By Travis Newbill
Floral Notes and Bardo: The Creative Chronicles of a Shambhala Mountain Resident is a daily feature on the SMC blog in which a member of our staff/community shares his experience of existing as part of Shambhala Mountain Center.
Thin waves of sweets, crisp in my fingers, crumble… Breeze… The lightest sense of connection, an interrupted thread. Always interrupted in spite of our wishes. And beyond that, the ocean of all of us.
Our faces arising, moment by moment. It’s absurd to promise or expect any of us to be any kind of way… Yet, we can vow: to be kind, to refrain from certain activities, to do things. Good things.
Saturday Heather and I ran errands in town and saw cows on the way home. We’re both in good health. Good. It’s nice that we have a shared community car so that we can go on errand adventures and learn things like that, and discover good Afghan food, and buy good booze, apple cider vinegar, and such.
Last night after playing music on her porch — strumming and singing, wearing a paper sun-hat she made for me — we decided to skip dinner in favor of quiet activities while the thunder roared.
I was on the carpet, on my knees, getting deep into the Bodhicharyavatara, and she was beside me, at her desk, making crafts.
We paused for dinner and gazed at each other across the sewing-machine-box picnic table.. in very different moods. Myself so introspective, affected by the dharma. It was reminiscent of past experiences — being in an altered state around someone who is not. A bit awkward and difficult to connect, communicate.
Afterwards, in pillow talk, I clumsily tried to discuss the experience. That conversation was far more awkward than the conversation I wanted to discuss. Absurd.
Maybe it would have been better to have been like a log.
We’re on our own paths, and we’ll never completely share the experience of the other. One question is how well we can accommodate each other as we’re going through our processes, and are necessarily introspective, even distant, maybe bewildered.
~~~
53.
Impatience, indolence, faint heartedness,
And likewise haughty speech and insolence,
Attachment to your side–when these arise,
It’s then that like a log you should remain.
— July 14, 2014
~~~
Travis Newbill is a curious dude on the path of artistry, meditation, and social engagement who is very glad to be residing at Shambhala Mountain Center. His roles within the organization include Marketing Associate and Head Dekyong–a position of leadership within the community. Follow Travis on twitter: @travisnewbill