My friend Caroline and I took a field trip to the Donelson branch of the Nashville Public Library, newly renovated. The Dollar Tree was practically next door, along with several unremarkable strip malls. The Library itself took our breath away with its cheerful midcentury design, outdoor veranda, and enormous Peter Pan ship flying high above the ground floor… sailing right through the children’s section one floor above.

Amber Lelli created the suspended sculpture “Celestial Falls,” with waves and rods representing the Cumberland river, plus Tennessee flora and fauna

Building designed by Hastings Architecture; photo at HastingsArchitecture.com

Originally opened 1966

We obeyed all the rules on the Veranda.

I checked out several books.

Today, I’d love to share some selections from Thich Nhat Hanh, “No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering,” which is a good place to begin if you’re not familiar with his work. Also a great refresher course.

“If you look deeply into a flower, you see that a flower is made only of no flower elements. In that flower there is a cloud. Of course we know a cloud isn’t a flower, but without a cloud, a flower can’t be. If there’s no cloud, there’s no rain, and no flower can grow. You don’t have to be a dreamer to see a cloud floating in a flower. It’s really there. Sunlight is also there. Sunlight isn’t flower, but without sunlight no flower is possible.”

“Many people suffer due to the fear of dying. We want to live forever. We fear annihilation. We don’t want to pass from being into non-being. This is understandable. If you believe that one day you will cease to exist altogether, it can be very scary. But if you take the time to still the activities of body and mind and look deeply, you may see that you are dying right this very moment. You think that you will die in a few years or twenty years, or thirty years. That’s not true. You are dying now. You have been dying all the time. It’s actually very pleasant to die, which is also to live.”

“Everyone has volition, a strong motivation that fuels us and, when it’s a healthy one, brings us joy. When I was twelve, I knew I wanted to be a monk. At the age of sixteen, I left my mother and my family to become ordained as a novice monk. I loved my mother so much; I wanted to be near her. On the other hand, I knew my greatest happiness would be to live as a monk. I had to sacrifice the good times I would have spent with my mother and I was sad about it; but I didn’t let any fear of loss hold me back, because I knew I was on the path of fulfilling my true aspiration.

If we haven’t taken the time to stop, come home to ourselves, and look deeply, we may not know what brings us our deepest happiness. Perhaps we are working hard at success in one area, but our deepest aspiration is to work in another field or help people in another way. We need to stop and ask, ‘Can I realize my deepest aspiration if I pursue this path?’ ‘What is really preventing me from taking the path I most deeply desire?’”

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Three questions for today…

Can you see the cloud in the flower?

Can you see life in death?

Do you know your deepest aspiration?

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And one more: Did you know you can rent ART from the library?!

Framed copies are currently checked out by various borrowers… these images are simply there as placeholders.

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At the Sunflower Cafe nearby, we felt grateful for a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

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