We are The Lonely

Vol. 3. May 9, 2020

Well, here we are, cooped up in Corona Town. There is no sports, little entertainment, no contact with friends. What have we gotten ourselves into?

We’re boxed up in four walls, dreading our neighbors, fighting fake news, fearing for our lives.

Is that any kind of life?

We are … The Lonely.

There’s an old Twilight Zone episode where a prisoner is placed on an asteroid nine million miles from Earth. Desperately lonely, he yearns to be pardoned. He longs to return to human society. Astronauts visit him only once every four months with supplies.

On one visit, he is given a humanoid robot. Alisha talks to him, keeps him company and empathizes with his situation. He falls in love with “her.”

He finds happiness with her. He tastes a contentment and satisfaction unlike any he has ever known in his life. The long hours of solitude pass like minutes as he pours out his heart to his robotic wife. Bliss among the stars.

The astronauts return with good news. The man has been pardoned! But he has to return immediately, without the robot, or forever stay on the asteroid.

What would you do?

You have all you need in solitary confinement. You have love and robotic companionship.

Do you abandon the love of your life for human society?

Nirvana

We have been given a rare opportunity, unlike any other in modern American history. We’re separately together. Can we find happiness on our own private asteroid?

Zen Master Dogen (d. 1255) once said, “If you can’t find enlightenment right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”

The beautiful Buddha world is spread upon the Earth, but we do not see it. Why? We let our little mind get in the way. Our anxieties, our fears, our frustrations.

Let it go. Meditate.

If you seek for nirvana, you lose it.

If you let go, nirvana finds you.

Even in Corona Town.