Cars. I love cars. I love everything about them. I love to look at them. I love to sit in them. And I really love to drive them, feeling the scenery moving past me, allowing me to slide in and out of the dream. Am I moving or is everything else? Who is really the driver?
One time I was in my car headed for a non-dual retreat, listening to a CD of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. As I left the main roads, nearing my destination, I came into a very dense patch of fog. In an instant my focus had to move from where I was going to where I was at that very moment for that is as far as I could see. The metaphor was so perfect that it could not be dismissed. I drove on slowly, winding my way through the unknowable countryside. Isn’t that as far as we really can see anyway? All of the plans we make for our futures, creating the expectations for the trajectory of our lives, are really just our chosen intentions in each present moment of infinite possibilities. What can we really know beyond the fog, beyond this Now moment of existence?
But that is a subject for another day. What I really wanted to talk about today is how my cars, as I have 2, are not only my favorite toys but on a very deep level they are my guides for understanding the Non-dual Dream. My most profound Ahahs often come by means of the lessons I receive through my cars. I think that this is true for me because I really love cars. It is this passion that makes them the conduit for this learning for me. In truth everything in one’s life can provide those lessons but I choose to look deeply into the things in my life that I am the most passionate about because this is really the most fun!
As I said, at the moment I have 2 cars. One is a sedan, very functional, fast, powerful, perfectly engineered; a work of art really, and great on the highways. But today I want to talk about the other one: the Mini. For this is really the car that represents my joy and happiness. It is the car that I can most equate with the passion that drew me to the creation of Center Heart in 2001. And it is a recent lesson from the Mini that is leading me to start this website and find a space for our meditations to begin again.
The Mini is a robin’s egg blue (a pure non-glittery blue) with a white top. When I bought it I thought that it was just to be a tiny little car to carry me around town without using much fuel. Little did I realize how happy this car would make me, how every time I would get into it I would feel such deep joy. Nor did I realize that this was to be the vehicle for my re-connection with the world after a period of the deepest personal sadness.
Anyway, back to my story. A few weeks ago the Mini was involved in a minor fender bender. When we were assessing the damage we realized that in NJ, where I live, the car is required to have 2 license plates, both front and back. However, two years ago when I bought the car the attendant putting on the plates said that NJ had changed the laws and now I only needed the one in the rear. So for the past two years I have been driving around with no identification on the front of my car.
Now, because of this “accident”, it has become time for the car/Center Heart/me to again be identifiable from the front. The time for hiding is over. There is no longer a choice. The message is clear that the vehicle must be seen coming, be recognizable as it goes forward (into the future), not only from behind, after it has passed (the past).
It is with this new learning from my Mini that this website is being created. It is to be the vehicle for putting forth the underlying philosophy of Non-duality that is the essence of Center Heart.
I hope that you enjoy these offerings and if you feel the tug of recognition and wish to explore further please scan through the list of books that have particularly resonated for me to find more material and follow the links to some of the other Non-dual websites.