Burning Ourselves Up
Thursday is cloud covered. Rain is expected at mid morning. I always welcome news of rain. Precipitation is irregular in our segment of the Midwest. No doubt the status quo obtains everywhere, on account of climate warming worldwide. Every place is caught in the vortex of weather patterns, whip-sawed by the release of atmospheric and ocean warming byproducts of the energy needs of our civilization. We burn up the earth. Development as we have understood it, means the premature death of a great many of us. And what about all other species? That is not yet clear.
Perhaps a catastrophe so awful awaits, that humankind will be shocked to awaken. That is, come to our senses long enough to adopt a way-of-life that recognizes cosmic co-dependency. Everything is linked to everything else. Really and truly. “This” is common, the unifying link between all of us, between all else.
I considered purchasing a copy of the Avatamsaka Sutra, the flower garland text, particular to Mahayana Buddhism. Must one subscribe to a religion, before giving oneself permission to consider any of its literature? I could not settle on a paperback from Amazon. Britannica writes, The sutra teaches that all things in the universe are mutually connected, much like the individual flowers in a woven garland. Each phenomenon contains the entire universe, and nothing exists in isolation.
I plan to have another look to see if a pdf is available for online download. In any case my life goes on.
I plan to spend some time digging in the dirt before rain comes. Two post holes are needed for a section of wooden fence.
Then I turn to my desktop. My desk appears – just enough cleared space for my laptop computer. The island of emptiness surrounded by folders, piles of papers. I intend to examine and sort all “of that” to where it belongs.
Emptiness is a clearing for possibility.
