Lately, I find myself unsettled and often by the world’s events from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai to the collapse of industries in the U.S. Yet each time I learn of another friend who has lost a job in the face of our current climate, the sense of being unsettled find new depths inside me. I feel stripped of any wisdom or ability to make a difference for them.

I’ve recently been reading a book recommended on the Lemuria Bookstore blog by my friend John Evans. John is often my source for conversations and books that provide or rekindle spiritual insights and wisdom. His latest recommendation is The Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa (Shambhala 2008). This work was compiled and edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian, and it contains 365 quotations from Trungpa’s teachings. In Gimmian’s preface, she states that Trungpa taught that wisdom can only be taught in the form of a hint. I find that reading one or a few of these quotations each day provide that kind of a hint. These reflections provide me the courage to face life not only as an individual but as a compassionate part of life around me.

As I plan to do with the poetry from Mountain Home, I would like to share selections from it with you on occasion.

A Good Journey

Our life is an endless journey. It is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of contant ups and downs, hope and fear, but it is a good journey. The practice of meditation allows us to experience all the textures of the roadway, which is what the journey is all about. Through the practice of meditation, we begin to find that within ourselves there is no fundamental complaint about anything or anyone at all.