At sunset on Saturday, the most amazing thing happened. My wife and I were hiking in the Cub Lake area in Rocky Mountain National Park. The sunlight had recently left the mountain tops, leaving them standing - in shade - in silent contemplation. However, it was a blustery day up there, and every few minutes, the wind would kick up some snow on the peak and swirl it in the air, turning it into a whirlwind. Each time that occurred, the last light - hovering unseen just above the peak - turned the swirl of snow a bright red, making the mountain look almost as though it was having a volcanic eruption!
As my wife and I watched this show, it occurred to me that this is precisely what I experience in meditation. As I sit in silence, I begin to embody the vast stillness of mountain and sky. Then, out of nowhere, thoughts kick up. Rather than treat them as intrusions into the silence, I have learned instead to practice AMAZEMENT that they could even occur at all. Since many of these thoughts embody strong emotion - desire, love, fear, anger, etc. - it makes sense to imagine that when they arise, they appear ruddy with passion. But just as quickly as they kick up, they subside back into the shade of stillness, only to arise once more a few seconds later. How amazing is the mind when we actually sit and watch it!
Photo: Stones Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 5, 2013
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