We have to set ourselves aside and listen
Preface to Zen Dust
There is a song in the wind we cant quite catch. To hear it we have to
stop. We have to set ourselves aside and listen.
Under the hum of tyres and computers, beyond the restless din of right
and wrong, there lies a silence that holds the heartache and the
longing of the world.
And then, still further out, an empty road where wind and dust have
wiped out all our tracks.
In this openness our hearts are lit. It is here the singing starts.
And our connection to each other and to the land will flow as
naturally as the waters of the great Gariep that run under the bridge
to the sea.
We can find again this precious world in all its myriad forms.
The sound of buses taking children off to school.
An eagle owl calling in the night.
The cry of living in difficult times.
And each becomes a doorway to the light.
I am not talking here of yet another way to put things right. I am
talking about giving ourselves to this life completely, however it
turns out.
I am talking about selflessness.
And that slippery necessary word, love.
It is time to go home.
- Antony Osler