The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh tells, in Peace is Every Step, of asking some children, "What is the purpose of eating breakfast?" One little boy replied, “To get energy for the day." Another child answered, "The purpose of eating breakfast is to eat breakfast?"

Hanh tells of being asked by an artist, "What is the way to look at a flower so that I can make the most of it for my art?" Hanh replied, "If you look at it in that way, you cannot be in touch with the flower. Abandon all your projects so you can be with the flower with no intention of exploiting it or getting something from it."

Can you listen deeply to the world around you, relaxing need to make the moment into a project? Can you be here, now, without here and now having to be on to somewhere else or someone else? Can you feel the Silence where you are, the Silence from which pure Love loves by simply your being present, your Mystery companioning the Mystery in the other? If you cannot enjoy living here and now, why would you assume there will be another here and now to get to that you would find reason to enjoy? I find it odd that so many persons talk so much about heaven, as though here and now is not good enough for them. If that is so, how would such persons not also find some heaven somewhere else and at another time good enough?

Blessings! brian