Sunday, July 8, 2018

The Walrus in the Thai Cave

Practicing yoga and extolling the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and saying "Namaste" and shopping at Whole Foods are all the rage among a certain class of people. You know who they are, and maybe you're even one of them. Certainly most of the people I run into fit into that category, and they're decent folks, every last one of them. But it's surprising how few of them practice what they preach, besides yoga which has become a religion for many of them.

What confounds me is that meditation is supposed to help us let go of our petty obsessions within our own individual lives and become One With The Universe. You know, chanting "Ommmmmmmm" and all that, "I am you and you are me and we are all together" business. Heck, I am even the walrus, and so are you! (Don't ask me about the Eggman, I never understood that line.) Yet many enlightened souls are not the walrus and couldn't even pick him out of a lineup. Instead they are only themselves, consumed by trivial concerns with nary a thought to the world at large, the world we are all part of since supposedly there is no separation between us and the cosmos, or something.

So I was stunned to learn that a dear friend, a woman who who has clocked countless hours at meditation retreats and helped me along the path to enlightenment on more than one occasion had not heard anything at all about the boys trapped in the cave in Thailand because she's been busy picking out paint colors and tile, sorting through clothing, rearranging furniture and organizing her kitchen utensils, absorbed in a major home renovation following a burst pipe and ensuing flood that occurred last January. She is definitely not the walrus, yet she's got a yoga room at home where she meditates, and one of those bells.

Full disclosure: I never say "Namaste" because I speak English. I hate yoga and I shop at Whole Foods only rarely because it's a 20-minute drive for me to get there. I try to meditate daily but don't. I might be the Walrus -- still not sure-- but I am definitely The Boys in the Cave. As are we all. And today's the make it or break it day for us, so keep your fingers crossed.

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