Although I am fascinated by the idea and have been reading about the subject for years, I still don’t understand what Zen is. For now, let’s oversimplify and agree that Zen is a perfect peace derived from the transcendence of human suffering through mediation. Imagine the smiling Buddha, the one who holds the secret to life: he is enlightened, beyond desire, beyond frustration, beyond suffering. Zen. If there is one word that represents the opposite of how I experience life, it’s Zen.
An excerpt from my current favorite book, Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on life unarmed, by Glennon Doyle Melton. (Mom, you will love this book. I read chapters aloud to Kyla daily and after giving me a thoughtful synopsis of the chapter, she pleads for another one.)
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We went up to Deception Pass today. Wesley and Kyla “cliff-climbed” over to a little beach isolated by high tide. I stayed with them and, picking up a cue from the person who had been in this little corner last, started building little stone towers. I mentally dubbed it “my Zen”.
True to his calling, Wesley ran up and joyously kicked my Zen down.
Downed Zen.
Luckily, life has opportunities for more Zen. And destroying any notion of true Zen, my Zen kicked Dwayne’s Zen’s butt.
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