And here’s another fine post from our exceedingly wise alumnus, Jack Campitelli.<\/p>\n
SAYING HELLO<\/p>\n
SAYING GOODBYE<\/p>\n
By<\/p>\n
Jack Campitelli<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a9 2012 Jack Campitelli LLC\u00c2\u00a0 Revised July 17, 2012\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n
At the very fundament of life, at the core of conscious existence, saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good-bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is all that there is.\u00c2\u00a0 Those simple words that form much of the social \u00e2\u20ac\u0153form\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of how we interact with each other without thinking, are a massive foundation for spirituality as soon as one is mindful of the meaning each time one says it out loud or to oneself.\u00c2\u00a0 And as one learns to say the words internally, without even pronouncing them in your mind, it fundamentally changes your wakefulness to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that which is.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is an almost unthinking courteous greeting to another person.\u00c2\u00a0 But it is also can be a greeting, spoken or unspoken, to all that captures our attention.\u00c2\u00a0 A person across the street, an animal whose eyes capture our attention, a flowering plant that would have called out a cheery \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if it had a voice.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if the flower was saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look at me!\u00c2\u00a0 Look at me!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Of course you would respond with an equally cheery \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a first cousin to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Welcome.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 An embrace of what you just greeted.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are not just things one says to people.\u00c2\u00a0 You can certainly say them to animals and to plants.\u00c2\u00a0 And even to a new pair of socks.\u00c2\u00a0 As soon as you say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello and Welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with true intention, the socks are now part of you.\u00c2\u00a0 They are no longer \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just socks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d even though they might look like it to a stranger.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And every time you see the socks, if you say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to them as you go to use them, they are, again, brought into your awareness.\u00c2\u00a0 And it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hurt you to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thanks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for their use.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is also a first cousin of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wonder\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c perhaps the single most important human calling we have.\u00c2\u00a0 To live in a state of wonder means you are always \u00e2\u20ac\u0153at one\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with what is going on in your life and keenly aware.\u00c2\u00a0 As a result, you remain a constant beginner.\u00c2\u00a0 Each moment is a new moment to savor.\u00c2\u00a0 If you live in a state of wonder, you cannot be jaded.\u00c2\u00a0 You can be sad, but you cannot be depressed.\u00c2\u00a0 Wonder seems to call forth \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gratitude,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thankfulness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for being able to have this moment of wonder.\u00c2\u00a0 And perhaps for that to whom we say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
And then you are gone from that moment of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Your life-walk continues.\u00c2\u00a0 The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d recedes into the too soon past and you are ready to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good-bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to someone or something to which you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never formally been introduced.\u00c2\u00a0 And, there is perhaps some sadness in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good-bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for that moment just leaving will not return in your life or that of the stranger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, the animal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s or the plant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, or the rock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n
In \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good-bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (God be with you) we can surely find a place of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thanks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gratitude\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the sharing of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for an instant, the moment of wonder.<\/p>\n
As we look at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d hello and goodbyes, we think of loved ones.\u00c2\u00a0 Our children off to school, our children home from school.\u00c2\u00a0 Both of you there to greet each other with another \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If you are aware of your words, is there not a sense of thankfulness and of gratefulness as you say the words?\u00c2\u00a0 And as you say either \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can you not feel the innate sense of sadness that such moments are never to be again?<\/p>\n
It is this awareness, this consciousness, of the wonderment and gratitude of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and both gratitude for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the sadness contained in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that forms the true conditions under which we live.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d usually contains a silent prayer for the chance of another \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but we never truly know and, even if it is granted, we know time has passed and change has happened and every encounter is always a new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because what or whom you are greeting has changed from the time you last said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is again hopeful for another chance at greeting and, at the same time, sadness that it may not happen at all but certainly that it will be not the same, and gratefulness and thanks that you were given one more chance at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
