your smile

Beholding your smile I am lost to eternity

Have you noticed that we carry a subtle tension all day long? We are slightly defensive, on guard, ready to justify ourself, not totally relaxed. It can be very subtle but it is there, a certain tension in the being. This tension is the feeling of I. It is the ego. We go through life with this low-level, yet chronic, tension – a tension in our whole being, physical and mental. It’s a pain. It is there.

But perhaps you’ve had moments like this, unexpected moments when, perhaps walking along a street, you make eye contact with a stranger and they smile. Every once in a while that stranger is in a space of total relaxation, without the tension, and then the smile conveys so much. It is not a smile trying to hide any awkwardness, or embarrassment. It is not a smile coming from social convention. It is not a smile wanting to seduce; just a natural smile, a resonance of that part of us which is relaxed. Seeing that smile, we are undone. In the moment, we can feel there is no threat, there is nobody trying to get something from us, there is nobody wishing us harm in any way, and our tension melts away, and the moment becomes eternal. This is the effect of a smile when it comes naturally, spontaneously, without any intention behind it. So rejoice in these moments and allow yourself to be lost. It is only the ego which is disappearing. And life is much better without it. Without it, we too can smile that smile which melts away tension and allows us to be lost, to eternity.