25 August 2006

Lawyers, Guns and Money

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money Dad,
get me out of this

I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I'm down on my luck

Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan...







I've just completed a week where two out of those three would have solved four out my five problems but I'd rather not say which two or which four.

But the five problems are the usual suspects starting with money and draining down from there. The real problem is that I don't have any problems, but I think I do. In fact, I'm sure I do, but I don't.

We identify with our problems. We see any given problem as our whole life at that moment. We think: "Oh if I just didn't have this problem I could be happy." As is so often said: "Desires are endless." But so are problems - and our desire to rid ourselves of them. At the same time, problems are lovely distractions from everything. Little Rubik cubes that we can play with and play with and play with in our imaginations. We can create and live out endless dramas in our mindplay with problems - as we try endlessly to make things other than they are.

Your problems are really just the koans of your life. Still, don't confuse a koan with samadhi.

And don't confuse your problems with your life.
As Shunryu Suzuki says in ZMBM:


You understand, you have full understanding within yourself.
There is no problem.


Namaste.


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3 comments:

Spike said...

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

This post, and your prior sermon ("Mustard and Life") were exactly the words I needed to hear, at exactly the times I needed to hear them.

Namaste.

Anonymous said...

Richard,

Are you up and about?

Be well-

Anonymous said...

Very good - You can never go wrong with quoting Warren Zevon!