rhythms
It should come as no surprise to my regular readers that I believe there’s a rhythm to our lives. The way our hours string together, followed by days of hours, and months, and years. I know this terrotory has been tread many times before by some great thinkers, but I’d like to follow their path, at least a little bit.
I’ve come to the conclusion that our society’s rhythm is off, it’s moving faster than it can healthily sustain itself. While I find myself moving as part of society’s rhythm, I have my own personal rhythm also. A bit slower, a bit different, complementary at times and definitely conflicting at others. I think over the last few months I’ve discovered something I’ve really just become aware it of enough to try to put in words, although my writing doesn’t do it justice.
I think what I’m discovering is life’s rhythm. It’s a much slower, more profound rhythm, and stronger than anything else I’ve experienced, and more universal. It’s been there the whole time, pulsing on at it’s own pace, making its effects felt, and yet I’ve managed to overlook it my entire life. This rhythm combines with other rhythms, and despite its strength, is easily overwhelmed by the other rhythms of our lives until crucial moments, when it forces its way through.
I think mystics are inherently tuned into this rhythm, that they let it become the guiding force of their lives, possibly to the exclusion of others. I won’t claim to be a mystic by any means, well, maybe a little. I’m just discovering what it is they’ve experienced and tried in their own fashion to communicate to the rest of the world. I used to think that the purpose of meditation was to learn how to detach from my thoughts, to let everything go and simply observe. Now I wonder if it’s real prupose is to learn to feel this new rhythm I’ve become aware of.
I will say that learning to move to this new rhythm is bumpy so far. the rhythms of my life are not all in harmony with each other, and in many cases, they’re not in harmony with this new rhythm either. But my martial arts training is starting to come in handy now - I’m learning how to go with it, to float and ride and let it take me where it will rather than fight it. If I fall, I fall, but I’ll get back up again. Somehow, I believe that if I just go with this new rhythm, it won’t let me fall unless I make myself. There’s a certain amount of trust involved, but I think I’m ready.