Life is a whole

‘Write every day, but don’t put your life on hold . . .’ Vincent Mars.

This quote applies to the way I live. Though I love writing I don’t separate it as ‘work’, and the rest of life as ‘not work’. Everything fits seamlessly into a whole, all aspects contribute to life.

There is so much I do apart from writing–taking care of one dog and several cats, walking in the garden and appreciating the greenery and flowers, going to the market, cooking, other household tasks [though I tend to neglect these], playing online chess, reading, thinking, and interacting with friends. It is a real pleasure to visit friends and have them drop in for a cup of tea or coffee, as long as I don’t have a writing deadline.

I write all day, but in between all this gets fitted in. And there is one more thing I do to relax and to get refreshed, particularly when I am stuck with something, and that is Reiki. I won’t go into what it is right now, there is enough on it online, but I may write more about it later. It can be a life-transforming tool, and I think it got me started on my writing career.

The West and the East: Life and Death

Western religious systems generally want to change and improve the world–the Eastern often want to ignore it, as the world, life and death are considered unreal. The only reality is the eternal unchanging soul. Here is a typical passage from an important text.

‘It matters little to these countless beings which are continually being born only to be destroyed, whether the noble and kind-hearted grieve or delight over their fate. The widespread illusion called samsara [world or worldliness] is an arena for incessant births and incessant deaths. Neither exhilaration nor bemoaning is called for from any quarter.’
Yoga Vasishtha, 14.34-35, trans. by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha.

Can one ever agree with this and ignore the world?