Which is better
To breathe in or out
At their annual convention
This was the question
Of the year
Not a moment
Too soon
As immanent researchers congregated
Took sides
Gave talks
Of oxygen and carbon dioxide
Aerobic capacity and respiration rates
Jousting with jargon
And championing with prodigious and prestigious citations
As philosophical schools of fish out of water
Evolve their thinking
In the now
Shared err
Missing the import of inspiration
And export of expiration
And in that moment
A women seated arose
Previously silent spoke
It simply depends
What you did last
And decidedly acting
Put it to rest
(until next)
Some wear long the weigh, I heard the Zen or Zen-like answer to the question: Which is better, breathing in or breathing out? Steeped in an atmosphere of competition for the best and an all-too-often default mode of reducing problems to a single, universal solution, those of us living in Western cultures may miss the sublime holism and simple practicality of the answer: it depends what you did last. I am struck by the rhythm and harmony of this answer and its corresponding reality in nature. Nature breathes in deep harmonies, an underlying balance only poorly reflected in our oft pasted together half-truths and over-lying and mismatched self-servings.
To this Zen meditation of a poem, I add my love of science and social justice, both of which lean gently but persistently into a more accurate and more fulfilling relationship with reality as a whole. A woman seated arises. One previously silent speaks. And decidedly acting it is put to rest.
