26 Jun To Be Alive – June 27 2020
To be alive: not just the carcass
But the spark.
That’s crudely put, but…
If we’re not supposed to dance,
Why all this music?
Gregory Orr,
from Concerning the Book
That Is the Body Of the Beloved
This is all that life asks of us: to be alive; and, being alive, to dance.
Simple, but not always easy. Especially in the climate of political judgment and hatred. Especially in the time of climate change. Especially when one might want only to stay in bed with the covers pulled over one’s head. Especially when it is so very easy to see only darkness and despair and reasons to retire from life, retire from love, retire from wanting to make life easier for our fellows.
Not easy. And it requires constant choice against the darkness and toward the light. But if we’re going to be here anyway, why wouldn’t we at least give it a shot? Not just the carcass but the spark.
Today I will choose to step out of negative thinking and into the flow of my day. I will look for opportunities to smile, rather than reasons to be angry. I will look for partners in joy rather than causes for my fear and discomfort. I will look for reasons to be alive, rather than reasons to die.