Change and Vanish

 

Everything i cherish will change and vanish.

This is one of the 5 Daily Recollections--a reminder of impermanence. This past 11 months, so much has changed. So much has vanished.

I'm quite happy with the silver linings of these COVID times: Zoom. No commuting. A lot of gardening. Having the time to be a naturalist; noticing, really noticing birds and their habits. A smaller life.

What am i missing? Busy-ness. Miles on the car. Miles in the car. Travel. Going to the movies.

Everything is changing, all the time. We've had a lot of social change this past year. Black Lives Matter. A change of president and a change in the Senate.

How do you feel about change?

One of my personal mantras is Flowing with the river of Life. I aspire to flow with events as they happen. Stress disappears. Ahhh.

Entropy

 One of the 5 daily recollections is

Everything i cherish will change and vanish.

In other words, everything is impermanent. Everything changes. Everything.

We could also call this uncertainty, this lack of order, this unpredictability, entropy. Entropy is defined as a gradual decline into disorder.

My fall yard certainly look random and disordered. We might feel the same way about the political situation.

One of my personality traits is bringing order out of chaos. I love to organize things into categories. Categories is not a natural state. It takes work to organize stuff. We've all heard stories about people who (in the old days) get all their slides organized, and then trip, and all the slides go flying. Entropy is enough to drive neat-niks crazy, because things don't stay organized.

Maybe i'll do some work today, and go out and organize my leaves into piles and carry them to the compost bin.

Skeleton

 

When i saw a skeleton at the hardware store, i bought it. It now stands at the corner of my driveway and the road, greeting visitors.

The Buddha recommended 5 daily recollections, one of which is "I am of the nature to die. Death is unavoidable."

These Days of the Dead, preceded by All Hallow's Evening (Hallow E'en), are an excellent time to bring this remembrance to mind. Perhaps several times today and tomorrow.

All around us, people are sick and dying from COVID. Just like them, i am of the nature to become sick and die.

Our challenge is to have compassion for the suffering of others and for ourself. This is not a time to say, "Well, they were old anyway, so it doesn't really matter if they die." Put yourself in their shoes; put yourself in their bare feet. Walking on cold ground. Walking toward a grave. Put yourself in their bones. Put yourself in their skeleton.

Practice compassion.