morning bee

I am on the island of Corfu, standing on a ridge overlooking the sea. I slept up here under the stars, but now the sun is up, the morning sun is already warming the land, and the insects are awake, busy with the day. There are some beautiful violet flowers. 

I don't know the name – I don't care about the name. I honour their beauty. 

What I feel to talk about, though, is not these flowers, but a little insect that is visiting them. I thought it was a fly at first glance. It was about the size of a house fly, and it was rather lacking in colour, black and grey. Yet it was visiting the flowers. And when I look, in detail, at this insect, I see that it is a bee.

And I am rather shocked at my prejudice, for when I thought it a fly, it was of no interest to me. I thought it a low, and rather irritating, insect. And now, now that I see it is not a fly at all, a bee, I feel it as a beautiful insect. And yet it is the same. It's only my opinion of it, my understanding of it, that has changed. This beautiful little bee, going about its morning business, is so gorgeous to behold, such a gift. And so seeing this, watching this bee, I'm reminded that my prejudices get in the way of me really seeing life. They can get in the way of me appreciating life. And the appreciation of life, for me, is what life is really about. This is the deep joy of life. And if my prejudices are getting in the way of that, they are causing me to miss life.

So I thank this little bee, for showing me my prejudice, and helping me to drop it, and live with the reality of the moment, in all its beauty.