Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Full Catastrophe

As part of MBSR Practicum training, I am reading Jon Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living.  His notion of full catastrophe living really speaks to me:
For me facing the full catastrophe means finding and coming to terms with what is most human in ourselves. There is not one person on the planet who does not have his or her own version of the full catastrophe. Catastrophe here does not mean disaster. Rather it means the poignant enormity of our life experience. It includes crisis and disaster but also all the little things that go wrong and that add up. 
Another twist on the First Noble Truth . . . particularly as redefined by Stephen Batchelor.

Not a day goes by, without life reminding me of its full catastrophe nature. Today, is about the reality of being  lioness, scared for the life of her not well cub:


Under a shady tree,
the lioness sits,
perfectly still.

Her long gone cub
has returned,
and is not looking well.

Running in circles,
hardly eating,
the young one insists.

Armed with courage,
the mother keeps her fear,
all to herself.

Full catastrophe, I am telling you . . .

What is your version of the full catastrophe today?

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