Playing for Time
Summer Chances, Moments and Futures, The Middle of Things
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Aho’ Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. I started out brief, light and breezy just the news, and found myself in the middle of things. I think it’s because I want to laugh, listen to the birds on the porch, raise a glass with all of you and, at the same time, I am credulous with how unserious people are about things, things that really matter, worldly and otherwise. That pesky paradox again come to play.
I’ll put some 411 upfront(ish)---Sessions, Camp India. But then I’m afraid I’ve then written something of a homily. Feel free to skip. I’m more entertaining with tirades or exhortations, better still when I pull the etymology rabbit out of the word hat, but I do indulge the love of the too balmy. Being annoyingly earnest comes naturally to me despite what you may have heard. Will you find it excusable. The lyrics might help as we go along.
If you would just prefer the playlist, this week’s is long. I did stop in to listen to the ones that always get you. Too frequently we let them play as ambient reminders but don’t really want to listen. We can go anywhere you like with all that: Let it Be, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and You’ve Got a Friend, any sort of thing that does that thing has been on the list. A good cry is more healing than extracting any sensible fact. Tears don’t solve, but they do open our eyes again. Everyone finds it easier to feel than to think, which doesn’t make one better than the other but we might invite both if we’re willing. Stay in the middle of both, see what happens.
· Buddhism, 5pm today, Zoom link below.
· Sunday Mahabharata is on vacation for tomorrow. No class this Sunday May 24th. (This is a change in the schedule but we’ll carry on next week.)
· Rajanaka Camp is the weekend after July 4th, all details on Rajanaka Substack. Come.
India in December/January if you can commit. Leave after Christmas, back mid-January.
Appa used to say, “we’re always in the middle of things.” He was suggesting how we cannot abandon the past nor ignore the future; that we aren’t merely creatures of the moment nor are we mere members of an eternity continuum that once realized will solve our timely predicaments. Neither the Be Here Now nor the It’s All One will resolve the unwelcome features of mortal existence.
Far, far away
Out amongst the stars
There's a planet spinning slowly
We call it ours
Any time, any day
Any moment that we bring to life
Will never fade away
We may not want to, but we will need to develop more complex relationships with time if we want to appreciate better the human life. Religions (and “spiritualities”-that-claim-not-to-be-religions) usually bring with them some fantasy of commanding time, one way or another. We might want to ask why we prefer a dreamy sophistry to mortal reckoning.
In the mythos, Śiva is Great Time, Mahakala, the Śakti is Kālī. Most interpreters cast these identities to keep the gods immune to the predetermined ungodly features of time. Thus, the gods are somehow unbothered by change, unaffected by entropy, and immune from any dis-ease of time as a condition. What if the gods are those conditions, not realities beyond them? What if limitation is not what we transcend or remove but what we are? The human issue then becomes how we live with these gods. We’re all playing for time however good it remains to play in time. Ringo understood this was the heart of the matter. Gabriel put some words to it.
Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there's a hill that we must climb
Climb through all the mist of time
It's all in here what we've been through
We’re going to be busy, there is no simplicity reclaimed that will relieve us, leading to ultimate bliss or elevated spiritual indifference. We may welcome bypass claims because being human doesn’t get easier, it just goes faster. We may not want what’s on offer, so we invent, imagine, project our preferences and claim those to be the truth.
Next thing you know we’ve conjured buddhas or siddhas or some or another ideal of “spiritual” immunity from samsara---that whirlwind of the everyday---and we’re either aspiring to become them or holding up these projections of perfection to inoculate the unwanted.
We can decry perfection, embrace our human vulnerabilities but most folks want their version of nirvana, heaven, a liberation-while-living that swaddles us in joyous delusions of a perfect exemptions from time. I really do wish I could love you forever. Loving each other while we can, that might have to suffice. Limitation is not our adversary, it’s our nature. Time casts the dye.
The future shines a sunny day
Unpacked memories stored away
All the while, the clock keeps ticking
You and I still playing for time
Appa reminded me that we may not have enough time but that it is enough to be human, that grace lies in our capacity to remain astonished by the strange truths of conscious existence. Accomplishing humanity is an achievement not to be diminished but is not our last or best possibility. Rather, becoming humane is an option we can learn to exercise provided we pursue real courage as our resource and each other as our support. We don’t need to bypass time, just make what we can from it. To be good in a world made of power is to learn how to be more humane from with our shared humanity.
It's time that wears the crown
And time that rings the bell
All cards on the table
All hands are down
Everybody's playing for time
Everyone's still playing for time
I don’t know if any of that was worth your time. Best to end here. I hope to see you soon, lots of Zoom ahead of Camp and if we have the lucky then, more chances for good conversation. Take your time but remember too, it’s all ya’ got.
See yas’ soon.
Saprema, Douglas
***
Today, Buddhism at 5pm Eastern.
Zoom in here: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
Just fyi, we will further continue Buddhism for the next five consecutive Saturdays (May 25, June 1, 8, 15, 22). Dropbox Archive is here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yted2ht281tfrn74ig0c2/h?rlkey=d9ut9dmpqvrha6d3aevq32r6j&st=jb1azeqi&dl=0
Mahabharata Sundays resume NEXT WEEK, holiday on May 26th.
Zoom link: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250 We will have Sessions through May and most of June, then take a break for Rajanaka Summer Camp, and start up again in September. Dropbox Archive is here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wn3icbb418qcsrjqhk6ke/h?rlkey=nzdh43ld5xitb96duffoflhlg&st=7s5odogq&dl=0
Rajanaka Summer Camp is July 11th-14th. Come to Bristol, it’s beautiful here. If you can’t ther will be Zoom. All details are on the Rajanaka Substack. Please subscribe!!
India. Wanna come? I must know if you are interested and serious about coming this year. We’ll leave after Christmas (before New Year’s) and return about January 16th. Write to me: douglas@rajanaka.com