Tuesday

Warrior Assembly Reflections

Dechen Chöling, July 2018

by Michal George

Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter.
For a further union, a deeper communion
In my end is my beginning. — T.S. Eliot

I almost didn’t go. A week before my planned departure for France, a massive storm enveloped Shambhala. And it shook my little world. I felt angry and betrayed. I came within two mouse clicks of cancelling my trip. The shift came when our local community met that weekend for a Sadhana Feast, and to be together at this difficult time. They showed me how to move closer to the middle way, how not to polarize my practice. They reminded me why I’m on this path — about the intimacy of quiet connection, that despite the uncertainty of a world turned upside down, there is a place for me. Their presence reminded me that living out an aspiration to create an Enlightened Society means never to give up on anything or anyone. Ever. That it is possible to make room for my pain and allow space for its relief, for my longing and that which fulfills the desire. I am deeply grateful for these insights. Continue…