over time, you enjoy so many perfect moments that you can’t believe how lucky you are to live in a world filled with miracle and beauty
monday, september 23rd
it’s hard to get used to the idea that we don’t know
because we like to pretend we do
from Endymion
BOOK 1
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms…
—John Keats (1795-1821)
i was talking with howard on the phone last night
i was trying to say something about pansies and moments
we have ideas that there are bad times and good times
“the dark ages,” “the enlightenment,” et cetera
we don’t know
the perfect moment in which i enjoy the pansies on our porch and the little purple flowers (lobelia!) beside them—that moment has no boundary
to say that the moment is “fleeting” is an idea about the moment
the moment itself has no idea, no duration
it is neither long nor short
it has nothing to do with “time”
time is another idea
for me, one yellow pansy is more important than the War of 1812
“more important” isn’t right
it has nothing to do with the relative importance of one thing or another thing
four and a half billion years is not longer than a moment
the bonneville dam is not more important or less important than a yellow pansy
the question of whether things are getting “better” or “worse” has nothing to do with the pansy
keats said it perfectly:
a thing of beauty is a joy for ever
he was right
that’s true
the pansy gives me boundless pleasure
infinite delight
enjoying a pansy for a moment makes my whole life “worthwhile”
i’m happy that i got to come to planet earth and enjoy the pansies and lobelia
what about the horrors of war?
the horrors of war are unspeakably horrible
people should be growing pansies instead of killing each other
why they’re not remains a mystery
we have theories about the causes of war
here’s my theory about what causes war:
unhappiness
the cure for war?
peace, love, happiness & understanding
by living in love and peace and joy we are setting a good example for our fellow mortals
walt says:
each moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy
&
this minute that comes to me over the past decillions,
there is no better than it and now
krishnamurti speaks of “freedom from the known”…
blake says:
eternity is in love with the productions of time
&
to see a world in a grain of sand
and a heaven in a wild flower
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour…
there’s no such thing as death
either you’re alive, or you’re not
only people who are alive can read this
squirrels can’t read it
they don’t need to
they’re busy “living in the present moment”
*
In 1971, Charles Erickson and I met a Dutch sailor in India named Jules Dams. Jules posted something about John Wesley on Facebook that Charles forwarded to me:
John Wesley’s Manifesto
- Reduce the gap between rich people and poor people
- Help everyone to have a job
- Help the poorest, including introducing a living wage
- Offer the best possible education
- Help everyone to feel that they can make a difference
- Promote tolerance
- Promote equal treatment for women
- Create a society based on values and not on profits and consumerism
- End all forms of slavery
- Avoid getting into wars
- Share the love of God with everyone
- Care for the environment
John Wesley (1703-1791) was founder of the Methodist Church. This “manifesto” “based on his writings” is on display at the Wesley Museum in Bristol, England. As a kid, my family went to the Methodist Church. Maybe some seeds were planted.
—Johnny Stallings
*
Inspired by Martha and Elizabeth during Bibliophiles, I went back to read a mystery by an author I loved. In 1975 Wilhelm Van de Vettering wrote Outsider in Amsterdam, whose main character reflected his own—a zen student, jazz musician, cat-loving policeman living in Amsterdam. Very low key plot.
At one point this character meets a housebound sedentary old man on a house call. He feels that his life is thankfully so different from this man’s world, when he spies the man’s record collection. They share the same taste in music and they have all the same records!
Everything stops…they have this moment.
When asked, the old man says, yes, he has had these moments before…
“I never quite understood them. Something occurs, you notice something, and suddenly the moment is there. You can’t explain it, maybe you don’t want to explain it. I remember when it happened for the first time. I saw a hornbill in the zoo. Some people call them rhinoceros-birds. It looked so weird that suddenly my whole life changed. I saw my life differently. I knew it would change back again and become boring again, ordinary, everyday life. But that moment it was all different. The logic had been knocked out of it….Nobody can explain a hornbill to me. That’s the beauty of it maybe.”
That was very satisfying in itself; I thoroughly enjoyed reading the fifty year old book again. The next day I went with my grandkids to the zoo; I hadn’t been to the zoo for ever. We were going through the giraffe’s area and there was a most unusual bird staring up at us. A sign said, The Hornbill! I had read 11-year-old Sylvan the passage from Outsider in Amsterdam, and he asked me, with a smile, “Are you having a hornbill moment, Grandma?” I laughed and told him, “No, but I have had them before.”
To these moments that always stay with us, however absurd, and make no sense to anyone else’s reality, but are so meaningful to us!
This makes me think of a great William Stafford poem –
Why I Am Happy
Now has come, an easy time. I let it
roll. There is a lake somewhere
so blue and far nobody owns it.
A wind comes by and a willow listens
gracefully.
I hear all this, every summer. I laugh
and cry for every turn of the world,
its terribly cold, innocent spin.
That lake stays blue and free; it goes
on and on.
And I know where it is.
—William Stafford
peace and joy,
—Katie Radditz