The closest I've come to seeing this idea reach fruition is a sermon I called "Willie Nelson and the Non-Toothache," in which I took a stanza from a Willie Nelson song and linked it with a teaching of the Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh about the state of "non-toothache."
Simply put, this teaching is that it's worth noting that most of the time we don't have a toothache. That may not seem overly important, but take a minute to think about that! When we DO have a toothache we're crying and moaning and saying, "If only I didn't have a toothache . . ." Well, unless you have a toothache right now (in which case you need the non-charlie-horse meditation) you are presently in that longed for state. Are you aware of that? Are you appreciating it?
There's a great Willie Nelson song called "Good Times" in which he reminisces about times past that were the kinds of moments from a life that you remember as the good times. The last verse goes like this:
Here I sit with a drink and a memory. / I'm not cold, I'm not wet,
and I'm not hungry. / Classify these as good times. / Good times.
I'm not cold, I'm not wet, and I'm not hungry. I don't have a toothache. And neither, probably, do you.
In Gassho,
RevWik
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Hey, you stole my idea! (grin) I've been threatening to do a sermon called, "WWWD -- What would Willie Do?" for some time. Maybe this'll motivate me to write it.
He does good things, quietly, and seems to be pretty non-judgmental. The Husband is convinced that if Jesus came back, he'd look and act a lot like ole Willie.
And I love "Good Times," too. I think I have at least 3 references t it on my blog. Good song.
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