When Lost Is Not Lost!

I met a Zen master today. Since this is such a rare occurrence, I decided to seize the opportunity and ask him to advise me about my path in life. I told him, "I don't know where I am, I don't know where I'm going. I feel lost." He surveyed me with a smile and replied, "How can you be lost if you don't know where you're going?" - Richard Thomas Scott

The problem with habitual thinking lies in its repetitive track, imprisoning consciousness on the beaten path. In this mode, creativity and out-of-the-box insight are dialed to the "off" setting. Adding insult to injury, the tendency to polarize ideas into dualistic compartments, where thoughts solidify into a position on one side of the spectrum, further shuts down this fabulous computer called the mind-brain and imposes blinders on the perceiver.

What the above Zen fellow means is that you cannot be lost unless you already know where you would like to go; nothing exists independently and everything has an identity based only on its relationship to something else. In theory, being "lost" implies that one knows or senses a desired destination but the compass is inoperative.

At those times when all is lost, the best medicine is to quietly and fearlessly open the mind. Let it explore a vast, undefined space wherein lie all the possibilities for an answer. Open the lid of the box, search the stars and listen patiently. The answer will come.