2018-06-06

Raven 57: Right Views

Urgency, dear friends. Where is your urgency? Do you have clarity on what it is?

Right view -- which might also be expressed as "seeing clearly" -- is the first on the eightfold path. Since the path is infinitely circular, it's also the 9th, the 17th, the 25th, etc. And what is the Right View? Urgency. Connection and urgency! We haven't a moment to spare, nor a single drop of love we can fail to receive or to offer. Fly, fly, beloveds. Fly toward the holy as if you were being chased by a bear -- a bear with a questioning owl on its head.

Case
Owl then spoke up and asked, "What is the essential point of the Eightfold Path?"
Brown Bear said, "It goes around and around."
Owl drew back her head and exclaimed, "Really? I thought it was a linear path. And I've always thought there should be a ninth step -- that Right Realization should come after Right Zazen."
Brown Bear said, "Right Views come after Right Zazen."
Owl said, "Then where does Right Realization come in?"
Brown Bear said, "Right Views! Right Views!"
Owl said, "What are Right Views?"
Brown Bear said, "We're in it together, and we don't have much time."
Verse
Mayflies live a day --
Or less, if accident or predator befalls.
Not much time.
Enough.
A bristlecone pine in California is 5,067 years old.
Not much time.
Enough.
A stand of aspen in Utah has a shared root system 80,000 years old.
Not much time.
Enough.
A step is born as a foot lifts from the ground,
A breath as the lungs begin to pull.
A second or so later the step dies back into the earth,
The breath expires.
Not much time.
Enough.
Case by Robert Aitken, adapted; introduction and verse by Meredith Garmon
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