A manifesto about learning to accept the reality of impermanence
This is a cool story about making a connection, and then nurturing and building it online. Back in a different decade I published a blog called "Here it is tomorrow again". I had a read a book that resonated with me, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less, by Marc Lesser, a zen teacher in San Francisco. I emailed him and asked for his permission to repost a chapter from the book on my blog. He said yes, and a week later he emailed me again saying: "You look interesting. Want to connect by phone?". That initiated a series of calls, now Zoom meetings, that 12 years later we still share with each other, usually at least once a month. We always talk for just one hour, one half about me, the other half about him. I've never known someone so well who I've never actually met in person. We support each other in our learning.
But that's only the backstory. He too publishes a weekly letter, and last week's letter hit me in the heart chakra. He wrote this "manifesto" of 35 lines many years ago as an introduction to his first book, Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration, a book about integrating mindfulness practice with work. He said that he was "surprised how well it seems to fit these current times and the practice of finding our ground within the groundless"..."1. It's okay not to know. It's okay to be vulnerable. No one has all the answers. We value and learn from the questions and the asking."
He closes the post with a guided mediation on finding ground when the ground around us has turned to jelly. Thanks, Marc, for saying 'yes' all those years ago.
Article: Finding Ground Within Groundlessness