A Crack in Everything

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

“Ring the bell that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering,
There is a crack,
A crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.”
L. Cohen

Today comes with clouds and the threat of rain. ‘Got out of the mountains just in time, I understand, as another snow is coming there today. Tonight we are to sit down for Sunday dinner, the kids, their partners, and Judy. We will have a discussion.

On April 1, I will move into one of our two condominiums, Unit 1115. It has a courtyard and was our apartment when we first retreated from the mountain winters. We need to talk out the “parameters” of our separation and make sure the family is all on the same page.

I am looking forward to this living alone segment of my life in an odd sort of way. Being alone, like sitting zazen, offers an opening for the “light to come in” as Leonard Cohen suggests. And in keeping with his lyrics, being alone or sitting zazen are like “cracks” in the everyday.

There is a piece in the Mishkan T’filah, the Reform Jewish prayer book that asks the Infinite to “disturb us” as we enter prayer (or in meditation, I will add). We invite ourselves not to mistake our serenity as an excuse to overlook the suffering of others, not to feel that we are somehow special, better, or closer to Everything That Is just because we are in a sanctuary.

A separation is such a disturbance. We need them. I need them. I seek the light to come in; I invite it to illuminate my heart and expose my complacency. For better or worse, life must be lived as it actually is. Complacency is a blinder, shutting out light and inviting sleep.

So let’s invite the bell to ring.

Be well.