Storms

There is some media hysteria here in Boston about an approaching blizzard. Two feet of snow with high winds. On the coast, this means flooding at high tides. However, the media weather forecasters go beyond rational warnings of caution. Some have the bleak joy in their voices of anticipation of the impending rise in viewers or listeners, panicked by the storm.

 

Markets will be mobbed today. People will be buying huge jugs of water, as though nuclear winter was approaching, rather than a typical New England nor'easter. Water shortage will hardly be likely with two new feet of frozen water on the ground outside the door. Another symptom of the anti-scientific mentality of our times.

 

Storms become externalized mental metaphors for disability and death. Those who have not faced and accepted the inevitability of loss and death in their own lives find the anticipation of deprivation very frightening. Discomfort is part of the human (animal) condition. Deprivation due to sudden change is simply part of life inevitably. Sooner or later, we all experience deprivation of mobility, deprivation of breath, deprivation of life.

 

The unpredictable nature of storms in the seemingly predictable world of push-buttons, menus and remote controls is a helpful reminder for those of us who practice being in the moment. Our finest plans are simply paper in the roaring winds of inevitable change. Sitting with this awareness and embracing it are steps to liberation from anxiety. The most devastating storm is the storm of a panicked and desperate mind.