Simultaneity

Lion Goodman

 Yes, at this very moment

there are women in labor,

            babies being born

children dying of starvation,

and laughter.

Oceans are crashing on a thousand shores

the sun is glaring down on deserts and glaciers

the moon is full, and new.

Animals are prowling for food,

            fires are raging

            it is raining.

At this very time,

            uncountable plants are growing, flowering, seeding, and dying.

Insects are buzzing, mating, feeding, flying and crawling.

Sands are shifting in the hot desert winds.

A trillion lives are being lived right now, each one unique, just like the others.

All beings are breathing,

in and out, simultaneously,

         out and in…

Zen monks are sitting in the here and now,

Priests are praying for our salvation,

and mystics are holding the world together with their concentration.

Every human activity is happening now:

            healing the sick, teaching the young, gathering food, drinking water,

            creation and destruction

            cooking and eating

            crawling and running

            watching and waiting

            fighting and hoping.

Tools are made and used to carve raw matter into forms.

            Earth is moved.  Calls are made. 

Goods are made and packaged, sold and stored, shipped and stored, bought and used, tossed and buried once again within the earth.

Food is cooking over fires of wood, of dung, of coal, of gas,

            of electrical heat, of nuclear fuel rods generating steam.

Great tall trees are being felled right now,

Cattle are grazing

Sheep are giving birth to new lambs for the slaughter.

Billions of chickens are laying eggs

Birds of a feather are flocking together.

Blackberries are being picked right now,

            placed in bowls and baskets,

            staining fingers, mouths and aprons.

And thousands of couples are coupling right now

            as I write and as you read,

Rocking with the passion and the urgency of life upon life.

People are dying now,

            some in pain and some in peace.

In every moment there is suffering –

            mountains of pain, the cries and whispered sobs,

            the lonely and alone.

And always, there is laughter somewhere,

            pleasure and peace.

A new idea is appearing for the very first time upon this blue ball,

and thousands of ideas are blooming anew, as if for the first time, in new minds.

Each of the trillion beings who are awake right now feels their own life as if it is the most important – and they are right.

What will you say the next time someone asks, “What’s happening?”