I would now like to present a second mantra to you. When you are really there, you have the ability to recognize the presence of the other. To be there is the first step, and recognizing the presence of the other is the second step. To love is to recognize; to be loved is to be recognized by the other. If you love someone and you continue to ignore his or her presence, this is not true love. Perhaps your intention is not to ignore this person, but the way you act, look, and speak does not manifest the desire to recognize the presence of the other. When we are loved, we wish the other to recognize our presence, and this is a very important practice. You must do whatever is necessary to be able to do this: recognize the presence of the person you love several times each day.
To attain this goal, it is also necessary to
practice oneness of body and mind. Practice an inbreath and an outbreath
three times, five times, seven times; then you approach this person,
you look at him or her mindfully, with a smile, and you begin to say the
second mantra: "Dear one, I know that you are here, and it makes me
very happy." If you practice in this way, with a lot of concentration
and mindfulness, you will see that this person will open immediately,
like a flower blossoming. To be loved is to be recognized, and you can
do that several times a day. It is not difficult at all, and it is a
true meditation.
Whatever you do mindfully is meditation. When
you touch a flower, you can touch it with your fingers, but better yet,
you can touch it mindfully, with your fill awareness. "Breathing in - I
know that the flower is there; breathing out - I smile at the flower."
While you are practicing in this way, you are really there and at the
same time, the flower is really there. If you are not really there, nothing
is there. The sunset is something marvelous and so is the full moon,
but since you are not really there, the sunset is not for you. From time
to time, I let myself look at the full moon; I take a deep breath in
and a deep breath out, and I practice: " I know you are there, and I am
very glad about it." I practice that with the full moon, with the cherry
blossoms...We are surrounded by miracles, but we have to recognize
them; otherwise there is no life.
***
The Buddha told us this: "The past is no longer there, the future is not here yet; there is only one moment in which life is available and that is the present moment." To meditate is to bring body and mind back to the present moment so that you do not miss your appointment with life.
Albert Camus wrote a novel, 'The Stranger', in which his character, Meursault, is condemned to death. Three days before his execution, he is able for the first time in his life to touch the blue sky. He is in his cell, he is looking at the ceiling. He discovers a square of blue sky appearing through the skylight. Strangely enough, a man forty years of age is able to see the blue sky for the first time. Of course, he had looked at the stars and the blue sky more than once before, but this time it was for real. We might not know how to touch the blue sky in such a profound way. The moment of awareness Camus describes is mindfulness: Suddenly you are able to touch life.
Albert Camus wrote a novel, 'The Stranger', in which his character, Meursault, is condemned to death. Three days before his execution, he is able for the first time in his life to touch the blue sky. He is in his cell, he is looking at the ceiling. He discovers a square of blue sky appearing through the skylight. Strangely enough, a man forty years of age is able to see the blue sky for the first time. Of course, he had looked at the stars and the blue sky more than once before, but this time it was for real. We might not know how to touch the blue sky in such a profound way. The moment of awareness Camus describes is mindfulness: Suddenly you are able to touch life.
(to be continued)
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