First it was an opening.
Then it became a memory.
Then an idea.
Then it grew into a belief.
And finally it became an ideology.* 

First it was an opening...
Stunningly fresh. No concept; no thinking. Pure wisdom. Fleeting...
It can be known, but not grasped. Nothing to hold on to. Gone.

Then it became a memory.
That was great! I want to do it again… Grasping at memory. Mind separates from body.
Trying to re-step into the same river. Trying to retrace memory’s steps. Struggling begins.

Then an idea.
We tell ourselves a story about it. Name the fading memory. Figure out possible cause and effect. More words — less presence. Separation increases. Experts show up. A creeping wrongness suppressed. Struggle increases. Practice with no presence.

Then it grew into a belief.
No experience, dwindling memory, hopeful story, creates belief. With more separation, more efforts to believe. The estranged join in. Sacred myths replace direct experience. The fog of justification grows. Suffering intensifies and is repressed.

And finally it became an ideology.
The final calcification. Life drained away. Desperate righteousness defended by gymnastic logic, jargon and shouting. Peak fighting-mind, maximum clinging and vehement truth. Any memory is concept determined. Complete separation from actual experience. No listening. Violence within and without, covert and overt. No compromise.

From separation to wisdom

Stop. Make a fresh start.
Feel into body in the present moment.
Breathe. Rest within a changing flow.
Embrace and move-with actual experience.
No indulgence, no separation.
Let go of explanation and comparison.
Open the hand of grasping.
Come into the changing felt moment.
Risk not knowing.
Look. Listen. Breathe.
Now is experience, not words about now.
Life opens moment to moment.
Creativity and practice live only now.

* Adapted from Ken McLeod remarks.

May your practice go well.

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