Witness
Woke up to a blue grey sky and stillness. The temperature is 50 degrees fahrenheit and today is Sunday - the eve of a new year. We move into tumult and chaos with eyes wide open.
There is much to celebrate when families and old friends gather. It is the warmth of familiarity, the opportunity to share, and the making of memories that will be meaningful in the future. Lights, gifts, and food are the manifestation of a year that has been abundant and secure. Witnessing and being a part of all of this is a true blessing.
Also, this year for many, things are different. The gatherings are being coerced in ways that one would not wish. Deep distress is at the center of the gatherings that have been involuntarily created as homes and lives are lost. Deep concern and fear is at the center of prayers that are being spoken, chanted, silently put into the universe as talk of violence grows. That talk is about destruction of an entire people - some of whom live with nothing and others of whom live with quite enough.
All of them share one thing - they want to see something other than what is happening. What everyone is witnessing in the world is beyond the imagination of even the finest writers of drama and fiction who create stories of conflict, focusing on the ravages of war. We actually bearing witness to the real impact of war – which is the coming of a long, hard, and complicated road of suffering for years ahead. In conflicts, where the violence is beyond words and thoughts, the human soul is crushed right along with the body and mind.
We are all bearing witness.
And in the meantime, life and death takes its usual course. Babies are still being born, elders and some young people and children are still dying because of poverty, illness, old age – all of which the Buddha witnessed thousands of years ago, and it brought him to the realization that his one, small life, had to change.
Of course, he was not living in a time of global crises in which the leaders of kingdoms were faced with making decisions about what way of life should be preserved and what cultures should be held up as superior to all others throughout the world. He was instead, able to make a singular decision that appeared to be hurtful to his parents, his spouse, and his relatives - all of whom lived a life of comfort and even luxury.
He bore witness, then walked.
It is a different time. And we all are bearing witness. So many events and circumstances are showing us that the great turning is definitely taking place, and many don't even know what that means. That not knowing is itself a problem.
If people (including world "leaders") could see the actual reality of this moment - not the reports and analyses - but the actual, reality, the answer would be clear.
Stop. Allow for silence. Notice what happens to the heart/mind. Courage arises, fear dissipates, anger recedes. There is just the body and breath. The path forward emerges.
May the new year bring a pause. Happy new year?