Just Be
AM Psalm [70], 71 • PM Psalm 74
Eccles. 11:1-8 • Gal. 5:16-24 • Matt. 16:13-20
For the past several weeks, I have begun each day by reading a brief meditation by Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese monk and spiritual leader of the International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. Thich (family names come last in Vietnamese), who died in January at age 96, was the principal philosopher and advocate of mindfulness, a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Thich wrote over 100 books in his lifetime, and I have found some of his “greatest hits” collected in a tidy volume called The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh. I recommend Thich’s work highly, especially since it resonates with themes that emerge in Ecclesiastes, now occupying a central location in our lectionary.
Here, for example, is Thich on one of his richest subjects, birth and death: “It is our idea of birth and death that takes away our peace and happiness in everyday life....The notion of death, of nothingness, is very dangerous. It makes people suffer a lot. In Buddhist teaching, nothingness is only a concept, and it is never applicable to reality. The Buddha said, ‘Where conditions are sufficient, the thing manifests, and when they are not sufficient, the thing remains hidden.’ There is neither birth nor death. There is only manifestation, appearance.”
Notice how closely this idea maps onto our reading from Ecclesiastes for today:
“If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.”
Don’t plan, Thich suggests. Just be. Revel in the palpable world that surrounds you. Rejoice in the manifestation. These are wise words, I’d say, for all times and particularly for our own.
Written by David Jolliffe
...who happily shares one of his favorite songs from the 1960s, “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds. The lyrics are from Ecclesiastes 3. Enjoy!