Commentary on Walking Like A Buddha

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In the hyperbolic society we live in it is easy to feel bored with doing nothing. The endless distractions that offer themselves up to us beckon from every corner. Indeed it is more of a bombardment than an offering! And the cultural message is often clear, though at times subtle, which is that if you are not participating in some way in the frenetic, distractive energy of consumption, you are a loser.

So we tap into the energy that swirls around us like a hurricane. And when we are not able to do that we often feel bored or even depressed, often feeling that something is wrong with us or that we are in some way less worthy  than those who seem happily caught up in doing.

This is how we lose touch with the inner life and the richness that comes from quieting the mind enough to allow our innate inner wisdom to bubble up from the center of our being. It is only with this knowledge that we can begin to see  how everything is forever engaged in a connected and intimate dance. Thich Nhat Hahn calls this inter being. .

Driving through the lovely Sandy Mush Valley of North Carolina on the way to Hawkscry, I frequently see  solitary figures sitting on their front porch, rocking back and forth for long spells. What a wonderful contrast to the frenetic pace of the city! Some might call it a waste of time and apply a negative label.  But I think otherwise on the matter. I can imagine there are numerous little epiphanies that spring forth as a result of overhearing the chatter of house sparrows or the quiet song of the breeze as it caresses the long-needled pine or gently embraces the tall poplar in an intimate dance. How many of these little voices in nature are missed in the great "doing" of our so called civilized life? What precious messages are being obliterated by modern life?

We are not being encouraged to cultivate a taste for the quiet life anymore, or even to remain patient with ourselves in quiet moments of "down time". In our quest for ever greater productivity as a measure of our success as a nation we require more and more from fewer and fewer people resulting in the gradual elimination of "down time". Every moment is filled leaving one exhausted and depleted. We are living in a time of spiritual impoverishment as a result, not to be confused with religion which is doing quite well in that it appeals to such depleted souls as a source of relief. But this does not satisfy our inner yearning to return to something more fundamental, more elemental, even more connected to star dust. That is what I call the feeling of Homecoming. A return to what lies behind all the noise and which is untouched by it.

WPS