THE RIVER OF LIFE<\/p>\n
The ancient Greek philospher Simplicius, characterizing the philosophy of Heraclitus, is claimed to have said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ta panta rei\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153everything changes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153everything flows\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (1)\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing remains the same.\u00c2\u00a0 Plato later says: Heraclitus is famous for his insistence on ever-present change in the universe, as stated in his famous saying, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” (1)<\/p>\n
Yet, if we think about it for a moment, is not as simple as if the river just flows past us as we watch safely from the shores; it is we who ride precariously on a sinking raft floating on the moving river.\u00c2\u00a0 We will never see the same shore again in our life once we pass it and there is no map of where the river is taking us.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only does the river pass our raft but we and our raft continually pass the ever-changing shore.\u00c2\u00a0 We will never know what dangerous rapids or tranquil pools are before us.\u00c2\u00a0 The raft on which we ride is slowly disintegrating and destined to sink, even if the dangers of the unknown voyage do not take our life before our raft naturally disintegrates.<\/p>\n
Each moment, each instant of now, is equally a saying goodbye to what preceded it and almost demands a welcome to the new moment.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Life is only \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but now has three aspects.\u00c2\u00a0 And each aspect is a chance for spiritual awakening \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of deepening our own life journey.\u00c2\u00a0 Each successive instance contains the inseparable aspects of now: before-now-after; before-now-after; before-now-after.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 These aspects of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are an inseparable trinity.\u00c2\u00a0 In the realm of existence, that is, in the realm of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what is,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d there is no way to separate before not-now; now; after not-now.\u00c2\u00a0 It is words that allow us to make this distinction and it is our mind that allows us to separate the three elements by lingering mentally in the past; imagining the future; or staying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153at one\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the ever-changing moment as we imagine animals do.<\/p>\n
If you separate before-now-after in your mind, then there is little now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there is remembrance of things past or longing for things in the future \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both eliminate your ability to be one with the moment you are actually in.\u00c2\u00a0 This is, in fact, how most of us spend our lives: in the past or in the future but rarely in the moment of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 If you linger too long in the past or spend too much time planning the future, you nonetheless are remaining in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as you do this.\u00c2\u00a0 But you are not aware of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because you are not there.\u00c2\u00a0 You might ponder who is living the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of your life if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not you?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The challenge is to be in the state of being conscious of all three aspects of now <\/em>\u00c2\u00a0simultaneously.\u00c2\u00a0 Now<\/em> contains the sadness of the forever past and calls upon us to instantly say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to it.\u00c2\u00a0 And it calls us to bring into our consciousness the newness that is the new now.\u00c2\u00a0 The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if you will.\u00c2\u00a0 It is only in this manner that one can live life fully and constantly.<\/p>\n A Zen priest told the story one day of her love for her favorite coffee cup that she had used for years.\u00c2\u00a0 Each time she picked up the handmade cup she relished its beauty and she said goodbye to it because she knew what someday either she or the cup would no longer be.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And today,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153was that day.\u00c2\u00a0 It shattered in my hand and was gone.\u00c2\u00a0 But for years I had joyfully welcomed it every morning and, as I held it, I always said goodbye to it with sadness and gratitude for it sharing itself with me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n It is that way for all of life, actually for all that is, including you and all you care about.\u00c2\u00a0 Life is about welcoming each moment we are given and saying goodbye to all that we care about in the very same moment.\u00c2\u00a0 Our family, friends, pets, cherished objects; our hearing, sight, movement, our lives are all going away.\u00c2\u00a0 In time, in their season, or suddenly without warning.\u00c2\u00a0 We must grab each moment with glee for its very being there at all and at the same time take heed of the sadness that it will never be back.<\/p>\n The sad fact is that almost none of us know this.\u00c2\u00a0 And, sadder, few of us acknowledge it as a way of being alive.\u00c2\u00a0 And a way to a sense of oneness with all that is.\u00c2\u00a0 All too few of us use this practice as a spiritual path.<\/p>\n Life is nothing if not ironic or even twisted.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is to something terrible and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rather than sad, is to a welcome relief \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even if that is death.<\/p>\n But there is always an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and always a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the same instant.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SAYING HELLO AND GOODBYE TO BREATH<\/p>\n As we lay in bed, there is not much to say Hello and Goodbye to except what you bring into your imagination and you might think about this as a time for a bit of housekeeping.