The following is a dipping of the toe by a perpetually novice wisdom seeker with early onset overly active mind syndrome who has several wonderful teachers and countless others.
I have been thinking a lot about the term self-isolation recently. The question I ponder is why, when combined, these two terms (i.e., self and isolation) have had such a hugely significant impact on our daily lives, but when separately considered the question is whether they even exist. Does their combination make the meaning of the term self-isolation something of great substance? Its structure must be at least equivalent to the strength of the walls that physically surround most of us and the space that must remain between us. There has to be a difference, for example, between purposeful isolation in remote areas, delving into isolated silence for days or weeks on retreat, and being told to “self isolate.” Right? The beginning, a shift in awareness. Certainly something has to be amiss and something doesn’t quite match up when I compare my thoughts and the emotions they create while I complete similar activities during a purposeful self-isolation period, living on my own for many years, and forced self-isolation. Walking deliberately, for example. A continuation, something is there, go deeper. While the motivations and the reasons for doing these activities are different and who is making the decisions to do this or that is different, each moment is the same. Sit with it, stay with it, and go through it. This moment, that moment, in isolation, here or there, is as it should be. As it stands, it is not good or bad, it just is. The same in their true essence. It is what it is and nothing more, except thinking makes it so. And if we combine this basic truth of the moment and embrace the full interconnectedness of ourselves with everything around us (which most of us feel much more acutely when outside among the organics and their natural order of chaos, but also includes the four walls enclosing us), can we find great hope and comfort in the idea that we are they and they are us. That the walls we feel closing in around us are created in our mind and thoughts, resulting in an impact to our hearts, and are maybe not those we see. What then, becomes of either “self,” “isolation,” or the combination of the two in our lives? Let’s embrace the wonderful interconnectedness of everything, during these times, even when we are only one in the room. Break down the walls of “self” and “isolation” and revel in the idea that everything that surrounds us at any moment is actually part of us. That to be self-isolated, by definition, is to be among an infinite crowd. If true, is this something to be savored as truly divine in the moment? Rendering the term self-isolation and its impact into nothingness. Could our community-wide forced “isolation” lead to a larger collective understanding of the connection of what is within and without? That the universal compassion within breaks free for all and melds into the sameness shared throughout the cosmos. I say grab a bit of it, embrace it, and hold on tight.
Have you Noticed?
Have you noticed?
Heart beat
Orange juice
Buds daily growth
Frog sounds
Bird song
Felt time changing
Days melding
Sun and moon movement
Morse code rain
Wind embrace
Same as always, but totally different
Unnoticed but never gone
How could it be?
Have you noticed?
Haiku
Have you noticed it?
Pounding rain, morse code of rain
Surrounding everything
Haiku
Strong wind, spreading joy
Like a motherly embrace
Nothing else needed today
Haiku
Be like the tadpole
Transition to jumping frog
Freedom to explore
—Keith Knapp, friend of Prairiewoods