SITTING IN THE SUN

This week has been unusually cool and dry here, reminding me of early October in Kentucky. On Tuesday morning we had 50°. A radio station in high-elevation Mexico City reported 34° there at the airport, and attributed eight deaths in Mexico to hypothermia caused by the cold wave.

By noon on that Tuesday it was 80° and the sky was so crystal clear that it was one of those cases when the sunny side of your face sizzled while the shadowed side remained chilly and unfeeling. How pleasant sitting in the sun letting the heat seep deeply into the body, Buddha-minding behind red eyelids...

But, I have enough Germanic blood and Bible-Belt, rural-Kentucky programming in me to never be able to enjoy such moments gracefully. People who know me only by my writings are surprised to see how my foot shakes nervously and eternally beneath a supper table (I just can't help it), and how I feel bound to stay busy all the waking hours. Lazy moments do not come easily to me.

Still, one insight that's been dawning in me these days is this: That quite possibly nothing "pleases the Creator" more than for Her creations to have evolved to the point where they can experience, reflect on, be absolutely delighted by, and to grow to LOVE the rest of the Creation around them. And since we ourselves are part of the Creator's creations, being at peace with oneself is part of the equation.

That insight is based on this observation: That ever since the Earth was formed life has been evolving toward ever more sophisticated forms capable of ever more complex thought, emotions and feelings. Since the general flow of life is in that direction, then, if I have to choose what kind of life I shall live, shouldn't I choose to live in harmony with that trend? To go with the Creator's flow?

And it does feel harmonious with that insight to sit in the sun behind red eyelids, soaking up not only the warmth but also the sensation of being who I am, where I am, this very glorious instant, and wondering what it all means...  .