I sometimes stop by the Starbucks at Waikoloa Beach and sip green tea as people from all over the world in aloha shirts, tank tops, and flip-flops flow in and out. The visitors to Hawaii have stepped away from their normal lives at home for a sense of freedom from their regular responsibilities. It feels like entering another dimension here with the vivid colors, soft breezes, fragrant flowers, soothing ocean water, and slow pace. The frequencies of the Island help smooth the rough edges and bring balance to their often-hectic lives. It draws people from all over the world to experience a taste of its beauty and healing energy and sends them back, maybe more ready to face their lives at home.
But like everything in creation, there’s another side to life in Hawaii. The gentle breezes can become gale force winds; the warm ocean currents and mellow waves can become powerful and dangerous; the volcanoes giving birth to new land create an underlying intensity; and the spaciousness and isolation can be unsettling at times. All of this somehow invites inner transformation. It provides an opportunity to come face to face with ourselves, to learn to increase our capacity to be present with what comes up, to wake up to who we really are.
Starbucks is filled with the constant hum of conversation, punctuated by the barista’s voice. “Sara, grande Americano. Bill, tall vanilla Latte. Non-fat Latte for Dean.” Three men at the next table are having an animated conversation about current politics as the ceiling fans twirl neutrally overhead, and the baristas in green aprons distribute drinks that make us happy for the moment.
I notice the words written on my cup: “That first sip feeling.” We are always seeking new experiences to distract us from the present moment, which we think is never enough. The feeling we get from that first sip disappears all too quickly and we begin looking for the next experience that will give us a sense of newness, freshness, and ultimately make us happy. If we’re at all aware of the nature of life, we know this cycle of seeking and temporary fulfillment is endless. And this realization can set us on a spiritual path to discover the end of this cycle. The spiritual masters tell us it is possible to live our lives fully present for what is, with no need to search for something else to fulfill us.
Years ago, I had an unexplained episode of amnesia. When I regained my memory several hours later, everything appeared sparkling and new. Although my memory was now fully functional, I experienced things as if for the first time. Something as simple as seeing a dog at the park, was exhilarating, blissful. Although I was aware that I had seen dogs in the past, being fully present in the moment gave everything a unique quality of aliveness, of never having been experienced in the same way. I could vividly see each detail of the dog as well as know it as a perfectly unique being. To borrow poet and philosopher David Whyte’s words, I was able to see its “full, miraculous essentiality.”
There is great joy in that level of presence. It wasn’t the thing (the dog in this case) that brought a sense of bliss, it was that “I,” as a limited person experiencing it, had disappeared. There was only presence. “There is no witness separate from what is witnessed,” says J. Krishnamurti. He continues, “You are always looking with the observer and the thing observed present–two different states…You never look at a tree, you are always looking with the knowledge of the tree.”
Each moment is brand new; nothing ever repeats itself. Children experience life this way. But as we grow into adulthood, life tends to become stale. We lose that ‘first sip feeling.’ We begin to believe that if we’ve seen one dog, we’ve seen them all, if we’ve tasted one latte, we’ve tasted them all. This is living in the past, living from memory. The purpose of the spiritual path is to cultivate our ability to be present here and now, to live rather than merely to go through the motions of living. The poet, Mary Oliver asks us, “…are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
Starbucks is suddenly deserted, waiting for the next wave of customers. It’s never the same place. Our lives are like that. Like the people who move in and out of the space of Starbucks, situations, thoughts, and emotions arise and recede in the space of awareness. And the spiritual masters assure us we are that awareness.
A text alert sounds on my iPhone. A smiling picture of the Indian saint, Mother Meera, appears on the screen. The text reads: “Mother Meera has been receiving many questions from followers concerned about the chaos and conflict in the country and the world right now.” Her answer: “Nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about.” Maybe she was reassuring us that things are going to work out. But we all know there will always be ups and downs in life. The only worry- free place is the here and now, since worry is based on the memory of past and fear of the future.
Clouds gather in the sky above the emerald hills as I drive up the highway to Waimea, contemplating Mother Meera’s words.
CONSIDER THIS: Are you experiencing the “full, miraculous, essentiality” of life?
