IS MEDITATION FOR EVERYBODY?

(Extract from my book The Secret of Loneliness in the Second Half of Life. Amazon)

The Indian philosopher J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) stated that if we meditate by sitting in front of a wall, the only thing we will achieve is a dull mind. Perhaps his statement is a little extreme, but I really believe that each one of us needs to find his own way of reflecting. Let’s think of the verb to meditate as meaning to ponder and think on those matters that are at the core of our life and that prevent us from being at peace with ourselves. It matters little if we do our thinking sitting down with our eyes closed or walking in a park full of magnificent vegetation. The important thing is that we decide to do it and do it conscientiously. In my case, early every morning, I walk my dog in a state park located on a Florida key. With my cell tuned on a classical music radio station, I walk and at the same time observe nature, its plants, its birds, and its beaches. In this amazing scenario, not only I purify my mind, but I also ponder on the theme of the day, which can be a memory from long ago, a recent conversation with my son, a message I just received, or a subject to write about in my blog. The goal of my meditation consists in detecting what are those events that disturb me. Let’s remember that our emotions are the thermometer of our soul because they are the ones who point out to us what needs to be reviewed. Since emotions have a life of their own, they will show us the path that we need to follow to expand our knowledge of who we are. However, since my meditation does not consist in sitting in front of a shrine eyes closed, whenever I meet another human being doing the same thing as I am doing, I am glad to greet. My greeting is usually met with a smile, and this gesture adds meaning to my day as well as it increases my feeling of connection with others.

BEFORE LEAVING HER HOME, PIANIST KARINA MANYUKINA PLAYS CHOPIN

 Yesterday someone posted on FB the video of a Ukrainian pianist, Karina Manyukina, playing Chopin's Étude Op. 25 No. 1. In addition to a heavenly music played with deep sadness, what surrounded the pianist was her house destroyed by a bomb. All around her, I could see remnants of doors and windows and broken glass that had accumulated in piles of garbage, making it impossible to move around the rooms without tripping over them. By some miracle, the piano had been left intact. It was a white piano now covered in dust.  Listening to the artist perform Chopin's music among the ruins of her house gave me an unavoidable sense of hopelessness. Is this the world in which we live, a world where often those who lack sanity are the ones on stage? The scene of Karina Manyukina performing beautiful music amid the grime of a war based on madness presented the two faces of an incomprehensible world:  on  the one hand, that  of a magnificent melody, but on the other the death of innocent children and civilians. At night, after watching the video, I dreamed I was in a dark room from which I heard a killer approaching.  Despite locking the door, I knew the thug would open it.  Today, I can’t avoid wondering about the meaning of living on a planet where those of us who feel human compassion can’t do anything to protect those who suffer. Without a doubt, Karina Manyukina's video generated for me a difficult existential problem that I now have to solve one way or another: is it true then what some philosophers have said that life is an absurd journey between birth and death, or is there an explanation for human evil that our mind has not yet discovered?

CUANDO EL UNIVERSO SE ESFUMA - ODA A UCRANIA -

Sentada cerca del mar, bajo un árbol silencioso,

hoy me pregunté si esta es nuestra jornada,

o si solo yo pienso que nuestro rumbo se ha perdido,

y que a lo largo del camino nada hemos aprendido.

 

Una vez más miro el horizonte y lloro por los heridos,

los muertos, y los edificios destruidos; pero más que nada

lloro porque cuando el dolor de los otros es profundo

se esfuma en nosotros el sentido de nuestro destino.

 

Se esfuma el Universo cuando lo contemplamos abatidos,

se esfuma mientras guía las aves hacia el infinito,

se esfuma mientras la lluvia moja los sembradíos,

y se esfuma su mensaje cuando nos hemos perdido.

 

Sentada cerca del mar, bajo este árbol silencioso

mis ojos persiguen los ejércitos de nubes conmovidas,

mientras trato de descubrir en el rumor de las olas

de este nuestro Universo su sagrada sinfonía.

 

SHAME ON YOU PUTIN!

 This photo is from today's New York Times (Lynsey Addario for The New York Times.) It shows a mother and two children dead, and a volunteer who was trying to bring them to safety also dead. This is Putin's opera magna: becoming powerful even if becoming powerful means killing thousands of civilians. One thing is sure: I would not want to be in Putin's shoes the day it is his turn to leave this planet. Shame on you Putin!