As we stood back admiring our handiwork, one of the team remarked, “You know, I would have said this couldn’t be done. I couldn’t have imagined this would be possible.”
In fact, our accomplishment was such a “here’s the difference between what the voices of conditioning say is possible and what Life can do” workshop that we’ve turned over the entire Monastery Wall of pictures for this month to our adventure.
You probably know by now the story of reaching the clarity that if we didn’t do something very soon the Monastery property would no longer be a viable location for us. Years of drought combined with every tillable acre (that’s what it seems like) in the county turned over to growing marijuana would mean no water for our little well down at the end of a road loaded with pot farms.
Capturing the rainwater that falls on the buildings has become our focus. To that end, four big, round and beautiful tanks (beautiful to the eye picturing all that lovely, life-saving water within) were purchased and delivered. They did look very large perched there on edge in the parking lot, but that was nothing compared to the way they looked as we took up our positions next to the first one, subsequently dubbed Large Marge, and prepared to roll her down the road.
As we contemplated the possibilities of Marge going out of control and launching across the nearest open field, we decided rolling her along behind the tailgate of Mojo the truck (we like to name things) might be a good choice. And off we went.
Our first sobering moment came when we realized we would have to lay the tank over on her side and somehow push/pull her up quite a large hill. Pull? Nope. Push? Nope. Finally we saw that we could get large boards, make runners and possibly push/pull her up the hill. After many a 1-2-3-PUSH, and a growing expertise with the use of fulcrums, Marge crested the hill.
What just a couple of hours before would have been beyond daunting now looked like a cakewalk. We had mastered the “pivot and push simultaneously,” allowing us to steer this mammoth tub toward our next downhill, have a good chance of avoiding crashing into the building, and settle her on the seemingly postage stamp size platform at the bottom of the next hill.
This is the point at which we realized the power and truth of the Zen Awareness Practice practical application to each moment of Life! We had learned to stop, which someone would yell at each juncture of potential disaster. We’d stop. We’d gingerly removed our hands to see if the position was stable, and then we’d look to see where we were and—here’s the best part—wait for Life to drop in our next move.
The information comes. We take it in. We look to see how it will work. Yes, we can see it. Okay. Here we go.
Soon we hear, “Stop!” and the process is repeated. Foot by foot, sometimes inch by inch, we bring the behemoth closer to its new, did I mention painstakingly constructed, home.
Same process. Wait. Life drops in the next step. We see how to do it. We put everything in place and slowly, slowly, slowly we slide Large Marge into her berth.
We know we have participated in a true modern-day miracle.
Our celebration was not silent!
In gassho
Cheri