To Watch the Wind

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

                                                                 --Lao Tzu

Sometimes there are days so filled with obligations,

there is little time for anything else but tending them.

On those days, I often find myself wishing that I could just stop everything: 

the plans, the demands and activities of the day,

the planning for tomorrow, for next week, and for a month from now.

And if I could stop it all for a moment, I would sit.

I would feel the warmth of the afternoon sun on my face.

I would listen to the birds sing and 

watch the wind blow through the grass.

And I would stay there until the evening shadows fell around me.

~

Most western cultures are ageric, 

meaning they value ceaseless productivity and action.

In these cultures, just spending one's time sitting is considered slothful.

But in non-ageric cultures, sitting is a respected pastime.

The value of just sitting as the moments slip away is understood.

~

And as the autumnal equinox approaches, 

it seems to me that if seasons were cultures, 

spring and summer would be ageric 

and fall and winter would be non-ageric.

In autumn the striving of summer ceases, 

and everything begins its rest.

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