Fullness

Fullness. It comes with opened eyes and mind in a well tended body. 

Last evening, after leaving a day with my partner, I climbed the stairs of Charles Street Station. I walked to the end of the platform. The sun burned out behind some high-rises across the river. The air had cooled and dried. Its odor was sweetened with ripe trees, flowering shrubs and river water. The wisps of clouds turned lavender and pink with edges of gold. 

My mind opened to the fullness of my own living experience. I soared with the jubilant birds. I ran with the runners, passing below on the Longfellow Bridge. I sailed with the few careening boats on the Charles. I felt empty and full. The air and dusk light seemed to pass through me. I was as close to weightless as I could remember. "I can pass from this now happily, full, satisfied." The thought flowed through me without the least defense against it.

This feeling of fullness is marvelous. It is liberation. It is enlightenment. It places the individual life in its context within the wide Universe. To surrender the self requires it. And it is required to surrender the self. From this fullness flows mindfulness, compassion and generosity. Mindfulness, compassion and generosity bring this fullness to the person who practices them in each moment.