Truth is, none of us really know
These teachings would frustrate me to no end, and I often drove home muttering, crankily, no one in particular. Also, I'd have some kind of intense music playing through my speakers, so that my brain would settle down from being agitated.
After each lesson, I found myself more and more frustrated. These parables seemed like a cop-out, and never really held anyone accountable for their actions or thoughts. One could meditate for millennia on what the sound of one had clapping was, while waving their hands in the air, and claiming they had reached perfect enlightenment.
As my brain became more and more tangled, I decided to take some time off from these meetups, and work on finding a thread of truth that worked for me. Enough round about spiritual chitter chatter, it was time to get down to business.
One day the kiddos and I were driving to the store when a car pulled out in front of me. This caused a great uproar, where I had to slam my foot on the breaks, whip out my "Mom arm" to protect the child next to me, and exclaim, "Oh what the bloody heck." I was shook to my core, and for a moment time stood still.
From the back came this quiet little voice...
"Why did that person do that?"
Huh?
"Why did that person do that?"
Not having the time to come up with some answer to satisfy my needs, while also trying to sound like I knew what was going on, my mouth just blurted out, "Sometimes sh*t just happens."
While I'd like to say I had a moment of enlightenment from this experience, my mind was too freaked out to do any deep navel gazing. In short, I was too busy giving thanks for having all my people alive and on the way home.
The next morning I wrote about it in my journal. As I furiously complained about the anti-mindful nature of the other driver, it dawned on me that I truly had no idea why the whole scenario went down. Also, why was I focusing all my anger toward this person? There was no way to know what kind of day they were dealing with, and again, we were all okay. It was just kind of good luck/bad luck mixed in with my own perception that gave me some suffering o' the noggin.
It's been years since that happened, and I've still got no idea about the one hand clapping koan. However, I do know what happens when a tree falls in the woods - even if no one hears it.
When we look at the word "truth," it gives us all sorts of images and perceptions. My truth is not your truth, and is most likely not like the truth of anyone else out there. However, it does dip into the greater ocean of being. Sort of like that story about filling the ocean with millions of pieces of water. Each one of us make up a concept that might just be bigger than we can grasp -- that we are part of a bigger Truth that is constantly drawing us closer together in hopes that we will realize that sometimes it is not always about us.
Or, in the words of Wise Old Turtle, "You are loved, and so are they."
A few years ago I read this wonderful story from Ram Dass about a woman in his audience. The key takeaway for me was this profound statement: " I had begun to think that my way was the only way, which seems to be a common illness of people who get into spiritual work." (Ram Dass)
Today you are invited to look at your own path in life. What does your spiritual foundation look like? Do you even have a path that speaks to you? What ruffles your feathers in life? Where do you feel the need to most loudly state observations on life? Take some time to journal about it all, listen to some music, and then clap one hand together.
With love,
keu/Yarn and Zen
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