\u00c2\u00a0 To go over the missed opportunities and extend greetings and farewells to people or things in your debt.\u00c2\u00a0 But after that, there remains the ultimate spiritual practice: attentive breathing.<\/p>\n At the most basic level, each intake of breath is an hello and each exhalation a goodbye.\u00c2\u00a0 Captured in the hello should well be a sense of wonder and of gratitude.\u00c2\u00a0 Captured in the exhalation should well be a sense of thanks and sadness and hope for another breath.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If you begin this practice by actually saying hello and goodbye with each breath, soon you will be able to breathe without the words but the feelings of welcome and thanks will remain.\u00c2\u00a0 This practice can continue your whole life; and not just in bed.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a perfect exercise to practice during all the hours of our lives we spend waiting.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead of allowing the reverie of your imagination to keep you unbored as you wait, you can learn to immediately revert to concentrating on your breathing in the hello and goodbye mode.<\/p>\n While there are many variations on breathing practices, some designed to transport you to other states of being, the most important one is just to notice your breathing.\u00c2\u00a0 Not to try and control it for other purposes, but just to be aware of your breathing.\u00c2\u00a0 Adding the unspoken overlay of hello and goodbye, of welcome and thanks, which soon becomes voiceless, may increases the depth of the practice.\u00c2\u00a0 It becomes your most basic way of being.<\/p>\n If you decide to try the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d breathing practice, feel free to experiment with variations.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, I find I naturally use \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hi\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on intake and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on exhalation.\u00c2\u00a0 I also find \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hi\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thanks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d works well, too.\u00c2\u00a0 You can find your own simple \u00e2\u20ac\u0153code words\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gratefulness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that lend themselves to your breathing patterns.<\/p>\n Zen often starts out with counting.\u00c2\u00a0 One<\/em> upon inhalation.\u00c2\u00a0 Two<\/em> upon exhalation.\u00c2\u00a0 Three<\/em> inhalation, four<\/em> exhalation, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 Up to ten.\u00c2\u00a0 Then start over.\u00c2\u00a0 When you can do that for five minutes, which is nigh impossible for a beginner, you can try just holding the one<\/em> of inhalation through exhalation.\u00c2\u00a0 Then two <\/em>through both inhalation and exhalation, et seq.\u00c2\u00a0 You can then switch to just counting exhalations up to ten before starting over. Eventually you will just \u00e2\u20ac\u0153follow your breath\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the sense that your attention is directed to the sensation of breathing in and breathing out and nothing else.<\/p>\n When you lose count or lose where you are or find yourself in mental fancy, you simply re-direct your thoughts to counting or following your breath or saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hi\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in your mind as you breathe.\u00c2\u00a0 Saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hi\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hi\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thanks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is transitional but if you do it for a few weeks or months, then when you follow your breath or follow another aspect of breathing, without internal words, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still associate the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sentiment with breathing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when you are attentive to your breathing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c without actually using any words.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n OTHER HELLOS<\/p>\n Since so much of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what is\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has no voice that we can hear, it is impossible to imagine how many hellos are shouted at us each moment, each hour, each day, from all that is, that we do not hear.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, for many of us, it is as if we have become deaf to even listening to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what is\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with strong attentiveness.\u00c2\u00a0 And in order for us call out a cheery \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in return we have to notice what or whom we are calling out to.\u00c2\u00a0 But how many things are there that want to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Even our tiny yard is so full of unheard-unvoiced voices that great us that we could never find enough time to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to them all!\u00c2\u00a0 If you try, you can hear the bright flowers shout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then the simple weeds spouting weed-flowers atop them wave a silent hello to you.\u00c2\u00a0 And then the beings that move \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from birds to chipmunks to bees to flies to pesky things.\u00c2\u00a0 And even dangerous things.\u00c2\u00a0 A serpent or poison oak.\u00c2\u00a0 An \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh-oh!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is also an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Saying a silent \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to all the unheard voices is slightly different than just noticing as many of the things filling our lives as you can, but noticing is almost like giving a nod or tipping your hat.\u00c2\u00a0 In Zen practice, you will sometimes notice someone taking a moment to\u00c2\u00a0 gasho\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em>(bow) to something they notice and the gesture is a sign of reverence.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/em>Noticing is big even if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seeing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as in noticing as much as we can, may be our most important human mission.\u00c2\u00a0 So much calls for us to be seen.