Mixing oil and water

From letter to Courier-Record

Mixing oil and water

Thank you Mr. Pyle and Farrar for two well thought out letters. Unfortunately, whatever I say will not mix with your thought, just as oil doesn’t mix with water. You want me to sit down with you at the political chessboard—probably taking the dark pieces—and battle you for the right to be right. This is a winless war that meanders through our history like an oil spill where one party seeks dominion over the other for the throne of truth.
But I’m really not interested in fighting on your game board. You can accuse me of “dodging the issues” or as an old adversary on the forum used to say, “speaking with double-speak,” if you want. But, as I said, oil and water don’t mix.
If you see me as the “titular head” of the local liberal party—like Rush Limbaugh did today—I resign from that position. Now if you want to see me as the head of the local Meditation Party, I’ll accept that. And I invite you over. We’re serving up some inner peace, creative insight, improved health, stress relief, mental steadiness, flexibility, greater concentration, and openness. But you have to take it in small doses, maybe 15 minutes a day, not much more, but everyday, for sure. And you can certainly take it on a deer stand or by a lake. Meditation has no boundaries.
Now I realize that you don’t have to meditate to see Obama as the anti-Christ or evil emperor, or a naïve novice. You are free to do that on your own. If your perception of reality brings you peace, health and happiness, then I say stay with it.
But there is a way to mix oil and water, in case you are interested. Lets say oil is compulsive thinking that won’t give your mind peace, and water is stillness or rest. You practice resting the mind in your breath until gradually the oil of constant thinking breaks apart and becomes so small that you are not bothered by it at all. Your mind then becomes so clear and quiet that your can hear solutions to your problems chirping in the trees; and you can remember your basic goodness that lies beneath your attack and defend game board you call life. Energy and good health is restored to your body once it stops drinking oil. But who am I to tell you what’s good for you. You have to discover that yourself.