Everyman's WEEKLY Journal #76
© 2014 Rev. David Seacord
June 8, 2014
Living by the Ancient Way…
In the summer in the desert, the extreme heat determines how one lives--- in the sense that the continual adjusting to its 'oppressive' presence is the fundamental reality underlying the activities of all life here. Modern humanity, arriving as a latecomer, has spent huge amounts of effort to reduce this reality, and has attempted to create a completely 'air-conditioned' artificial environment wherein heat considerations disappear… where the heat has been conquered, so to speak.
In walking my heart's true Way however, I have noticed that I prefer not to conquer Mother Nature. Rather, as in the martial art of Aikido, I prefer to use my intelligence to attune to and align with Her. Thus, sanely awakening this morning a little after 4 am in the last half hour of full dark before the almost imperceptible slight lightening of the eastern sky begins, I noticed where I was, and conversely, where I was not. I was on an easily rolled up mat on the flat roof of this bungalow's porch, and under the open sky, with nothing but empty space between myself and the stars above. And noticing this, I felt a remembrance that this is how my ancestors had also slept… with their head pointed to the north also, because somewhere from within us both they and I could sense that head-north felt better, or more correctly aligned.
Have you ever noticed that noticing naturally and easily leads into meditation? Or maybe it is the reverse. In any case, in my experience there is in each moment the invitation to notice 'what is true', and then to make the choice to be true to it. This is pretty much THE practice of being 'awake', yes? And what I notice is I often do not wish to notice 'the truth within the moment'. For instance, last evening I noticed but also noticed I didn't wish to notice that…. when I heard my elderly neighbor Betty outside talking with her dog and the thought was given me to 'go share some of these very tasty guamuichil pod-fruits with her'… that my 'i' didn't want to… 'i' didn't wish to share… 'i' wanted to eat them all 'myself'. Something more true than my 'i's' wanting it's gluttony chose to follow the suggestion however--- which led to doing exactly what I was avoiding… having a conversation with the woman, which in turn led to receiving her gentle requests for my assistance in helping her do several things that she was unable to do (which my higher I agreed to do). Thus does life teach us that we are all connected (IF we are willing to be).
I sat there silently, upright, cross-legged, on the rooftop upon my bed, just being awake in the infantile dawn. Some small birds also began to awaken and give their voices to the silence, and off toward the southeast a cock's crowing began. In a way, I felt as ancient as life. My 'i' didn't have to 'do' anything to create this feeling, it was just there, like my breathing... that I naturally begin to 'be with'… breathing in…breathing out.
Why I am sleeping up on the roof is anciently self-obvious… because I noticed, just like my ancestors did, that that is where the wind would cool my body as I slept, and that is where the night air temperatures reach their lowest zenith… low enough to actually need a light blanket for a few hours even. It is also why I ate the fruit of my two guamuichil trees last night for my supper, and why I planted and am growing several small gardens full of heat tolerant vegetables here that give me fresh weeds and greens on a daily basis… because these actions are all part of the ancient wisdom ways of life.
Coming from everywhere and nowhere, Life broadcasts Her wisdom pathways to everyone. Those who are listening know something that those who don't listen don't know…
That Life would bless us. That Life would give us all we need. That in every moment of every day, Life offers us her simple honest truthful answers…answers that are for the good and for the wholesomeness of all beings.
The matchup to Life's generosity is this: that we be willing to listen and receive. If we are willing, we become much quieter, much simpler, much happier. 'Less IS more' is not just a saying… it is an ancient way of Being.
Namaste, and Sat Nam,
David
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Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
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