February 20

 

It is only just beginning to be light. It grew very cold again last night after a few warm days. 

I can pause here and become quiet for a moment and appreciate the connection between the breath and the body. Each breath is essential and I can't do without it; yet I forget this almost completely. So it's a good thing that I have a few moments in the day where I stop and honor that fact for a moment. 

To remember it.

I've been in contemplation over the last week about the point of contact in the soul. That point is the point where the soul and God touch one another and the Presence of God can be sensed. 

One secret thing to be known within the inflow of God's Presence is that the breathing is connected to the point of contact in the soul. They are, so to speak, next-door neighbors.

 This situation is—perhaps with good reason—well hidden from us; and it takes, under any ordinary set of circumstances, the cultivation of a very good and concentrated attention to even begin to come close to understanding this question. People spend years in meditation doing this; or they even undertake exercises, which can be dangerous, because the mechanism is delicate and interfering with it in mechanical ways can cause serious problems.

Yet there is a natural path to sensing the breathing without tension, a path in which we don't interfere, and this is what interests me. Because if I follow this down to the bottom, in that pause, perhaps I can begin to get a proper sense of the way that the breathing is attached to the point of contact in the soul. That point of contact becomes stronger if the fine substances that are made available through good attention are concentrated; and to concentrate those fine substances using attention in conjunction with the uncomplicated and natural act of breathing is a simple, direct, and reliable method.

So I just become aware of the breathing. 

That's all I do. 

It’s a Zen practice, to just sit and to just be. 

I'm not trying anything. 

I’m just here with my breath.

There is already a goodness in this action. It is a true goodness of the body and of life itself that has nothing to do with imaginary goodness or a wish to be better or to help others. 

Those things can come later, maybe; but for now, I have to draw what I am towards myself and become responsible for it, without interference. Interference is what comes from the mind; and, let's face it, the mind generally doesn't know what the hell it is doing. It charges around like a bull in a china shop and the emotions just stoke it up. 

There are a lot of things that ought to be left until later.

Right now, we need to quiet things down here and just be.

Real goodness is already here within me. I've just overlooked it. It isn't mine; but we can be here together in the breathing for a little while this morning. 

That will lay a foundation that can serve well through the rest of the day.

Hoping that you find yourself in good relationship today,

warmly,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.