Back to work today, driving persons in need for medical appointments, I had a chance to read more of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. There are so many essential and core values and beliefs that run through the writings of King, Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day and others whom I admire. With time and effort I believe I could write conversations between all these persons as I did with Conversation between Mahatma Gandhi and St. Ignatius of Loyola.
One element these great writers had in common is what I call a Zen quality. This quality of Zen is from a school of Buddhism that emphasizes direct experience of what we do. It is a type of mindfulness, focusing completely on the present moment.
For example, my friend from St. Louis who is a student of Zen told me on the golf course that practicing Zen golfing means allowing the golf ball to hit the club rather than the club hitting the ball. Zen is a type of emptying oneself, at least of intellectual experience, and just doing it. My friend pointed out how on this simple 9 hole par three course one could let thinking go and just play golf.
Zen can be practice for doing most anything. However, one area where Zen does not work is in driving the car. As I found out the last couple of days, driving a car requires constant vigilance and thinking. Due to construction, distractions, or lack of signs I have made a few wrong turns recently.
But in most areas Zen can be practiced. Hearing my friend talk about Zen I realized that is what I was doing when I work in the garden. In the garden, I feel just present and fully engaged in what I am doing. It is not an intellectual experience but one that is physical, emotionally consuming and in the moment.
Being present fully where you are at may sound easy but it is not. To truly have a Zen quality takes lots of what is called meditation. King, Gandhi, Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day all practiced prayer and meditation. Meditation is a holistic discipline that empties the mind but places one fully in the present.
Being present to the moment does not leave out the past or the future, but is the Zen moment. It is the divine essence of all things which we need to see by being fully present to it. Now Zen works for gardening and playing golf but not for driving.
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