Buddhism: slowing down, opening up

Once again, I’m trying to slow down a bit in life – to open up to the richness of every moment. I’m far too caught up in ‘monkey-mind’ these days, multitasking and sub-multitasking (setting aside three things that I’m working on so that I can work on two others from five different angles). There was a report on the radio the other day about how multitasking is a big waste of time. We become less and less efficient as we take on more and more and would get more done if we just focus on one thing at a time.

And of course I can here Dr. Borgmann’s voice (as if through the wall that separates our offices) noting that COMPUTERS are the biggest causes of multitasking today. Let’s do a quick check: 2 firefox browsers open, 6 tabs on this one, 7 on the other, 5 WORD documents open, Windows Media playing Pink Floyd, and one other folder. Plus student papers under my wrists (to be graded asap) and who knows what else bouncing around my currently non-conscious ‘to do’ list.

So… I don’t really have a plan just yet (it’s not like a plan is always needed) but I do aspire to cut some of this clutter out of my agenda, my life, and my mind.

This was inspired mostly by an assignment for the “Greening of Religions” course I’m taking now, where we have to (have to) go and just sit in a place in nature for an hour a week and observe. What I found there, aside from some fond memories and the pleasant calming effects of being in nature, was my monkey-mind, distracting me to no end, just as it is now, and probably will be for quite some time. But, having been faced with it (rather than having it just monkeying around with me without my noticing) leads me to desperately want to overcome it.

So… perhaps the first step will be in dropping my acquisitiveness, the ‘I’ve gotta have that!‘, attitude that I seem to have developed lately (evident in my 41 pounds of books from the conference, new framed thanka painting and journal, etc….). The fact is simple: I felt better, happier in a very subtle way after an hour in nature and reflection on that than I have felt in a very long while (bracketing conversations with my girlfriend, which give rise to a different sort of happiness).

The Gospel of Thomas
3. Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the (Father’s) kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father’s) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.