A Whack to the Side of the Head!

It was one of the moments of being gobsmacked into awareness. However, it was preceded by a series of heartbreaking experiences.

First it was the homeless woman on the corner with her two children asking for assistance. “Palestinian refugees. Please help me feed my children.”

What kind of world is it that allows women and children who have found their way to a new country to not be able to feed themselves? On a street corner in Atlanta amid all the wealth and well-being?

I imagine this to be what the Buddha experienced when he realized all the challenges in the world. That awareness brought him into Buddaness.

Then it was the story of the young man brutalized and killed by other young men. Over something stupid. Then came the news story of some inanity being battled in the political realm amid any number of huge difficulties we are facing.

Strangely, the gobsmacking came after a very good night’s sleep. When I was brushing my teeth in the morning. How mundane a moment.

First though, let me reframe that I am not a Christian by the conventional standards. I know this because of how often I’ve been told this. Then again, I have had instances where people have told me point blank that I’m living the Gospel. Truly, I’m not sure it matters. All is well with my Soul as best I can divine it

“I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.”

~Jesus

That is the phrase that fell out of the ether as I worked the brush around my teeth. And with it came the gobsmack, the whack to the side of the head moment.

“Oh my … every time I neglect anyone, I am unintentionally applying that to the Universe, to the World, to the Tao, to the Christ.”

“Oh my … every judgment leveled upon someone, is to judge the Creation, and through that, the Creator, no matter what It may be.”

Then the second gobsmack.

“Oh my … every kindness extended … every act of loving … every reverence.”

And a third moment, still with toothbrush in mouth, all of it rushing into an instant.

Every act is preceded by a thought, conscious or unconscious.

Everything is a prayer. Our lives and the act of living is a non-stop mantra.