Delights of being lost in meditation
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By Kim Song-rhei
How often do we look up at the sky lost in thought as city dwellers? For me, I am in the habit of gazing at the sky in that way when climbing a mountain, especially when I reach the top.
Looking up at the unlimited expanse of the sky or looking out over a landscape from a mountaintop always brings me the world of good. At this very moment, I feel that I have finally freed myself from the bustling city life, which I am willing to bear on ordinary days.
It also gives me the chance to draw inspiration from the contemplation of nature. It is an occasion to enjoy my spiritual welfare, as well as build up my healthy body.
It is common knowledge that contemplation is used for relaxation and stress reduction. In connection with this, I believe that looking at the boundless sky with a serene mind never fails to leave one’s mind at rest, creating a pleasant atmosphere to be lost in meditation. Thus, when I want to produce this sort of atmosphere, I willingly prefer to climb a mountain rather than accompany a person.
In the figurative sense, I think that the sky is a bath that washes off all the material or mental dirt that comes from the world in which we live. It seems to me that nothing can compare with it in terms of generosity and receptive capacity. Where can we find such a generous bath in this world?
We, regardless of sex or age, are subject to being lost in various conceptions involved in a material-dominated society. The boundless expanse of the sky, however, is always ready to hold us in its sacred arms.
It may sound paradoxical, but the sky is associated in my mind with a sympathetic atmosphere, as if I am taking a bath at a small private bathroom with a contented feeling after being busy with my routine work.
The wind, air and clouds drifting by not only serve as fresh water and fragrant soap, but also greet us with delight in various ways. They are, in a sense, our true and holy friends guiding our steps in the path of a great spiritual world.
The sky, decorating itself with the diversity of nature all the year round, always helps us to be absorbed in contemplation. When the night falls, for example, twinkling stars give us an opportunity of play to our imagination and the moon, in the figurative sense, fulfills its duties as a candle, entering into our feelings.
I think that God always expresses himself in the landscape to mankind. Accordingly, I regard a drift of clouds across the sky as inscribing words representing God’s will in the sky, believing that the clouds are touched by divinity.
Representing by metaphor, clouds sailing in the blue sky are God’s language, and the sky allowing clouds to float freely is a blank sheet of paper.
The last time I looked hard at the sky on a mountain, I, as a rational being, felt like making amends for my sins, and I wanted to carve my feelings in the sky just like a cloud sailing freely.
Seeking happiness in a material civilization is liable to affect our ethical sense, but a contemplative life or a religious life makes us realize the lack of our moral sense.
In the meantime, I deduced from the surrounding scenery that the relationship between nature and humans today is a one-way exchange with nature giving every favor to us, and a human content to do taking.
The writer lives in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. His email address iskwanak11@hanmail.net.