July 1, 2024
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. – Vincent Van Gogh
Greetings yogis,
Sending this one your way from a mighty fine Monday morning in Muir Beach. I’m staring south down the rugged coastline, awe smeared across my face as the persistent Pacific Ocean waves batter the rocks, slowly but surely beckoning all things back to the sea. As permanent as we think anything is, time reminds us of our follies as mountains crumble to sand and recede back into the depths.
On this journey of being human, through practice, we too carry the potential to gradually let our absolutes and certainties erode back into the great and vast unknown. Try as we might to fortify all that we ‘think’ we know, it is inevitable. The options are to let go peacefully and with intention through our practices, or cling on desperately until our grip can no longer hold and a landslide shakes us back into the undeniable reality that nothing is for certain. Nothing.
Our absolutes are a hindrance on this path. They prevent us from seeing options B through Z. Not knowing is healthy, certainties lead to stagnation. The degree to which our practice is actually working is the degree to which we can let all that we ‘think’ we know slough off and approach each moment, conversation and breath with an expansive sense of curiosity – this is the mindset that liberates.
And how naive to think we could be so certain about the many wondrous mysteries playing out in front of us; the ceaseless, indescribable energy that combs the clouds, flaps the wings of the jay, squirms the innards of the banana slug and spirals the seeds of the sunflower. What a magnificent wonder it all is.
Practice opening your mind, over and over again until it becomes a new way of being. Give way to the only thing you may actually know – that you know nothing. What a glorious relief that is! Every moment grants us the opportunity to soften our rigid mountains of mind-stuff and behold the miracle of the present.
Untether a few certainties you have about someone that has been challenging you and see them anew, lift the limits on what you think is possible of yourself and step into the sublime...
May you be infinitely curious,
Nat K
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
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