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Enough

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

We don’t walk out to the point much anymore.  We usually get as far as a soaked log on Bennett Bay and sit right there.  “There” seems to be enough.  “There” captures our curiosity; what is the light over Georgeson Island this morning, are the sea lions going to give us the morning forecast, did that eagle get something, tide in or out, how high is the seaweed today, how’s the wind? Right there, in the slip of the morning we breathe in with all five senses.  “What’s the point?” I ask my brown Labrador who gazes back at me with melted chocolate for eyes against his grey, all grey now, muzzle.  Sure there’s more at the point and, of course there is the getting there. But right here a seal is smashing it’s tail down against the water’s stormy edge, there is water dripping steadily off the embankment making the sound of a fancy day spa, an eagle has caught a fish and is crying out for all to know of its bounty and Buddy is leaning into me, comfortable in this place as if to say with his whole body, “this is enough”.

Enough in yogic terms is called Santosha and is one of the principle and foundational ethics found in the yoga sutras.  Being content is challenging for those of us who can be easily distracted and drown at times into the strong pull of media hype that continually says: “get more, go further” and “it’s better there”.  But then Buddy looks at me again and says, “What’s the point”?  Dogs are great at this and life is simple for them.  I crave dog-like simplicity sometimes.

Last November, many of us sat tightly packed watching with inspiration, disgust, sadness and hope The Clean Bin Project Movie (www.cleanbinprojectmovie.com) at The Ag Hall sponsored by the M.I. Conservancy.  Here, we also took in information with many of our senses and the notion of contentment as we witnessed Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin spend a year not buying, a year being content with what they already had.  And despite the extreme nature of the project, many of us were moved to try our best to find Santosha in our own lives after seeing this brilliant film.  Even, Jen and Grant implored, doing what you can is enough.

Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest garbage dump located in Rio de Janeiro, is a long way from the wet logs of Bennett Bay beach.  But here, Vik Muniz the Brazilian born artist went to sift through, seek out and create art from the 7000 tons of garbage dumped there each day in an effort to make his statement of Santosha. His message of transforming garbage and those who pick through it for money says: enough already.  Waste Land, the movie about Vik Muniz, his art and his desire to indeed get to the point lets us in on (as did Jen and Grant) that the point in reaching for more should not be through consumerism but instead as a way to facilitate ecological equality, egalitarian justice and Santosha.

Here, on Mayne Island we are blessed with goodness and a collective desire to do what we can to make the point of leaving this place as good as we found it as much of the time as we can.  This is rare and we are lucky.  Here, we only have to walk out our doors to be immersed in a plethora of satisfaction and beauty.  Enjoy what is enough, pause in this stillness and listen with all five senses.

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