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| Mermaid radiating light and earthly allure hiding behind Sisyphus's boulder eager to hook up with him before he starts his day * |
In my last post, I explored the
ramifications of the Japanese tsunami, looking at it as a harbinger of our
future. Are extreme weather events our new normal, and, if so, how will we
react when they strike. A Zen abbot at ground zero during the Japanese tsunami
gives us one answer which, while it sounds superficial, is spiritually profound:
"Since the disaster, some
older people have committed suicide. But there’s no reason to do that. We just
start from where we are, from whatever the day brings to us.”
That is
indeed the Zen Buddhist way of mindfulness: something we must all learn to
practice in this new age of cultural and climate disruption: “We just start from where we are,
from whatever the day brings to us.” Staying present in the moment is the only way to happiness.
The existentialist Albert Camus wrote about this
about Sisyphus’s fate:
“The
struggle itself is…enough to fill man’s heart.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
And, indeed, that has been the experience of survivors
of the Japanese tsunami as interviewed by Elrlich in her article in Tricycle”
“A
farmer, he has a sun-roughened face and there’s dirt in the deep grooves of his
palms. Before the earthquake hit, Kazuyoshi was planting his fields in rice and
flowers. He smiles: “I lost everything. Now I feel better.”
“Springtime, I used to get in a bad mood. No
more. I don’t want to be a bother to anyone; I don’t want to be a big farmer.
Just treat plants and flowers very nicely so my wife and I can survive. If
others are happy eating what I grow, then I’m happy.
“The
less I have, the happier I am.”
The Zen Way-of-Being personified by the Japanese farmer is
radically opposed to the American consumer way of continually wanting to have more, isn’t it. I wonder
which way of life has a more sustainable future?
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