Many car drivers seem to look at their driving in such an enviable and uncomplicated way. For myself, it´s as if some kind of remnant from the Stone Age has been left behind and forgotten somewhere deep inside my spinal marrow. When driving I suddenly sense, with my heart in my mouth, a strong feeling that this is SO, SO very wrong! Looking out of the front window I see motor vehicles driving towards me at full speed! And I realize that my car is also moving forward! 90 km/h! I want to stop at a safe place, wave a placard saying; STOP DRIVING! DON´T YOU KNOW IT IS DANGEROUS! YOU CAN GET YOURSELF KILLED! (Or maybe something a little bit more compressed.)
When I´m going somewhere further than to the boys´ school or to Willmans lanthandel, I spend time planning my drive. Where will I turn left (wich one of my hands is, by the way, the one to the left?), what will that crossing look like, what if parallel parking would be necessary? And so on. This, in spite of the fact that I so many times have been aware of the actual similarity between car driving and Zen Buddhism: 1. You can´t anticipate any coming moments when you take the wheel. 2. You have to stay in the present, open up your senses and be fully aware of things happening around you. 3. Focus. 4. Take each moment as it comes. 5. Stay patient.
(I really don´t know much about Zen Buddhism, so please excuse me if I´m totally up in the clouds...)
2009/10/07