\u00c2\u00a0 You will notice how much easier it is to notice and even say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if you know the name of what you are seeing.\u00c2\u00a0 You may notice it is almost impossible to see something whose name you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.\u00c2\u00a0 And in a moment you realize that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the names of almost everything that surrounds your life.\u00c2\u00a0 There are modern philosophers who claim that consciousness is a direct result of language.\u00c2\u00a0 The more limited the language, the more limited the consciousness.\u00c2\u00a0 More words equals more consciousness.\u00c2\u00a0 And yet we all know that all words are metaphors<\/em> for reality, not real<\/em> reality, so that no words truly describe the reality of anything.\u00c2\u00a0 But experiment for yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 Does your awareness increase as you know more names of the things that you notice?\u00c2\u00a0 Even if you know that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to name it is to shame it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d perhaps you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find that things almost call out to be named \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is as if you do not really notice strangers you pass on the street but can say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to people whose names you know or whom you recognize \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a smile.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n WHEN I FORGET<\/p>\n When I find I have been inattentive for a period of time, which is common, it is not cause to beat myself up.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite human to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wander\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and not be one with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 It really takes practice to be mindful of your life.\u00c2\u00a0 Once you realize you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve drifted, just smile and return to your patterns of welcome and wonder followed by gratefulness and a bit of sadness.\u00c2\u00a0 A child, not yet with words, nonetheless has a remarkable relationship to all that is seen and touched and smelled.\u00c2\u00a0 As a child grows, all to soon, his ego develops and his sense of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153self\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as different from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153other\u00e2\u20ac\u009d soon separates him from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not-self\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and re-enforces his sense of a distinct self.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n LIMITING THE SCOPE OF OUR LIFE TO THOSE THINGS AND PEOPLE WE CAN TRULY BRING INTO OUR MIND REGULARLY.<\/p>\n In countries of affluence, sometimes storage units and deep closets hold objects we have not seen in years.\u00c2\u00a0 Even our homes are sometimes thick with nick-knacks that we never say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to any longer.\u00c2\u00a0 They have lost their place in our lives \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and yet they remain taking up space.<\/p>\n What if we were to limit the amount of our \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stuff\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to things we actually said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to pretty often?<\/p>\n As we throw out an old pair of socks, do we say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?\u00c2\u00a0 Do we thank them for their faithful service?\u00c2\u00a0 It is not as if you expect the socks to speak back to you.\u00c2\u00a0 It is your soul that expresses gratitude for the socks themselves, the materials who gave their existence to make the socks and the people who gave portions of their lives to produce them.\u00c2\u00a0 And it may be that you never even said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the socks when they first came into your life.\u00c2\u00a0 Feeling their texture and appreciating their pattern or color.\u00c2\u00a0 And do you say hello and goodbye to them every time you wear them?<\/p>\n Things are not just things.\u00c2\u00a0 A chair is a tree who gave its life plus labor and transportation and storage and sales and a pork chop is an animal who gave its life plus the people who gave parts of their lives to raise it, those who killed it, those who cut it up, those who stored it, shipped it, sold it, and those who prepared it for your dinner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW<\/p>\n To whom are we grateful?\u00c2\u00a0 Ah, that is <\/em>the question, is it not?\u00c2\u00a0 I suppose one could say God or Christ or the universe.\u00c2\u00a0 But do you or I really know to whom we are grateful?\u00c2\u00a0 No, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00c2\u00a0 The only correct answer to most spiritual questions is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 This is likely true on many levels but one that is for sure true is that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (which translates as my sense of self) is about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ego\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which actually is Latin for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 Ego is one of those things that gives us our sense of self.\u00c2\u00a0 It is miraculous in its own right.\u00c2\u00a0 However, as you suspect, the ego is also the font of most suffering that comes into our lives.\u00c2\u00a0 The Buddha was adamant about this.\u00c2\u00a0 The ego thinks it knows everything about us.\u00c2\u00a0 But as you grow in wisdom, you will undoubtedly find that there exists in you a voiceless \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inner self\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that has amazing awareness that we are largely unconscious of.\u00c2\u00a0 Whenever we notice it, it is something to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to and thank it for its unconscious awareness.\u00c2\u00a0 Thus, if you accept that we have a portion of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153us\u00e2\u20ac\u009d about which we are largely unaware, then \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is really saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My ego from whom I get my sense of individual self has no clue.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Nor should it.