Reality Between the Spaces

Here's something to ponder: are the complications of life, though seemingly real and compelling, actually mostly illusions dancing wildly on the surface of everything - while the truly meaningful, compelling things are to be found in stillness - in the spaces between the hectic activities we call our lives? 

In these “spaces”, which we’re largely unaware of, might we find actual reality: our own pulse and that of everything around us, including the pulse of the universe, beating together in unison?
Everything on this tiny blue world which we inhabit, breathes and beats together, is contained in and touched by, the same atmosphere - by air that is not empty, but moves in waves and swirls of invisible particles around us like a soup; everything is connected also by the earth and water beneath us. There is no part of this world, nothing in it, that’s not touching everything else in this way.

What breaks down our consciousness of this completely enmeshed web of life? For one thing, the habit of believing our own perceptions, values, ethnicities, and ways of life are the only valid ones provides an illusion of containment and “safety”. But this encapsulated vision much too easily leads us to arrogance; prejudice; struggles for power, property, dominance; and often ultimately to violence - quite the opposite of our supposed goal of containment and safety!

However, if we fully explored and grasped our fundamental interconnectedness we might find a deeper and truer source of comfort, security, and support. We might find ourselves strengthened and energized in ways we could not have imagined. Perhaps something precious, profound, magical, and even mysterious that quickens our pulse; something that stands out from the foggy blur of our presumptions and attachments.

Such realizations can be found within the simplicity and space of a single moment which paradoxically contains an incredible complexity of detail, a rich depth, and a wealth of experience - a lifetime’s worth compressed into one breath in, one breath out. 

In that brief span it’s possible to understand everything we need to know for the rest of our lives and for the last moments of it.
Because in the end, what do we truly want? What do we want to understand? What do we want to remember about ourselves, our lives, and our world?

Stop for just a moment to empty your mind of its preoccupations and you may feel it. Stop enough times and you will feel it. If you make this a practice, you can be released into peace and a profound kind of joy. Pay attention to each precious moment and the clock will seem to stop. Your attachments, aversions, regrets, fears, doubts, and confusions dissolve. And you may feel suspended, held as if in a drop of precious golden amber. Try it, you’ll like it. I know I do, when I remember to do it............