A Small Piece of Bread

The arrival of the COVID-19 virus on the planet has everyone, it seems, thinking on a cosmic scale. 

The discussions remind me of how committed most of us are in trying to understand things from a vast perspective.

There isn't anything wrong with this, but it definitely distracts us from trying to understand things on the scale we live on, which is the whole point of our inner work.

There comes a moment where perhaps one can realize that our attention ought to be devoted to what is in us now and what is immediately around us now; it simply can't be effectively devoted to the vast scale of time and the size of the universe. 

In my own experience, inner work consists of trying to come back to this moment and live much more simply, with some honesty and an eye turned towards what's immediately true. Leave for later the grasping of the whole scale of life itself and attempting to paste grand meanings on to it. 

This is a big meal, a banquet, even, and perhaps I ought to plan for it, but I should understand it will take place later, 

and that for right now I should eat a small piece of bread—and be satisfied, and grateful.

May your heart be close to God, 

and God close to your heart.

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.