Moving Out of the Zen City Center
I could use some more meditation in my life these days. I generally feel centered, though, because I know where I am going and feel like I am moving solidly in that direction,
“The Book of Hours, Book II, Poem 12”, by Rainer Maria Rilke
Though you and I struggle
against the deathly clutch of daily necessity,
I sense there is this mystery:
All life is being lived.
Mind-Expanding Classes, And Missing Meals
I took a class about “the flow of awareness”. We discussed being conscious of what goes through our minds, both what we are perceiving and what interpretations we are giving to our experience. Then I attended a class on the difference between effortless, “enlightened” non-karmic action done with the awareness that the universe is interconnected, one the one hand, and karmic action done willfully, individually, with a goal in mind, in a compulsive, striving manner, on the other.
“Famous”, by Naomi Shihab Nye
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
Settling In To The Zen City Center
After three months of living there, I moved out of the San Francisco Zen Center City Center to apply to graduate schools in clinical psychology. Moving back into the building, I have come to feel friendly, or at least comfortable, with most of the other residents and long-time regular non-residential students. I’ve been living here for five months, it’s my home. The beautiful building is a powerhouse of good energy, good chi.