The sun has entered me.
The sun has entered me together with the cloud and the river.
I myself have entered the river,
and I have entered the sun
with the cloud and the river.
There has not been a moment when we do not interpenetrate.
But before the sun entered me,
the sun was in me-
as the cloud and the river.
Before I entered the river,
I was already in it.
There are not been a moment when we have not inter-be.
Therefore you know
that as long as you continue to breathe,
I continue to be in you.
-Call Me by My True Names
This poem is a strong message that we are all intertwined with everything in the universe. We are in the sun, clouds, rain, trees, animals, each other. We are all inter-being at every moment of out existence. I share this poem and my thoughts from a book I have been reading about the great Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (a.k.a. Thay). This book is a series of his essential writings. Thay teaches that we are all inter-connected, or as he puts it, inter-being. He explains how the rose and garbage are interconnected. We cannot have a rose without garbage and garbage without a rose. Thay writes, "If you look more deeply you will see that in just five or six days, the rose will become part of the garbage. If you look at the rose, and you look deeply, you can see it now. And if you look into the garbage can, you see that in a few months its contents can be transformed into lovely vegetables, and even a rose."
Thay goes on to teach that oftentimes we do not stop and recognize the power of the sun. In one of his writings, "The Sun My Heart" Thay writes, "Look at the immense light we call the sun. If it stops shining, the flow of our life will also stop, and so the sun is our second heart, our heart outside our body. This immense "heart" gives all life on Earth the warmth necessary for existence."
I am trying to be conscious of my inter-being with nature, the Earth and the universe. I believe that many of us are taught at a very young age to disconnect from this inter-being and live our life as though we are separate from each other, the Earth and the universe. I strive to be in the moment and feel this inter-being with nature, the Earth and the universe and it's energy.