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know\u00e2\u20ac\u009d really means \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My ego has no idea\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 This is another way of saying that whatever I am, there is something about me that I am not.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And, in a spiritual sense, you can rightly say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In death it is only \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who die.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Think about breathing.\u00c2\u00a0 We breathe automatically.\u00c2\u00a0 Without thought.\u00c2\u00a0 We can concentrate on our breath and be aware of it.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good meditation.\u00c2\u00a0 But, in the end, you might come to the conclusion after pondering breath that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I do not breathe,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d instead \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am breathed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who or what breathes me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And that should give you much pause for mediation.\u00c2\u00a0 If you use words, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll not find the answer.<\/p>\n The emperor, who was a devout Buddhist, invited a great Zen master to the Palace in order to ask him questions about Buddhism.<\/p>\n “What is the highest truth of the holy Buddhist doctrine?” the emperor inquired.<\/p>\n “Vast emptiness… and not a trace of holiness,” the master replied.<\/p>\n “If there is no holiness,” the emperor said, “then who or what are you?”<\/p>\n “I do not know,” the master replied.<\/p>\n BLESSINGS AT TABLE<\/p>\n The standard Catholic blessing of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bless us O Lord in these thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.\u00c2\u00a0 Amen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is at least some acknowledgement to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but it leaves out our gratitude to the plants and animals that gave their being to feed us and the persons who prepared the food for our nourishment and our pleasure.\u00c2\u00a0 Meal blessings are a good time to re-focus our gratefulness.\u00c2\u00a0 All meals are an hello and goodbye that is very sacred and fleeting.\u00c2\u00a0 Meals are also a communion of sorts.\u00c2\u00a0 If you think of meals, or even some meals, as a sacrament, then they are <\/em>a sacrament.\u00c2\u00a0 They are a gathering together.\u00c2\u00a0 But even if you are alone, or at a restaurant, taking a moment to be grateful not just to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but to each element that went in to your meal is good spiritual practice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n LAST SUPPERS<\/p>\n Another opportunity for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d happens at special meals.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a chance for a prayer with or without words as you look at each person and realize you will never see that same person again.\u00c2\u00a0 If you see them at all, they will be different and so will you.\u00c2\u00a0 But there is another version of this: oftentimes, unknown to you, a meal is <\/em>the last meal, just as every breath may be the last breath.\u00c2\u00a0 As you feed your pet, take a moment to look at him or her and relish their presence and say Goodbye.\u00c2\u00a0 There is almost always a moment when a pet without much warning refuses to eat and is soon gone.\u00c2\u00a0 Enjoying the awareness of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with a hug or a pat is good meditation.\u00c2\u00a0 It works on family, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n RETURNING THINGS TO THE UNIVERSE<\/p>\n This is a polite way of saying that things are used up and pass into garbage.\u00c2\u00a0 Living food things are digested to allow us to live and then are flushed into sewage.\u00c2\u00a0 Other refuse from our lives is hauled to dumps or incinerated like bodies in a crematorium and reduced to ashes that are returned to the earth in some fashion.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the refuse, the discarded, are just abandoned like old shoes or old people or old animals.\u00c2\u00a0 Interred in municipal dumps or just allowed to rot along the roadway.\u00c2\u00a0 As if things and people were not special after a certain usefulness had passed.\u00c2\u00a0 When you notice this, it is something to bring into your mind and take into you.\u00c2\u00a0 This, too, is life.\u00c2\u00a0 We can think of it as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the cycle of life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and dismiss it, but there was a time when what is being discarded was new and maybe someone said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to it.\u00c2\u00a0 And perhaps no one said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in gratitude for its service.\u00c2\u00a0 And when you notice, it is ok for you to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for all of us and feel grateful for all of us.\u00c2\u00a0 You can almost hear the graveside eulogy: dust to dust \u00e2\u20ac\u201c after a brief sojourn as something that exists.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n WHY AM I HERE?<\/p>\n The eternal question of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why am I here?\u00c2\u00a0 What is my purpose in life?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d perhaps has many true answers.\u00c2\u00a0 But one that carries great spiritual significance is learning to be awake to the wonder of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what is\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and to learn to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as an acknowledgement of and gratitude for our fragile existence, of the innate sadness of life, and the chance at a moment of happiness.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps, as our hands are also the hands of God, so is our mind and heart.\u00c2\u00a0 Our gratitude, whether spoken in our minds or out loud or just felt, becomes the prayer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FINAL GOODBYES<\/p>\n Final goodbyes are always filled with sadness, sometimes regret that we never said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d often enough.\u00c2\u00a0 But in life, so many goodbyes go by without us remembering to actually say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 In life, every instant is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and we surely miss most of those chances.