u/Egosum-quisum

Wind through leaves
rustles.

Rushing water
over stone.

Summer berries
on the ground.

Yellow daffodils
bloom on graves.

All is God

What exists is without known boundaries. It encompasses everything without exception.

From the smallest particles to the largest celestial objects, everything dwells within the same Whole.

Nothing is excluded from everything. There is everything, and that is All.

Such is the nature of Being.

I AM the alpha and the Omega
I AM the beginning and the end
I AM the stars and the black hole
I AM a piece of shit and the flower that grows from it.
I AM the One, and so are you.

Praise be to the unborn and the undying

For what never began can never end

As we lay in the field of destiny’s grasp

Here fall the threads of unyielding woe

And the wheels in the sky carry on still

Everything all at once, in all directions, in all the strata of existence, is ongoing right now.

Without exception, the present moment permeates the whole.

In a distant region of the Milky Way, among the vastness of interstellar space, a nebula spanning thousands of times the size of our solar system gives birth to stars.

Thus new worlds arise.

At the center of a galaxy incomprehensibly far away, a supermassive black hole billions of times the mass of the Sun devours entire worlds. In the process, matter is heated to such intensity that it outshines the entire galaxy.

Such is the nature of quasars.

Beneath the shade of an ancient tree, ant colonies wage wars for control of land and resources.

Thus life contends with itself.

On a blue planet inhabited by countless forms of life, a sort of thinking primate looks up to the night sky and wonders where they belong among the wholeness of existence.

Thus the universe reflects upon itself.

And so it is that the Great Happening unfolds before the very eyes of existence itself.

It is said that labels can never fully define reality as it is, since by the very act of labeling a thing, it becomes singled out and fragmented from the wholeness of existence. In doing so, distinctions arise where before there was only what is.

And so, it would appear that the direct experience of reality must occur prior to any attempt to conceptualize it, before the instinctive tendency of the mind to divide the whole into countless myriads of things.

Such is the suchness of isness.

Oneness, as it is so called, seems most readily encountered in those moments before we become lost in our descriptions of it. Not because thoughts themselves stand apart from reality, but because we so often mistake our thoughts about reality for reality itself.

And so, any attempt to describe what is may prove futile, for the description can never be the thing described.
However, and this is where things become deeply paradoxical, here we are day after day engaging in conversations about what is, and how it cannot be described or defined accurately.

We do so, I suppose, in an attempt to guide those who have not yet glimpsed the bare nature of existence, using the very tool that the teaching itself instructs us not to cling to.

Such is the paradox of attempting to point at something without borders, limits, or boundaries of any kind.

Participation in existence is inevitable. Whether one consciously does it or not, there is no opting out as long as one breathes the air of this planet.

And so, the question one might ask is not IF one should participate, but rather HOW they should do it.

Even abstinence is a form of participation. It contains its own set of influences that impact the world we live in. Silence may impact the world in equal measure to speech. Withdrawal from society may alter the course of events in equal measure to engagement.

One may choose to act, or one may choose not to act, yet both choices carry consequences. One may speak, or remain silent, yet both leave their mark upon the world.

And so, whether we realize it or not, each of us participates in the unfolding of existence. The question is not whether we shall participate, but what manner of participant we shall be.

Participation in existence is inevitable. Whether one consciously does it or not, there is no opting out as long as one breathes the air of this planet.

And so, the question one might ask is not if one should participate, but rather how they should do it.

Even abstinence is a form of participation. It contains its own set of influences that impact the world we live in. Silence may impact the world in equal measure to speech. Withdrawal from society may alter the course of events in equal measure to engagement.

One may choose to act, or one may choose not to act, yet both choices carry consequences. One may speak, or remain silent, yet both leave their mark upon the world.

And so, whether we realize it or not, each of us participates in the unfolding of existence. The question is not whether we shall participate, but what manner of participant we shall be.

Participation in existence is inevitable. Whether one consciously does it or not, there is no opting out as long as one breathes the air of this planet.

And so, the question one might ask is not if one should participate, but rather how they should do it.

Even abstinence is a form of participation. It contains its own set of influences that impact the world we live in. Silence may impact the world in equal measure to speech. Withdrawal from society may alter the course of events in equal measure to engagement.

One may choose to act, or one may choose not to act, yet both choices carry consequences. One may speak, or remain silent, yet both leave their mark upon the world.

And so, whether we realize it or not, each of us participates in the unfolding of existence. The question is not whether we shall participate, but what manner of participant we shall be.

After the last breath has been taken, and the body dissolves back into a sea of cosmic dust, what is left of us?

Is it nothing? From the individual, it would appear so. But for the world we leave behind, things keep happening as they were.

And so what we leave behind is not nothing. Rather, it is the culmination of our deeds, continuing to circulate among those we touched, among the places we’ve been, and among the minds we influenced.

A legacy of influences, that is what is left of us after passing.

Every day I ask myself: “What kind of trail will I leave behind?”

Will I leave a trail of anger, or one of resolution?

Will I leave a trail of frustration, or one of acceptance?

Will I leave a trail of taking, or one of giving?

It seems to me that once the self has been dethroned, all that remains is to address the situation at hand.

I’m admittedly not well versed in the Zen tradition, but I find this passage strikingly beautiful:

Barefooted and naked of breast,

I mingle with the people of the world.

My clothes are ragged and dust-laden,

and I am ever blissful.

I use no magic to extend my life;

now, before me, the dead trees become alive.

— Zen Master Kuoan Shiyuan, The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures, “Entering the Marketplace with Helping Hands”

Remember to cut yourself some slack once in a while.

Don’t sweat the small stuff, take it easy. Life is short. All things must pass, tears and laughter alike.

When you feel overwhelmed, take a break from those heavy thought patterns.

If there’s nothing you can do about it right now, let it go. Cross that bridge when you come to it.

A lot of the worries we carry never end up unfolding the way we expect.

Everything is going to be alright :)

———

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

— Saying often attributed to Mark Twain.

“Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day, when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing sudden seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead.

This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.”

— Hagakure, teachings of Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

———

Likewise, the Stoic philosophers practiced a similar reflection meant to prepare the mind for the inevitable hardships and finality of life. It is called Premeditatio Malorum.

Premeditatio Malorum is the practice of mentally contemplating possible hardships, losses, and misfortunes before they occur in order to reduce fear, cultivate resilience, and prepare oneself to respond with wisdom and composure when adversity arrives.

Its purpose is not pessimism, but clarity, preparedness, and inner steadiness.

And so, through the contemplation of death, acceptance of the hardships of life may emerge before they arrive.

Such is the power of meditating on death.

In my own experience, death does not feel like a descent into nothingness, but rather the dissolution of the isolated sense of “you/me” to which we become deeply attached throughout life.

And though I can only speak from my personal experience, I’ve discovered that beyond the finality of who I think I am, there lies an existence without boundaries.

The end of one thing is always the beginning of another. In losing the boundary of the self, we may discover our place in the whole.