The Vortex of Existence

 It's rare for me to miss posting a blog, but somehow I did last week. It's probably due to the hectic combination of work and Chinese New Year. New Year celebrations are muted this year due to the pandemic. Everyone was trapped in the city, at home.

There have been a relaxation to the lockdown rules and restaurants are able to take dine-in customers with more than 2 persons per table. I had lunch with friends at the Tang Room this afternoon and the place was packed.  People are also eager to eat out for a change after being cooped up at home for so long.

Vaccines are coming but herd immunity is still a long way off. We are also playing catch-up with a virus that is fast mutating, with newer strains appearing to be much more infectious.  

Despite the inconvenience of the lockdown, I think we are all still very lucky.  We still have food and shelter and most of us still have a source of income. We must all express gratitude for that. 

I am grateful for still being able to  indulge in my favourite activities like reading and listening to audiobooks every day. It is remarkable how fully utilized all the hours in my day are. Perhaps too much of it is being allocated for work, but I'm just making the most of my days holed up at home during this pandemic.

My expenses have been radically reduced due to the pandemic. The good thing about it is that I know I can get by with so much less, with no less diminishment in my quality of living. I have more than enough books and audio content than I could ever consume. 

It am still driven by my deep-seated desire to understand everything about human existence. It is what keeps me going. It gives me pleasure to be able to wake up and breathe the cool morning air and feel  myself still in control my mind and other faculties. For that, I am extremely grateful.

Every morning meditation of mine is an expression of this gratitude. I am a part of the universe that attempts to understand itself--a small whirlpool, realizing itself as inseparable from the continuum of waters that is the ocean of existence itself. 

How momentary is the existence of the whirlpool, yet in its brief lifespan, it thinks it is the center of the ocean, sucking everything into its vortex. Ultimately, the goal of our lives is to transcend the limited vortex of our existence and be that omnipresent ocean of being.