High Paralysis, Betelgeuse, 45th Day of Hagwinter, 524 M.E.

 

A Scene in Spring, by Du Fu (712–770)

The nation is shattered, only mountains and rivers remain.
Inside the city, weeds and wood grow rampant in the spring.
Do flowers sense that they, like me, should weep?
Do birds feel the emptiness? They seem so fearful.

For three months on end, the flames of war have lit the night.
A letter from home would be worth a pound of gold to me,
An old man waiting, whose remaining white hairs
Will soon be too sparse to even hold a pin.

Du Fu may have lived over 1,200 years ago, but he may be the poet for our times. 

Day of the Waste Arena, Atlas, 44th of Hagwinter, 524 M.E.

 

Secrets of the Essence Chamber, the 41st Day of Hagwinter, or as you probably call it, December 8, is Rohatsu, the day that Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. Rohatsu is usually preceded by a particularly intense practice period and it is said that monks around the world tremble in anticipation of Rohatsu.

I'm neither a monk nor a Zen Buddhist, but I decided to deepen my meditation practice this week in anticipation of Rohatsu. Since August 3 (Day of the Heart's Blood), my custom has been to sit every other day, the days between my every-other-day walking hikes, and since September 4 (Escape Dream Through) each sitting has been for 90 minutes. I sat for 90 minutes yesterday.

I sat for 90 minutes again today, even though it was a "walk" day. I did get my steps in today (5.4 miles, although I still think my iPhone is short-changing me), but I also sat, too. And in commemoration of the upcoming Rohatsu, instead of sitting for three 30-minute periods, I sat for two 45-minute periods. A little more strenuous, a little more intense.

I plan to repeat those two 45-minute sittings at some point tomorrow, as well as also sit for my regular three 40-minute periods.  Not all at once, but one in the late morning/early afternoon and the other in the late afternoon/early evening. My intention is to continue this daily practice - one 90-minute meditation alternating with two 90-minute sessions - for the week leading up to Rohatsu. I intend to do a little bit more on each alternating day - an extra period here, a longer period there - and see where I wind up on December 8. 

It feels awkward to talk aloud about my meditation practice. Please don't construe these words as bragging or boasting - I'm writing about this here as encouragement to myself and to help bolster my resolve to see this commitment to practice through.      

The Living Help, Helios, 43rd Day of Hagwinter, 524 M.E.

People tell me I need to prepare for the coming times and adjust to the new normal. Things are what they are, and the sooner I accept it the better off I'll be.

We're all counseled to live a well-adjusted life and avoid the neurotic and schizophrenic tendencies that may result from maladjustment, but I categorically reject that advice. I've never found comfort in normalcy, and I don't want to adjust to what I'm being told to accept. On this issue, I side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speaking at Southern Methodist University on March 17, 1966, King said, "I must honestly say there are some things in our nation and the world to which I am proud to be maladjusted, and wish all men of goodwill would be maladjusted until the good society is realized."

"I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to a religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, leaving millions of people smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism and the self-defeating effects of physical violence."

Where these issues are concerned, we need maladjusted men and women. In his speech, King called for the formation of an International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment. He wanted men and women like the maladjusted prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day, cried for justice to roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Maladjusted like Lincoln, who had the vision to see that this nation could not survive half slave and half free. 

"As maladjusted as that great Virginian Thomas Jefferson," King said, "who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery, could scratch words across the pages of history, words lifted to cosmic proportions: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' 

"As maladjusted as Jesus Christ, who could say to the men and women around the Galilean hills, 'Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Pray for them that despitefully use you.'

Through such maladjustment, may we be able to emerge from this bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man and into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice. May we all be appropriately maladjusted.