Untitled

I had another great commute this morning. I drank the yerba mate upon getting out of bed and listened to Van Morrison’s beautiful devotional music on the train ride. What is this amazing feeling I have in the morning that seems to trail off by the early afternoon? Sleep is a reconnection with the mysterious void, the collective unconscious of which we are all a part. This is why children are such magical beings, because they are only briefly removed from the unknown, these unformed blobs of energy working to understand and make sense of the reality that they’ve just recently entered. Many friends of mine are becoming parents for the first time and I’m getting to hear about their experiences and it sounds so amazing. I’m coming to realize that I do want children some day.

The hours after sleep are different from the hours later in the day. We’re shifting between worlds and reconnecting constantly it seems. In the morning my heart is so full of love. I want to teach yoga or volunteer or do something to serve God and my fellow man (see my entry below about service). But come the afternoon, after having spent hours (or depending on the day, minutes) doing pointless paper pushing, I just want to relax and eat and hang out. This isn’t always the case but it happens, especially on those frigid winter days we get here in Chicago.

What provides happiness to us as humans? Beyond material things, like money, because everyone likes money, or even good food, company, conversation, love. Having a partner in life is important and certainly makes life better but many married people are miserable. The happiest people have something to sustain them from day-to-day, moment-to-moment, a purpose to live for. A career can provide that and certainly does for many people. But the happiest people I can think of are those who have a strong connection and relationship with the earth; surfers, skiers and snowboarders, climbers, divers, and yogis.

The earth is more than just our home, more than just a rock spinning around in space, for us at least. This is going to be difficult to describe but I’ll do my best. To me, humans and all other life on earth are a manifestation of life energy as reflected by the earth. It’s as if the planet were trying to evolve to a higher state or plane of existence and it created life in order to do so. Study the human body, not just our gross anatomy but our energy anatomy, the chakras and nadis and so on, and you will be fascinated with what you learn. A woman’s cycle is coordinated precisely with the movement of the moon. Our major religious teachings throughout history describe paths to enlightenment that are correlated directly to personal and spiritual growth in our bodies. Can this stuff really be coincidence? “As above, so below”, the old adage reads.

This is why endeavors like the ones I mentioned are so addicting. People get a taste of what the earth can give through these activities and they just want more. Here I am sitting on the 20th floor of a tall building in downtown Chicago, typing on a computer and mostly removed from my spiritual mother, the earth. But in a few hours I will be on a yoga mat recreating that connection and furthering the relationship. It’s such a beautiful thing to do, and it has benefits for the practitioner and, in my opinion, for all of humanity, that we may never know. Just as our false actions-- lying, cheating, stealing--all have far reaching effects that we cannot grasp, an offering of a yoga session does the opposite.

I wasn’t sure where I was going with this post when I started it, and so I’m not sure how to end it, except to say that I love being alive, and thank you for reading.