This is a wonderful world

I once sat, along with many others, with Thich Nhat Hanh

in the shade of a large tree on the Boston Commons

 

Therapists, physicians, we were all there to explore healing

 

Not cure, for that is a different thing,

but the healing of the soul, the mind, the body

that can come when we are mindful

 

Thich Nhat Hanh has an exercise he likes to use

as he practices breathing

 

“Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment;

breathing out, I know this is a wonderful moment.”

 

It was easy, there on the common,

under a blue sky, in the shade of a tree,

to say, “this is a wonderful moment”

 

but sometimes it is not so easy

try saying that phrase after a foray into Facebook

trying saying that after a trip to the grocery store

after the evening news

 

we are surrounded by selfishness

hate

bias

fear

anger

violence (of all sorts)

 

how can we sit

and breathe

in and out

and say, this is a wonderful moment

 

there is so much suffering

 

there is

so

much

suffering

 

but there is beauty too

the beauty of a sunrise

of fresh fallen snow

 

and for every greedy soul with a bank account in the Caymans

there is a generous soul making a costly (to them) gift to help the poor

 

for every racist, there is a person who embraces those unlike themselves

for person spouting an angry word, there is a person speaking words of love

 

There are those who embrace lies, and fail at compassion, and create suffering

But there are those who stand up for truth,

Care for others

Protect the plant

Protect and comfort the vulnerable

Fight for justice

 

As Kaira Jewel Lingo notes, “There are those in every corner of the planet who are quietly doing the things no one else wants to do: caring for the forgotten people, places, species, and doing what needs to be done.”

 

beauty and suffering live together

life is always a matter of both/and rather than either/or

 

life is beautiful and terrible

hate and love dance together

 

and we make it through this confusion and chaos by walking

as Hildegard of Bingen puts it the via positiva

 

we remember, in each moment

goodness, divine origin, original blessing

 

we look around us in wonder, awe, gratitude and delight

we fall in love with creation

we fall in love with our fellow creatures

we fall in love with Sacred

 

we recognize that the presences of evil does not negate the presence of good

that they are woven together in this creation,

woven together in each of us human creatures

as individuals

 

but that in spite of it all

there is good

there is beauty

there is Sacred

 

and we live out of our gratitude

rather than our fear and disappointment 

 

“Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment;

breathing out, I know this is a wonderful moment.”

 

and know that

we live, we love

and accepting that both good and bad things happen

we work to heal our world