Ox

The weather has been warming as the moon has entered fullness.  The mosture in the air is familiar and today, the morning opened at 67 degrees fahrenheit.  Today is Monday.

The past weeks went by like a breeze - things and people came and went but nothing remains but memories.  That's what we realize at certain points in life.  In the past weeks, there have been children living in the house, old friends coming together, a celebration of the first year of marriage and in between, daily work and family.  

The 10 ox herding story reminds us that as we develop toward being the best we can be in this lifetime, we have the chance to see "something" that piques curiosity and as we approach that curiosity, we realize there is something more to explore - so there is pursuit.  That pursuit may end up in a wrangle and that wrangle reveals itself as a struggle that is not in the world (though there are many), but the struggle is within.  And as the calm begins to enter and the energy and exertion becomes more tamed,  then there is a possibility that allows for riding the ox, rather than walking in front, behind, or next to that which can make the going so much smoother.  It takes submission - not to a being, but a surrender of the ego, like becoming a child again with no motivation, calculation, strategy of manipulation of things - just being.

This is where the possibility of feeling one's purpose in life may arise and this might be where one can finally catch a glimpse of what people call the "true" self.  

Who knows?  

I certainly don't.  And that is what makes the journey such a challenge - most have to go to deep suffering before the return to the child happens.  And anyone who has been around children know:  almost always, there is a kind of purity that has nothing to do with knowing something, owning any thing, or acquiring (experiences, objects, even people!)

The ox has a dogged personality - it keeps going, no matter what;  and, it has a playful nature that can only be seen after a long period of patiently waiting;  and, it has a bullish character that comes out if one tries to wrangle it at the wrong time.

So interesting to go to that place that let's one enter.