\u00c2\u00a0 But often we miss milepost \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbyes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d too.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, more to the point, we often say the words to others but never reflect that this in fact is<\/em> a final goodbye: this moment, this interaction, this moment of happiness or sorrow, will never return.\u00c2\u00a0 And it carries with it the real possibility that we shall never even see the person or animal again to whom we say goodbye \u00e2\u20ac\u201c meaning that we rarely bring this into our awareness when we say the words.\u00c2\u00a0 I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a spiritual tragedy.<\/p>\n There are truly hundreds of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153things\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that come and go in our lives each day that truly deserve for us to have been grateful for them being a small part of our lives, or an essential part of our lives, and who deserve a heart-felt and grateful \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Just as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d carries the sense of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and wonder and gives to us a chance to awake to another instant in our lives, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d gives us a chance to again feel gratitude for the person or thing that has given us a moment of happiness or usefulness.\u00c2\u00a0 The solely human ability to have self-aware consciousness carries, I feel, some spiritual responsibility to be awake to what has come into and what is leaving our lives.<\/p>\n While it is easy and somehow comforting to read about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hellos\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbyes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it is actually more difficult that you might think to make this simple spiritual exercise part of your daily life.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, you may find it easier to be aware that you are saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to people and animals and plants and things as you greet them.\u00c2\u00a0 And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ok to just try and say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for awhile.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbyes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are tougher.\u00c2\u00a0 They are certainly more emotion-filled and always bring to mind the briefness of it all.\u00c2\u00a0 While you try to cultivate this path to spiritual awakening, you may find that you realize you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to something or someone by bringing to mind the finality of the instant as well as a sense of gratitude.\u00c2\u00a0 When you realize you missed an opportunity, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really ok to take an instant and say your goodbyes in your mind with gratitude.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually, your post-event \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbyes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d will become synonymous with the actual event \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 You may find that this is a very comforting spiritual exercise \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even though it is just an expression of your true humanness.<\/p>\n There are literally thousands of times a day to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and be grateful or say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thanks.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 From the waste at toilet to the waste at table to the dead flowers you throw from a vase to scraps of this and that that we dispose of, to people and pets, to birds we spot \u00e2\u20ac\u201c everything that makes up our day gives us pause to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with gratitude and thanks.\u00c2\u00a0 If you do this for a bit, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll notice that you are lot more aware of the many \u00e2\u20ac\u0153things\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that make up your life and you will start to have respect for many more of them.<\/p>\n Saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a heartfelt manner is an amazingly powerful spiritual practice and it will fundamentally change you.\u00c2\u00a0 After awhile, you will do it largely without words, but you cannot do it without attentiveness, awareness, wonder and gratitude.\u00c2\u00a0 In order to truly say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you must be at one with your life.\u00c2\u00a0 Whatever it is that we are, we carry with us the ability not just to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153be aware that we are doing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 This awareness, which we can manifest in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saying Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saying Goodbye,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is <\/em>our sacred calling.<\/p>\n Goodbye.\u00c2\u00a0 And thanks.<\/p>\n _____________________________________________<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 1. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rhei,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d also anglicized \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rei,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can also be translated as the verb \u00e2\u20ac\u0153streams\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flows\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is even more poetic.\u00c2\u00a0 But the idea that nothing stays the same is the point.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All is streaming\u00e2\u20ac\u009d seems quite a contemporary translation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And here’s another fine post from our exceedingly wise alumnus, Jack Campitelli. SAYING HELLO SAYING GOODBYE By Jack Campitelli \u00c2\u00a9 2012 Jack Campitelli LLC\u00c2\u00a0 Revised July 17, 2012\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All Rights Reserved At the very fundament of life, at the core of conscious existence, saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good-bye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is all that there is.\u00c2\u00a0 Those simple … Continue reading Saying Hello Saying Goodbye & a breathing practice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consciousness","category-eckhart-tolle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}