Dharma Point

Dharma point:

specific dates don't seem to stay with me, yet certain events stay vivid with a resonance that vibrates to this day with significance and meaning. For instance I no longer recall the date of my last drink, and this is truly a counting point for many who have put alcohol behind. I remember the drink, the bar, and my reason for quitting, a decision that arrived quite suddenly and with purpose. It seemed a clear choice was laid out instantly for me, a continuation of drinking and the consequences to follow, or in that exact moment simply no longer cherish the decade long lifestyle that brought me little joy. I won't say it was an easy choice, for those dependent on alcohol it never truly is, but it was a moment of clarity, a dharma point if you will - I simply knew that there were two distinct paths for me to follow, one involved alcohol and the other no longer had room to entertain its presence. Whatever date it was...I had my last drink ever that night and it was less of a struggle than one would imagine, alcohol just ceased to be a reason for any of my choices, it wasn't involved in the life that flowed from that dharma point onward. 

it was a new life.

the word choice appears a few times above - I mention it as if there were a clear decision to be made and I weighed out all my options. Dharma points don't seem to work that way, there is no real choice given, it's not fateful like that, not really, although life will drastically change with any new path followed. But it wasn't a choice for me to make in anyway, not in the traditional way of thinking at least. I didn't make the decision to quit drinking, no vow or declaration was made. What happened was more of an alignment, this was the way that life was steering and I offered no resistance. That's why I like to refer to it as a dharma point, a moment were life takes a firmer hold and seems to have a preference for the path one's meant to follow. Dharma, our life path, doesn't seem to offer choices, it's not a force that presents clear options through every moment of its unfolding. At least it doesn't appear that way to me. Again, it feels more like being aligned to joy even through my most difficult moments, a resonance of purpose and design. A dharma point is really just pause in the journey, a placed offered to measure the resonance of joy against the present path that's followed. It's listening, feeling, deeply so to the very fabric of the soul. Here I use the term soul not to refer to a singular, separate entity, but as a collective belonging to the whole. To be aligned with dharma is to know that we belong. 

life has offered these dharma points throughout - some I've followed and others were ignored, or I was willful in my preference. But they are still and always offered, a moment to pause and deeply feel my way along instead of blindly going forward. It's not magic, it's simply life. 

~

Peace, Eric