Earth's Axis

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently as if this activity is the axis on which the whole earth revolves. Live the moment. Only this actual moment is life."

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

If we could remember just this one thought, we would be fully present for the unfolding of our lives. Living each moment as axis, we would experience each moment as the sacred center of our existence, enjoy each moment alive in its full glory.

That's all their is to life -- being present, showing up, and living each tick of the clock fully, completely, consciously. Simple really. Seemingly not so hard.

Why then do we run cognitively and emotionally all over hell's half-acre? Why are we everywhere but here, now? 

Desire, bad habits, neurosis, dysfunction, sin. Call it what you will, our one real error is separating ourselves from reality, from this moment, which as Thich points out, is the only reality. Ever. This is it. Here now. One and no other. How incredibly, deliciously simple!

Breathing in, breathing out. Returning again and again to the present. Letting our perception and intuition guide us. Each day, each hour, each moment the same activity, and yet, always completely new. 

You and your tea. All is right with the world.

The Philosophy of Minnie Pearl

"Jesus and Krishna and Buddha and Minnie Pearl knew
To do unto others as you'd have them do unto you."

- Rodney Crowell

All the greats say the same thing. There are only so many universal operating principles in this one horse universe, and they've all been enumerated time and time again by sages and teachers and musicians and poets from all cultures, traditions and walks of life. While Jesus, Krishna and Buddha may be the Ecumenical Holy Trinity when it comes to the religious sphere (no offense there Moses and Muhammad), countless others, including Minnie Pearl and Rodney Crowell have expressed the same basic spiritual approach to life.

In other words, teachers and prophets and gurus can be found everywhere! The Good Book or the Yellow Book, it doesn't matter -- wisdom is all around us! The exact teaching you need to hear next may come to you via an overheard conversation on the street, the sing-song poetry of a four year old child, a random song on the radio, or that little strip of paper inside the next fortune cookie you crack open. Don't confine yourself to the creme de la creme of the wisdom hierarchy; wisdom is ubiquitous.

And perhaps the most amazing and surprising place you'll find wisdom is right there inside of you! Your heart, your mind, your soul are chocked full of snippets, sayings, and scraps of pure, unadulterated wisdom. Hell, you knew the Golden Rule long before Rodney Crowell or Minnie Pearl sang about it. Indeed, you intuitively know every wise thing there is to know, already and always. It's just that sometimes we forget, ignore, or lose access to our vast internal storehouse of wisdom and then, literally, all hell breaks loose.

So, the challenge is two-fold. First, stay connected to wisdom. Access it right there inside you and pay attention to its myriad manifestations all around you. Second, live from that deep well of wisdom. Let your actions express the highest and deepest of what you know. Don't settle for less than wisdom-inspired action.

Jesus taught in the temples and in the fields. Krishna danced with the gopis and instructed Arjuna on the battlefield. Buddha sat beneath the bodhi tree and wandered the country far and wide. And Minnie Pearl, she graced the stage of the Grand Old Opry with her price-tagged hat and homespun wisdom.

What will you do?