Date and Time and Zen Meditation

Date and Time and Zen Meditation

Living in Puerto Rico, I knew little about the world and its diversity. Diversity was something that there wasn't much to talk about or know about. After moving to the United States and I started my first year at Loyola University. I found that there was a world far beyond what I knew. For the first time, I was exposed to different races, languages, religions, and genders. I felt lost. So, I decided to explore a bit of everything. Trying to find a place to "fit in" but with some limits, and one of them was not to explore Zen Meditation. I think was because the idea of being an hour and a half with my self was scary enough in comparison with the benefice. But this semester and with the Understanding Literature class as the main excuse, I forced myself to take the step. I changed my work schedule and arrived that Tuesday at 5:30 pm. There I was, totally out of my comfort zone, but totally ready to start.

I really can't say that something exciting or shocking happened, because the reality is that we were sitting almost an hour and a half looking at the floor. But I can say that maybe I found my place and wonderful things that happened while I was looking at the floor. I was with the world, but without the noise of the world. There were about 40 people, people with whom I never spoke and who at the same time I felt more present than many people whom I speak day today. During that hour and a half, it was me with me. No Internet, no social networks, no messages. It was me with my past, it was me with my frustrations, achievements, and desires. For the first time in a long time, I sat down to talk with me. Leaving each layer of me aside, looking between those cracked walls and closed doors. Looking for that little girl who had been forgotten. That girl is no longer a girl but does not know that yet. For the first time, I saw her in the face and just stayed to listen to her. We don't talk about the past; we don't talk about the future; We only talk about the present. It was amazing how much I had lost; how much I had forgotten. For a moment everything had stopped, and it was just her and me, so alike, but so different. Sharing the same body but forgetting the existence of the other and at the same time the existence of the world. For the first time in a long time, I paused my brain and enjoyed the simplicity of breathing.

And basically, it is what happens in the last poem of the second third of Date and Time by Phil Kaye entitled "The appreciation meditation." In this poem, you can see how Kaye connects with the world, beyond the phones and the working world, and gives thanks for the simple things in life, while at the same time extending an invitation to do the same. We see how he gives thanks for the good and for the bad. Because both have helped him grow as a person. In this poem, the word "Whoa" is used at the beginning of each stanza. With this, he is telling us to stop, stop thinking, look at what is in front of you and be grateful that it is there. It is something that I found curious because while we were in the hour and a half of meditation the person who was leading us began the section by crashing two pieces of wood, which caused a loud noise, but for me was an invitation to wake up from that busy life and give you space just for you. It is interesting how things become part of a background in our life, we are so focused on our problems, tasks, and jobs that we really forget to live. So, going through the experience of opening up to myself and moving away from everything to focus on the simplicity of life, it is something that I regret not having tried before and it is something I want to cultivate. Because right now I'm not living, I'm just existing.