Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Suka and Duka

Today my thoughts turned to the balance of effort and ease. This mainly was because I had a voice lesson. By vocation, I am a professional voice teacher. The interesting thing about singing is that it is a careful balance of work and non-work. I joke around all the time about how Zen the study of singing is. That got me to thinking about how much this pertains to life. Life is a careful dance of effort and ease. If we don't do anything, nothing gets done. In fact we atrophy. Our basic natures are set up so that we are never content. However, all work and no ease leads us to a sure-fire meltdown. It's a careful tight-rope that we must walk. I know this as a singer and in life in general. It's the balance of letting things go and trusting in the best possible outcome while also knowing when to seize opportunities for action. Life is such a paradox and a mystery.

To know yourself is well and good
But to be yourself is better by far.
To own the world is every man's dream
But to be free from the world is rarer still.
To possess is temporary
To transcend is permanent.
Like a stone dropped in a pond
Accept the pond is eternity.

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