Heart of the Earth

Friday, August 30, 2019

I have not been feeling my best and luck has not been going my way, but my mind is still fairly intact and my body is somehow still holding up -- enough so that I had the energy today to go on a long walk to meditate.


As I walked along the highway, I could see and feel the struggles of an imperfect world around me.  The rubble from structures and lives that once were, but with no one with the will to fix them and patch together the broken pieces.  The waste and pollution that poison the environment and the minds, yet most are always looking out for a shortcut and for themselves, regardless if that means destroying anything that might lay in their path.

I see dogs with the freedom to roam but are starving as they rummage through trash, and other dogs who are fed by their masters yet chained up to a corner.  I see animals alive but pacing in circles within their cages for the pleasure of others, and other animals who have liberty but suffer the consequences of a cruel modern world, ending up crippled or dead.

I see the homeless and beggars trying to survive another day and others dismiss them as crazy, with no one trying to understand why they are how they are.  And I see others who are fortunate to have a home, work, and companions around them, but remain critical of what life and fate has offered them.  I see bored and restless souls who paint graffiti, and lost spirits floating with no direction.  And I see the dirt from the wealthy, who are so out of touch with moral sense that they cheat the system and still seek more, even if it means annihilating those in their way.

But looking beyond all of that, the sun still shines with all its heavenly glory.  The rain still showers the land, and the water still flows.  I saw trees and greenery still growing.  The wind still trying to blow fresh air our way.

I saw a glint of hope and fire in the eye of the caged dog.  I saw another dog find some food in what seemed to be an endless pile of trash.  I saw a well-off individual lend out a hand, offering some change to a homeless person who still was not ready to give up in life.  I saw the hard-working individuals along the streets trying to make an honest living, despite the rampant corruption around.  I felt around me, the fighting spirit of the underdogs in life.

I saw the careful work of an artist in a mural depicting the pretty Philippine countryside.  I felt the memories of old still remembered and valued, and the love for one's land in that tiny fragment of this gray metropolis...  as even a small ember of warmth buried in the cold of snow, if the wind gives it breath, can be enough to keep the fire of love alive.

I saw beautiful flowers still blooming...  I felt the heart of the Earth still beating.