Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.

Photo by Malcolm MacGregor

          “If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes,” was Mark Twain’s tongue-in-cheek way to describe the climate of the northeastern states. The weather is so changeable, Barry Keim and Gregory Zielinski wrote a book in an attempt to examine and explain it. The authors state, “Not only is the weather quite variable from season to season, but it includes extremes of both hot and cold temperatures, droughts, heavy rainfall, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards and more.” A look at the map of the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zones illustrates the variations, identifying five different hardiness zones in New England. The forty-second slogan also urges us to be patient, because change will come. There’s no need to get obsessed if things are going great or go berserk if things are going terrible. Instead of using these fluctuating circumstances as an excuse not to practice, our commitment to lojong can help us not get swept away. The slogans can teach us how to creatively deal with life in beneficial ways, no matter how conditions may change.

Whichever of the two occurs, keep your mind spacious, maintaining a sense of equanimity no matter what the circumstances. ~ B. Alan Wallace

For more information on the forty-second slogan, go here.

Slogan Forty-two

Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.

From the Lojong for the Layperson booklet:
            Some days we drag our feet, feeling like an overloaded mule burdened with stress, worries and obligations. Other days we are full of energy, enjoying the spacious freedom of a wild mustang as it races across the open plain. When we feel like a mule, we may excuse ourselves from practice saying, “When I don’t have so much drama going on, I’ll get back to it.” When we feel like the mustang, we reason that life has to slow down before we can find time to squeeze in our practice. Either way, the intensity of life wraps itself around us, and we lose our bearings. Instead of waiting for conditions to be just right, this slogan encourages us to be steady and consistent no matter what is going on. When things are going great, they’ll eventually change; when things are awful, they’ll change sooner or later too. Our spiritual practice helps us meet the ups and downs with patience, a patience that is not passive but allows us to meet what comes courageously and creatively.

Photo: A peach pit and a slice of peach on a sweet potato vine leaf.

            When I first began studying this slogan, I thought of a phrase used to describe life when it wasn't unfolding as desired: “the pits.” Being from Georgia, this expression prompted me to compare the sweet, juicy flesh of a peach with its rough, hard pit. No matter which part of life I’m currently experiencing – the pleasant, sweet side or the unpleasant, rough side – it will change in time like the natural cycle of a growing season. The fertilized peach blossom produces a fruit, which eventually ripens then rots, and then leaves behind a pit that holds the potential for a new peach tree. If I can patiently maintain my spiritual practice, I won’t become obsessed no matter which part of the peach is on my plate.