Over the years I've asked myself periodically what phrase would I use if I had to sum up everything I've learned, or think that I've learned in my lifetime on this earth. Another way of thinking about this is if one were dying and wanted to keep—or were only able to keep—one phrase, one thought in mind as one was passing away, what would it be?
A third way of thinking about this topic is as a mantra, a short phrase that not only embodies some meaning but also, and more importantly, has some rhythmic or melodic quality that makes it hypnotic and easy to silently repeat.
Anyway, given these three aspects of the topic—a summation, a final thought, a mantra—one of my favorites for many years was a special form of the hesichast's prayer, and it was this:
O gracious God, have mercy on me
I loved this phrase because it reminded me of God's graciousness, and then acknowledged that I needed help from something larger than me. And the "have mercy on me" part wasn't about getting a new Mercedes, but rather, usually about something deeper—help me to become more conscious, O God, to feel Your presence more, to be helpful to others and pass on some of Your light.
I would also and especially use this phrase if I was feeling stressed, depressed or anxious and was not capable at that moment, for whatever reason, of simply observing my thoughts and emotions. I would repeat the phrase over and over inside—just like a more traditional mantra—and found it very comforting when internal comfort was needed.
If I was feeling good but still wanted to use the mantra, I would alter it a bit, though this phrase still had the same iambic rhythm:
O gracious God, eternal love
Now I was just focused on God, or rather my conception of God, and not concerned anymore about asking for something. Rather, I was just immersing myself through the mantra in the most sublime thought that I could think of.
Another candidate was the phrase on my wall for many years:
Love.
Create.
Simplify.
—To develop my heart, to learn to love better, to learn to open the floodgates and let out the natural love that was already there.
—To create whatever I could create, a new child on the earth, a new symphony, a new appreciation of life, whatever.
—To simplify things, to be mindful of how things tend to complexify and allow them to come back to their innate simplicity.
But the phrase I think I would use tonight, if I wanted to sum it all up—as if it were summable—would be:
love you, thank you
—Love existence as it is, in all its forms, including "me" and "you" and all possible situations and the beetle crawling on the potted plant in the corner.
—Thank you that I could be here, that I was so lucky as to "show up" in existence, with a consciousness and a heart that could appreciate "you" and "me" and "us" in all our forms, it/you/me/us in all our forms.
Gratitude is the most fundamental emotion of happiness, for it supports even love. When love is real, it exists because there is deep gratitude in it. That is why it doesn't want anything, since it already has everything, it has this moment.
the whispering winds, the problems, the challenges, the beauties, the joys, the sorrows, the nights, the days, the green grass and the orange sunsets—thank you.
What does it mean to thank "you"? It is thanking oneself, for their are no parts, just oneness everywhere, just existence everywhere, just the same thing everywhere. Yes, we can see the distinctions, but still—the same thing everywhere.
Thank you for my life. Thank you for the day I fell and hurt my knee. Thank you for the times I loved and the times I couldn't. Thank you for all of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
—jim sloman, 1.12.07 for
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