Meditation #9 The Richness of Lack
Last week we surrendered to the river of our tears, and now
we move on to the joy found within our infant hearts. We were fresh, like
rosebuds. We were held wide open by expectation, by a permanent sense of awe,
and an eager senses stance towards life and the world.
Yesterday, as I was kayaking, I was reminded of this intense
excitement by a baby who waved enthusiastically as I rowed by. I had quietly
been navigating up the river for at least an hour and many people had seen me
from the riverbed, but no one had jumped up and down and squealed in delight when
they saw me, only a baby could have done that.
I remembered how I had been confused frequently when I first
came to this country and I continued to smile at everyone I saw and naturally,
greeted fellow walkers or joggers spontaneously. I was befuddled because most
did not return my greeting or looked taken aback, but now I am used to it and
rarely acknowledge the people I encounter. But seeing that baby’s joy reminded
me of the wisdom found only in little ones, the thirst for life and zest for every
new experience that makes a baby shudder and stare upon the simple encounter of
another first…
What a loss it is to atrophy the will to seek connection, to
reach out and meet another human being. We are born with an intense desire to
look into another human being’s face, to get lost in the features of another,
connect with their eyes and explore their humanity. We bring gallons of desire,
of interest, of will, curiosity and hunger and then life dulls our rainbow of
intentions. Within our lack of distractions, things and preoccupations in early
life, we were wealthy in intensity of feeling alive.
Let’s look back at that time before the fears, the doubts
and the conditioning of social norms restrained our natural reactions to the
thrills of Living.
Being human in totality of experience is our true career
calling. I have often found this spontaneity of Being in people who seem to
have very little in material possessions, such as the natives I met in the
Amazon. They had no access to technology and our conveniences and comforts, but
they had the luxury of presence, of community and of total surrender to the
moment. They live fully committed to the experience of their here, their now:
like babies.
The world had been unfolding for centuries before we joined
it, and it will continue to spin around without us when we leave this
terrestrial existence, but this life we have been offered is our opportunity to
squeeze the fruits pertaining to being human. I challenge you to live each day
like a baby, unpacking it like a precious gift, exhausting the possibilities of
existence and realizing that by focusing in that richness of life, you will
lose your fear of death and find the key to real wealth: a life with no regrets.
With love,
Lina.
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