Beginner’s mind
comes naturally to me.
My mind often
Feels spacious, almost blank.
It’s like that sensation
When you first awake.
You’ve forgotten everything
You ever knew.
I love that moment.
Then quickly I deflate
When all my cares
Start creeping in,
Oppressing me once again
After I regain consciousness.
Here’s the downside, and why it is scary:
I fear that I’m too often in a fog.
That I may just be losing everything I ever knew.
Once upon a time, I was a historian
Who knew facts.
Dates, people, places…
Treaties, leaders, battles, laws…
Births, deaths, ascensions to the throne....
It’s mind blowing now
To consider how much I knew then,
And now don’t.
But:
Maybe it’s not that at all.
Maybe it’s just that
I’ve always loved starting
From first principles.
I have the revolutionary’s bent,
To begin fresh and new,
Discard old ideas, traditions.
I like to go to the heart of a question
And then ask more questions,
Forge novel connections,
Brainstorm unheard-of answers.
In any case,
I have realized over the years
That it is not how much we know.
It’s not even (entirely) who we know.
It’s not our position or job.
It is our connection to one another…
It is seeing and recognizing right from wrong…
It is raising awareness of each step, each choice…
It is working towards courage, wisdom, justice.
We can always stop and ask:
Is it in harmony with my values?
Does it help me to become better,
To do the right thing?
Every day, every one, a new opportunity.
- Meredith Alexander Kunz, 2020
MeredithInk 