What About Me 18°

How can we feel secure when nothing is guaranteed?

Author

Micael Balioni
May 18, 2024

WHAT ABOUT ME?

Micael

time for a short story

Hi everyone,

A lot has happened during the past few weeks and I am ready excited to share it with you—just not yet. I need some more time to process and reflect on everything and rushing to write about it now wouldn't do justice to my experiences or to you, my readers. So, today's "What about me" section will take a different turn. I want to share a story with you.

  • Do you recall the second edition of tanamesa, where I shared my adventures in Australia? I talked about how knowing my time there was limited made every moment more precious. Annoyances were easily brushed off, and the good times felt even more special because I knew they wouldn't last forever. I wondered exactly, "how can we infuse the beauty of the finite into our daily existence - allowing us to appreciate more what life can bring?"

Last week, seven months later, I came across this story from Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. The story talks about a Thai meditation master and a student. One day the student asked the master:

"In a world where everything changes, where nothing lasts, and where loss and grief are just part of existence, how can we find happiness? How can we feel secure when nothing is guaranteed?"

The master, holding a glass given to him that morning, responded with compassion:

❝

You see this glass? For me, it's already broken. I enjoy it, drink from it, and admire the way it catches the light. But I know that one day it will fall and shatter. And when that happens, I'll simply say, 'Of course.' Understanding that the glass is already broken makes every moment with it precious."

This story struck a chord with me because it framed exactly the feelings I had in Australia in a new light. Just as the master sees the glass as already broken, knowing my time in Australia was finite made every second magical.

But I invite you to take this a step further. Consider our lives in the same way. Just like the glass, our body is already broken (since we know for a fact we are going to die), and if we lived as we were “already dead”, we are open to life just as it is, in the moment it is occurring and every second its magical. When we understand that all our loved ones are already dead — our children, our mates, our friends — how precious they become?

How little fear could interpose; how little doubt could estrange us. If we lived our lifes as though we were already dead, life would take on a whole new meaning. Each moment becomes a whole lifetime, almost a universe unto itself.  

That’s a wrap for today. I hope this story resonates with you as much as it did with me.

With love,

Micael.