You Are IT

“Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.”

~ Shunryu Suzuki

It’s so difficult for people to understand that it is our unmet expectations which cause us to think no thing can be perfect. The truth is, reality is always perfect, simply because it is what actually is.

The idea of proximity unlocked this for me. Are the sun and stars perfect? Sure. Is that ocean wave or that cloud perfect? Yep. Are the deer running through the forest doing it right? Of course they are.

But, why? Probably because those things are so distant from me. I don’t perceive them as affecting me. If I think about them at all, whatever it is they’re doing usually meets my expectations.

But, the closer things get to me, my expectations and my judging mind take over and I begin to choose this-over-that and very few things are ever quite right.

But, outside of my judgmental mind, they are perfect, because they are real.

I woke up to the fact that perfection does indeed describe reality. And, I can choose to sit with that perfection in contentment or chafe with contention, but it doesn’t change the perfection of what is.

To me this is what Suzuki was describing.

~ Scott Kinnaird