Egg Salad

Oddly, you don’t care about the news this morning. The habit of sticking one’s head into the phone, first thing, and feeding on the daily cycle of reaction, disaster, and opinion is preceded by a compelling inner silence. So you go with it, noticing, as well, that the accustomed measure of impatience and morning grumpiness has been replaced by a very nice, open, inner space.

Not that the world, with all its problems, has gone away. Nor have your multiple ongoing concerns about health, money, family, future, etc., vanished. Everything is still in place, but what is this wonderful space where everything has room to be without friction?

You are sitting for a moment, listening to that space: the kitchen clock ticking, the ever-present neighborhood Mockingbird outside doing his thing, the beating heart and breathing, as well as thoughts arising and dissipating in the big space.

And what is this coming into view? Happiness? or more than that – a spontaneous joy accompanied by a subtle, counter-feeling, ‘I don’t deserve to be this happy.’ But see? There’s room for that too.

There is room for everything in this space. What is it, after all, that the sages and masters, since the beginning of time, have been tirelessly pointing to? There can be no doubt, as you crack a hard-boiled egg and peel the shell, that the whole world is in this simple act. The whole world is in the act of making egg salad, spooning mayo from the jar, chopping celery, adding salt and pepper, mixing the ingredients, and cleaning up afterward. There can be no doubt, right now, that you are, in essence, the uncreated space that holds the world. Life’s deepest, most mysterious gift is the recognition of who we are beyond the limits of thought. Learning to abide in that space creates a gap in the chain reaction of human suffering and offers healing to the heart of the world.