Let Go Or Be Dragged — and Other Zen Truths

It's time to think sideways

Photo/ Darinka Kievskaya/ Unsplash

What is zen?

To answer that question with words is impossible. And still, we try.

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves — slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”- Thich Nhat Hanh

The smallest things in life deserve our undivided attention. Not just tea.

Washing the dishes. The morning shower. Holding your special person’s hand. Eating a piece of toast.

Each of these moments is the chance to be fully present and see what is around you instead of being locked in your own brain.

Some say that Zen is the experience of our true reality and being, which at the same time takes place in our ordinary, everyday world. Where we chop wood, carry water, and do laundry.

“And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked.”- Dr. Seuss

To be present in our day-to-day lives, we need to engage fully. This means while we work as well as our me-time at home.

If I’m at the cubicle farm, I must stay present. I can’t do this by throwing in some earbuds, daydreaming of the beach, and ignoring the reality of the moment. I’m hired to do a job, and I will do it to the best of my ability, with joy in the activities of life, no matter what they are.

I don’t chop wood and haul water; I create documents and enter data—same difference.

“We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”- Thích Nhat Hanh

Let Go or Be Dragged

Are you stuck in the past? We’ve all been there. It isn’t easy to release our grip on relationships that have moved on and hurtful things that happened.

But we all instinctively know that while we hang onto that one thing, our hands are full. We can’t go after new experiences. We get trapped.

“To understand everything is to forgive everything”- Gautama Siddhartha

If you realize the reasons behind your father’s life, the events that shaped him, you eventually discover that the people who shaped his life were shaped themselves by external events.

A long chain of cause and effect reaches back into the distance. Your shitty childhood is the direct result of the shitty actions taken by some long-dead perpetrators who ruined your ancestor’s lives and took away their birthdays.

So, who can you blame?

Is This All There Is?

“Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up… now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.”- Alan Watts

Is this the only time we have existed? Are we going somewhere once we are done here?

Maybe.

Of course, we don’t have solid answers to any of these questions any more than a dog understands calculus. By the way, I love dogs. They are great at fetch and excellent judges of character. But they just don’t know much math.

Your Zen Pet Lives In The Moment

You’ve seen a dog. That’s a being that isn’t much dragged by anything but its master’s wishes. Dogs love fully and sometimes hate fully, with no reservations.

Your puppy is so happy to see you!

Cats also live in the now. They stalk their prey, play with their toys, and purr without worrying about tomorrow.

“I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.”- Eckhart Tolle

People aren’t the same as pets. We’re loaded with hang-ups and baggage. Like Loki from the Marvel universe, we are Burdened With Glorious Purpose. If you watched the Loki TV series, you found out how well that worked out for Loki, the God of Mischief.

Maybe we’ve got it wrong. Maybe love, treats, and belly rubs are most important. Let's unburden ourselves and leave the Glorious Purpose to trickster gods who can’t stop suffering.

Someone toss me a snack and rub my belly, would you?