It is sometimes so easy to forget that we stand on the edge of the abyss, both personally and collectively. For whatever reason, we’re able to divert ourselves while our house burns down around us. I now have to admit that I have been remiss and I think part of that is my changed routine in which I have not made a specific time to write here and reflect. Yes, I am meditating daily. Yes, I do still observe my precepts and the uposatha but I have also allowed myself to be taken in by the success of my business and have bee lazy about correctly framing my physical conditioning.
The more I see results from my daily physical routine and martial arts training, the more it is important to spend time cultivating metta and patikulamanasikara. The former so that I’m not forever sizing up the men I meet in daily life wondering what I would need to do to “take them” and the latter to recall that biceps and lats all rot away in the end. In some ways I wonder of t’s a case of Ajahn Chah’s proverbial salt water: can you drink salt water without it being salty?
Regardless, in this life I am still a father and husband and am preoccupied with the collapse of the world as we know it. I want to be able to provide for and protect my family as much as I can without contravening the Dhamma which is why I have been taking the opportunity to prepare spiritually, mentally and physically for a collapse that could come any day now or may wait 10, 15 or 20 years. As such, I will add this blog to my daily routine so that I do not fail to prepare my mind as well as setting aside study time for survival medicine and general survival skills as well.
May we all seek to be of service to one another and may we not neglect our own spiritual wellbeing.
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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