My daily Zen calendar quote, Tuesday, July 15th: “You cannot always stay on the summits. You have to come down again.” Réné Daumal
My thought was…yes, thank God we don’t have to stay at the very top all the time. It’s okay to come back down and rest. What a relief.
The full quote is this: “You cannot always stay on the summits. You have to come down again . . . So what’s the point? Only this: what is above knows what is below, what is below does not know what is above.”
It makes quite a difference to read the full quote. This quote speaks to the importance of a change in perspective and the acknowledgement of the effort it took to get a wider view. And then having seen the bigger picture, to get right back at it, side by side and shoulder to shoulder with all of humanity.
When we rejoin others, we are no longer the same. The summit and the summiting made us wiser, more peaceful and understanding, more tolerant, more full of love.
That’s the point.
Paula
