I don't think we realize how much Buddhist nuns and champion auto racers have in common. From Pema Chödrön's When Things Fall Apart:
From an awakened perspective, trying to tie up all the loose ends and get it together is death, because it involves rejecting a lot of your basic experience. There is something aggressive about that approach to life, trying to flatten out all the rough spots and imperfections into a nice smooth ride.
To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest...
Death is wanting to hold on to what you have and to have every experience confirm you and congratulate you and make you feel completely together.
And from Mario Andretti:
If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.
A little less spiritual, perhaps, but the underlying sentiment's the same: There's a zero-sum relationship between exerting control and living life to its fullest. Whether we're searching for enlightenment or just trying to go faster, we have to let go a little (or a lot), accept loose ends and rough spots, and embrace it all.
Photo of eagle's nest by pfly, and photo of auto race by anonfx. Yay Flickr and Creative Commons.
