a duck, rescued

post script:
the duck is safe and sound and reunited with her family/community. If only our compassion and empathy could save the rest of the world so quickly...

a duck, stranded

there is a duck sitting on top of my neighbor's roof. We were awakened this morning by the sound of it quacking. It's usual to hear the chatter of birds first thing in the morning, but I have never woken up to the cry of a duck. And this duck is crying, and appealing, and calling. She seems truly distressed. Was she migrating with a flock and did she mistakenly land on the roof? How did she get there and why? How will she get down, and where will she go? I went outside to try to talk her down. My husband opened the window and said, "You do know that you're out there talking to a duck..."

Being woken in the morning by a duck in distress makes me think about how beings come into our lives, sometimes just for a moment, to wake us up. This duck has awakened so much empathy and compassion in me this morning. And she reminds me that all over the world, there are beings who are lost, or lonely, or stranded, or abandoned. I cannot physically save this duck. Nor can I physically save all the beings who are suffering. But I can hold them all in my heart. I can take a few moments to sit, close my eyes, and try to send my spirit out to them all, to help them and keep them safe from suffering. So please, take a moment, for all who are suffering, and for the duck.

a radiant heart

Sometimes when I look at a person, his or her individual nature dissolves and I see what I can only describe as consciousness in an angel's body. You would think this happens when I am feeling warm and fuzzy, but more often it's when I'm starting to feel negative or afflicted emotions. Today, I attended the High School awards ceremony, both to present an award and as a parent whose child was receiving an award. I was sitting on the stage with the other presenters, and, once my presentation was over, started to feel restless and impatient that there were still so many other presentations to go. But as I looked out over the auditorium filled with students and parents, their individual natures dissolved and I saw hopes and dreams, love and pride, and a room full of angels. My ex-husband sat in the first row. I felt united with him in the pride and love we feel for our daughter, and he too transformed into an angel before my eyes. Suddenly, I felt filled with happiness. I would have been content for the ceremony to go on forever. I realized that, without planning to, I had applied the four infinite thoughts of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity (Yoga Sutra 1.33). The result was that my heart felt "carefree and radiant like starlight."

It has been excellently said by the Teacher of Gods and Men that among all wealth, contentment is the best. So be fully content. If you know contentment, even if you possess no wealth, you’ll be perfectly rich.
– Arya Nagarjuna, Letter to a Friend

wait for it...

There's nothing like finding out your child has head-lice to throw your day into disarray. Spending hours picking nits out of Samy's hair was an exercise in patience and compassion. (By the way, I recommend a concoction of olive oil mixed with tea tree, rosemary, eucalyptus and lavender essential oils. Leave it on for one hour. Shampoo and then comb through with one of those super fine-tooth combs.) Just as I was at my wit's end, Samy said the most profound thing. "You know mom, the other day, my friend shouted in the playground: 'I hate Jewish people. They don't believe in God.' I said that I was part Jewish, and I would be sad if she hated me. She asked me if I believe in God. I said that I don't believe there's someone sitting in space watching us. I believe that God is everywhere and in everything beautiful. I believe that God is the goodness in people's hearts."

Thank you oh lice, for giving us this time together.

"Teach me your ways O Lord,
And I will walk in your path.
Give me an undivided heart,
And I will fear your name.
I will praise you,
O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever."
Psalm 86:11-1

choo on this

I see both of my daughters as enlightened beings. In their different ways, each of them lives the yamas and niyamas, and teach me all the time. This morning I told my older daughter this, and she said, "Oh mom, that's just how you see me." As if I only see her that way because I'm her mother. Of course she is right. Although I believe with all my heart that I am seeing her as she truly is, I can't separate my love and perceptions from my vision.

In law school, we learned the famous property adage, "possession is 9/10ths of the law." We could just as easily say "perception is 9/10ths of our reality." Is there any such thing as an objective perception? The dictionary defines "objectively" as: not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased. Further definitions are: intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book; being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject. But take a moment and try to think about something without your personal feelings coloring your thoughts. Just try to separate yourself (the thinking subject) from the object you are thinking about. Since the object does not, in and of itself, possess any language with which to describe it, the mere use of language alone infuses your thoughts with your personal feelings. You look at an object and your dog looks at an object. You think "shoe;" your dog thinks "chew toy." Who is right and who is wrong? The answer to that question utterly depends on "personal feelings, interpretations and prejudices." This is not to say the shoe (or chew toy - depending on your point of view) isn't really there. An object is there. (Yoga Sutra 4.16) But it can't be thought about, i.e., interpreted, apart from thinker. There is nothing that "belongs to the object of thought" separate from the "thinking subject."

Is there something wrong with our perceptions? Usually not. The problem comes when we insist that we are objective, and believe that how we see things is how they really are. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice has the following dialogue with the Red Queen:

`Where do you come from?' said the Red Queen. `And where are you going? Look up, speak nicely, and don't twiddle your fingers all the time.'

Alice attended to all these directions, and explained, as well as she could, that she had lost her way.

`I don't know what you mean by your way,' said the Queen: `all the ways about here belong to me!"

We are all like the Red Queen. We believe that our way is "The Way." So I will always see my daughters as angels. I'm glad I have the karmic seeds to see them this way. Just try to dissuade me!