Flying up, out of Detroit reminded me of an old teaching: Be the sky ...
At the airport a dark, stormy overcast was the norm. Right after take-off, the streets: freeways, byways and highways were empty of cars. Then we began passing through the first cloud layer. Then no visibility whatsoever. Suddenly we passed through. Looking down and out --- clear and open space between clouds. Then the second cloud layer!!! Then again, no viability.
Then!!! Blue sky!!
The clouds do not impact the sky. Clouds are like thoughts that literally cloud our perspective of the way things truly are.
The second layer reminds me of delusions upon delusions. We think we have an answer. We then build further thoughts upon the original thought ... only to find out that the original thought was fallacious and the proverbial house of cards collapses. Thoughts are just thoughts. They come and they disperse.
And throughout, the sky just remains the sky. The sky doesn't do anything but be the sky. It does not hold onto the clouds. At best, the sky has no concern about the clouds.
So, just be sky and let be.😇
If caught in (depressive, worrisome, anxious) thoughts, recognize you are but the sky, let yourself actually feel that ever associated with a thought, and let the thoughts dissipate (slowly breathing in, holding a sec, breathing out slowly through the mouth, smiling all the while).
Just my 2 cents at 36k feet.....
Yesterday, at 36k feet ever varying clouds and an ever present sky became a reflection. Now having been on the ground with a decent night's sleep, the reflection morphed a bit.
There is a layer of clouds about which we might not be aware. These are Transparent Beliefs, beliefs which run our day-to-day conditioned habit patterns of behavior. These become prominent when we have broken the pattern by experiencing extreme disruptions: a death, our return from an extended trip outside our typical environment, a traumatic situation, etc. which puts the present moment into stark contrast.
The lesson of the Sky / Clouds holds true. The more we allow ourselves to be aware, to just know, that much of our day-to-day living (thought, feeling, emotion) is on automatic remote control, the more we can use the OFF switch.
This current circumstance - covid-19 - has broken for many of us our typical ways of being, our conditioned habit patterns of behavior. We can take stock and decide who we truly are and what we truly want to do and how we wish to do it - with full and absolute positive regard for ourselves, family, friends, acquaintances, the human family, and their planet we inhabit. Whew!!!
Many Blessings to you and yours now and forevermore. Peace and Joy!
An Itinerant Monk (repatriated from Nepal via KTM-DOH-IAD-DTT-SFO) White Robed Monks of St. Benedict
