Which Way?

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,

This morning I woke to chilled air and a few wind gusts coming through our open bedroom window. The forecast for the day is "windy" which means something in the desert southwest. My Little Honey and I are planning to drive to Palomas, Mexico this morning for her last dental appointment. We will keep a close eye on the wind.

Keeping a close eye is an important practice. It is paying attention. Sometimes we seem to go through our day nearly asleep. Things just seem to happen. Sometimes we embrace them, sometimes not. Yet, if we were awake and paying attention, we might not see life as so capricious.

Buddha taught "this happens because that happens." A simple phrase, but a deep, penetrating truth. It points to a beginningless beginning and an endless end: a continuous chain of interdependent cause and effect in all directions. In short, nothing is capricious, nothing happens without a cause, caused by a prior cause. Or, as Aristotle suggested, a future cause.

We can see this happens because that happens. It is a little more challenging to see 'this happens for the sake of that happening'. We often understand our lives in formal cause terms. Yet, there is a teleological cause, as well. We live purposeful lives. We are meaning making creatures.

Paying attention means paying attention to the ten directions, the three worlds, and living in the vortex.

Be well.