The question – “When the wind blows, does your lotus blossom, make waves in the pond”? – should give one cause for reflection. However, the everyday person will ask, “what could it possibly mean”? The release of chaotically devastating forces can be associated with the movement of wind. The concordant and discordant flux of the masses is portrayed within the symbolism of water. The lotus blossom is representative of the ‘still point’, that place where one dissipates into (the) no-thing-ness (of all existence). These representations provide a glimpse into what can be attained through mindset, intention and focus. One can and must establish a state of equanimical, non-attachment in this 3D reality. The potential to develop a ‘calm abiding’ amidst the situational milieu resides within each and every person.
Sustaining equipoise amidst strife laden flux is a challenge, for certain. The modern world is awash with stressors. They come on at different times, from different places. Living is stressful as the body is undergoing continual decay. This process sometimes finds the individual contending with ailments related to the physical breakdown and stressors associated therewith. Modern life revolves around money and time. For many, both are in short supply. Rushing has become endemic in society today. Multiple obligations, deadlines juggled against daily responsibilities can contribute to feelings of being overwhelmed. The need for some semblance of respite could not be more pressing.
Most people feel that their existence is fine ‘as is’ and requires no tweaking. The rate at which modern life proceeds is not easily lent to relaxation or reflection. For some, these are foreign concepts which cannot be easily related to daily existence. There are some (i. e. many) individuals who derive comfort sturm and drang of their daily activities. The flow of the familiarity is like viewing landmarks or signposts along the way. One comes to accept the regularity of the upsets and challenges that they face. The upheavals provide a gauge by which one can assess the situational familiarity. For example: ‘Oh, I recognize this’, ‘I just have to get through it (again)’, ‘Just the everyday horse-hockey’, etc. They also reveal in existing for the acquisition of material goods, which much of modern society regards as a badge of honor. To normalize this is voluntarily disregard the disharmony of thusly approaching life.
The wind is a power from on high, so to speak, that is beyond human control. Wind is representative of external circumstances. There are circumstances that come out of the blue and cause one to alter their immediate course. At worst, the immediate course is irrevocably altered for them. Yet, most situations are not so dire. An adjustment, small or large, may be necessary but the adjustment must occur. Disruptive circumstances can give the affected individual cause to assess the situation from different angles, look at them with new eyes, and adopt a more empowering and effective course of action. One that facilitates a recategorizing of and a (more) holistic response to the situation.
Water, en masse, is very powerful: drops of water, like people, when unified, can generate near irresistible force. People can be greatly influenced by external circumstances. Like yelling fire in a crowded theatre or being caught in a stadium stampede, the masses, when confused, can bring about undue harm to anything (anyone) caught in the onslaught. So to with water: it becomes a mass of clashing waves hen whipped about in haphazard fashion. In looking at society, generally speaking, everyone (in it) is functioning disharmoniously. Groups are vying to have their position heard while simultaneously drowning out other voices. Other groups are doing the same them. It is a cacophony of voices, opinions and, ultimately actions. There are those who get swept up and away in the din.
To be within the still point is to have found the place through which, simultaneously, everything passes and no-thing exists. This to some is an impossibility because their minds have not been made accustomed to ‘stillness’. The quiet mind can see everything and indeed feel everything. However, the ability to maintain a detachment from undue reactivity to said surroundings is a good discipline to develop. Stilling the mind, looking at, assessing (and not reacting to) the situation can positively impact and be supportive of mental fortitude and overall stability. Just as the lotus blossom rises from the muck and mire to display all the picturesque beauty contained therein, so to can the individual develop an inner beauteous quality that rises above and is unaffected by the surroundings.
The premise to be taken is that there is an aware state of detachment, from the invasive, external turbulences, that one can attain. When waves of adversity come crashing in, the individual may possess the fortitude with which to redirect them. In the Marvel Comic Book Master of Kung-Fu Volume 25, the protagonist, Shang Chi, takes on a group of untrained warriors. Shang-Chi: “The remaining jivaro (tribesmen) choose to attack in force. but unlike blades of grass touched by a common wind, they do not move in unison. Instead, they are (like) waves of an ocean in storm clashing and drowning one another’s fury.” “I become the storm,” narrates Shang-Chi, “channeling its force into the ranks of chaos . . . transforming their numbers into self-imposed barriers . . . striking as the lightning strikes . . . and whirling as the wind . . . until those who would fight . . . have done so.” In this example, Shang-Chi, from his undisturbed center, redirects the groups self-imposed winds. Channeling them as a force from on high and using the confusion of the masses against themselves, all the while, staying above and beyond the fray.
Another example of the centered individual maintaining a detachment from the surrounding confusion is that of Jesus (the Christ) walking on the storm-tossed sea (Matthew 14:22-31, KJV). Jesus, being centered in and as one with GOD (the Father) is undeterred and undisturbed as he walks on-the-water to the fearful disciples. He even bade one of his disciples to come to him, on the water. Yet, that disciple was not fully centered and thus allowed the whipping of the winds and the tossing of the seas to distract him. Whereupon, Jesus gave aid to and rescued that disciple.
The ability to encounter the challenges of life and calmly deal with them is not for the faint of heart. Many times, people react to these challenges. They allow themselves to be tossed to and fro’, on the mental level. They thus tell themselves that they are entrapped. They rail against those forces, seeking to control those forces instead of assessing them and riding them out in an intelligently equanimous manner. The winds of strife will blow and will sometimes, not always, be unmanageable. People will seek to drag one down into the mass madness. One can be within the midst of all of that and simultaneously be detached from and unaffected by any of it. This is not to imply that one cannot be of assistance when needed. It just means that the individual does not allow themselves to be carried away ‘in the moment’.
Ab-Sutra Wellness and Fitness 