A Rainy Day

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,

Another rainy day without sun in the sky!  It looks as though this will be the forecast for the week, as well. We are not used to humidity. We are not used to mud and wet grass and flooding streets.  Last night we had a smaller group than usual for meditation (5 people counting myself). We sat with the sound of rain falling on the temple roof, then had tea, a few cookies, and went home.  The air seemed sombre.

 

It was storming during the time for the Peace Vigil, so I did not go.  Instead I continued to sit Zazen at home.  I sat a number of hours yesterday, pausing for this or that, but returning consistently to stillness. Being peace.

 

In another blog I posted there is a discussion between two groups of folks, one group is rather fundamentalist Christian, though one member of that group is Catholic, and some conservatives, and the other group is a group of two Jews, myself included, as well as more progressively minded folk.  It worries me that the bridge between us is both narrow and often contentious. The contentiousness comes from the conservative group insisting their "truth" is the only correct understanding of the universe. Everyone else lives in error and thus are in peril from God's judgement. No one likes to think of the beauty of their faith as error and so they don't and this refusal to accept the fundamentalist Christian view is deemed "anti-Christian".

 

The other group insists there are many paths to God. That He is larger than this or that, in fact, as in Zen, He is the Infinite itself, pervading and manifesting in everything. 

 

My hope was that through dialogue this bridge might be made less contentious. Instead, stereotypes on both sides are used and the steadfast unwillingness of the conservative group to be open to other points of view bring us often to inevitable conflict. One still hopes.

 

Today I plan to practice Zazen, writing, and reading, and watching the rain fall.  Breakfast with the Boys this morning follows a morning coffee with son Jacob in Old Mesilla.  I will also try to get in a run this afternoon if the weather breaks a bit. Yesterday I ran a strong two miles where it rained on me off and on. The humidity is a challenge!  Still, one foot and one breath followed by another foot and another breath, gets the job done. 

 

Be well.