This morning, the skies were chill and gray, with shafts of sunlight making their way through large, sleek-bottomed clouds. A slight, circular breeze tossed cool leaves as I made my way to work, across Albuquerque, through downtown. It would be nice to be a philosopher on a mountaintop, without the trappings of the illusionary world–but we do what we have to, and move forward, and today I was expected at my little desk, in my little office in the northeast part of town.
The morning warmed and brightened and my office mates put on the air conditioning. Almost as soon as the air came on, the world outside changed. The sky to the west became a wall of gray, teased through with flashes of white. Wind kicked up–circular, brutal, ripping leaves off the trees and plastering them against the windows, which face the racing freeway. The temperature plunged.
As leaves hurled against the window, and the human-tailored grass whipped hard, flattening into unusual curves, the hail started. Small at first, bouncing and pinging off the fresh green of the lawn. It pattered on the roofs of cars and buildings, then paused to take a breath.
A riot of pea-sized hail came down, dramatically slanted, icy, and fearless. It came in waves, pummeling the windows and walls like an army tearing down a castle gate. It slammed the parking lot, tore leaves from branches, and piled like rocky snow on the window sills. The growing pools of parking lot water became wild, bouncing bodies, as wind and hail lifted them off the ground, slamming them back as larger lakes.
The universe was in black and white. Trees bent and whined as the hail turned to icy, heavy rain, ushered in by flashes of lightning. Thunder shook the building at its roots, making it seem disconnected from the rest of the planet.
Then, in another breath, it stopped. Mottled sunlight broke through. The lakes calmed. The plants returned to their original positions and it was as if nothing had happened at all…
23
Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
–Tao Teh Ching, Stephen Mitchell Translation
