What I'm meditating on

The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor of philosophy. Serving tea, Nan-in filled his visitor's cup, and kept pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer: "Stop! The cup is over full, no more will go in." Nan-in said: "Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup."

You have come to an even more dangerous person than Nan-in, because an empty cup won't do; the cup has to be broken completely. Even empty, if you are there, then you are full. Even emptiness fills you. If you feel that you are empty you are not empty at all, you are there. Only the name has changed: now you call yourself emptiness. The cup won't do at all; it has to be broken completely. Only when you are not can the tea be poured into you, only when you are not is there no need really to pour the tea into you. When you are not the whole existence begins pouring, the whole existence becomes a shower from every dimension, from every direction. When you are not, the divine is.

Emptying

Today I sell one recently acquired motorcycle, and next week Growler is on her way to her new owner. I am clearing out my life here. I am acting upon things without speaking of them. I'm not able to predict the future, so I'm working to let go of future expectations. I am purging everything into stone and air. Working from the bottom, I am going for desire, purging fear. My visualization is to find a good spot to grow and learn and heal others, not settling for my immediate needs, and to create a clean, clear, and comfortable internal space.

I'm not lending energy to internal chatter, and not staying in the ebb/flow like surface of water, instead diving for the still, deep water of peace within. This may be a time when my thinking and spirit has evolved faster than my circumstances, and I have a chance to catch up. My subconscious mind may be ready to move forward into a new way before the rest of me is ready to embrace that way. The ties that bind me to my current mode may make the change more challenging than it has to be. Just as people in my life come and go, my role in other’s lives may be temporary. The conditions which served me before no longer serve me. I'm finding a new sense of harmony and an increasing connection to the ebb and flow of the universe, matching the situation to the spirit.

Time to clear more out before creating new.