My Zen exam (a fail)

[bill_schubert]

I was prepping as usual for my morning walk with Zoe and discovered that none of my blue tooth ear buds would work.  I took it as a sign and just decided to take a meditation walk.  Breath in, breath out.  Mile and a half or so.

The morning was nice and the walk was as usual but with fewer people.  So I was cruising blissfully along when I ran into a fellow dog walker with whom I've spoken in the past.  A nice guy and the only other one with a dog, like Zoe, sufficiently trained to be off leash and mind her own business.  In the past we've talked about this and that, nothing significant other than the Covid.  So I was cruising with my breathing meditation and ready to pass a couple of nice phrases with him when he said in the calm, quiet voice of a Zen master speaking in my ear:

"When are you going to put your Trump sign out?  The election is about 90 days and a bunch of us are getting together to do it."

I could hear the laughter of every Zen teacher I've read or listened to or imagined in my head.  

It was a perfect moment.

There is almost no other random event other than being knifed or shot that would have more completely thrown me out of my revelry, have rattled my nice safe meditative walk.  It was a perfect disruptor.

I don't argue well in or verbally.  I'm a writer.  And having discourse with someone already putting a sign in their yard is the supreme waste of time and energy.

My response (I had to say something) was something like: "I'm the most anti-Trump person you will see today."  He responded with something about "with what is going on we have to......" and I didn't much hear the rest.

The balance of my walk was an epic struggle to recover myself.  While, of course, carrying on an increasingly well articulated argument with someone not there.

It was like a jittery television with only a few moments where the picture was actually understandable.

But I did get the humor immediately.  And so I dedicate this with thanks to my meditation disruptor.

Laughing Buddha

Comments

[somedayseattle.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I would never put a sign in my yard (if had one). Its lazy & uninspired. tho I did see one recently I liked. It said "Any Functioning Adult 2020".

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sign or no is an entirely different discussion. I'm not a fan of that either but gave my wife a shirt with the Functioning Adult logo on it. She wears it around our very red county all the time.

[sleepybadger.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love your attitude about this. And wow, what a pop to your meditation bubble! I call my fiance Zen for a reason - his life philosphy is accept everything, expect nothing. I struggle with that. A lot. (I also have the increasingly well-articulated argument with someone who is not there all the time :)).

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Fiance named Zen. There is a book somewhere in that.

It is almost impossible for me to get out of my head but writing such as the entry above definitely helps. I can more objectify myself and step away to watch me and especially watch my ego, invariably a fun exercise.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Yikes! It certainly would kill my mood to discover such an Idiot lived in my neighborhood. I hear many conversations by my neighbors when I'm at the front desk, enough to have gleaned that all but 4 people in my building of 63 occupied apartments, (about 75 people) are Democrats and think tRUMP is a worthless piece of crap.

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

Om...om...OM...

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Yeah... OM, dammit!!