Thursday, July 27, 2023
I can still remember Hurricane Andrew in 1992. After the first surge of whipping rain and howling wind, there was a sudden and austere pause. We thought it was over, but it was the eye passing over. We ventured out, and since the power had failed, we got the clearest view of the night sky that I had ever seen. We were right in the dead center of a monster, and it seemed so serene and so surreal.
You have to live your life from the “eye” of the storm, so to speak. The world is a monster. The outer bands are treacherous, and so many people are “out there” riding the waves. Yes, you can be on the upside and ride the crest, or you can be on the downside and plummet in the trough. It’s all the same spin, however. It changes directions, and what once made you elated is now making you depressed. The shifting outer bands are but a stomach-churning ride.
St. Augustine said “God is a circle whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere.” Most people are in the outer bands, the illusory circumference to “nowhere.” Be the center, the focal-point of “everywhere.” This is the great “I AM,” the centrist-view which sees all duality. When the steering wheel turns, one side is going up and the other down. No experience is one-sided, so happiness and sadness are different sides of the same wheel. Be the center. From this perspective, you can remain grounded when the wheel changes directions. Storm-chasers try to get ahead of the storm, always trying to get in the so-called favorable winds, but they change. When the winds change, the storm chasers run again, to the opposite side. You are the “I” of the storm. You can get out into the winds occasionally, but stay close to the center because the direction always changes.