Many Brains

I was standing in the living room, looking out of the window on a rainy December afternoon. I was engaged in motherly and housewife-y duties. Like having important conversations with the lad. Discussing his upcoming role in the play about Scottish boxers called “Beautiful Burnout”. It’s only fitting that his last name is Sutherland. He is the descendant of an old Southern clan, amongst other things.

I could not, for the life of me, at that moment think of the word for a particular type of training I had in mind. One that a legendary Martial Artist, who shared Eastern wisdom with Western bodies and minds, also employed. One that a contemporary Western Yoga Master teaches us students. I should know! It’s right there in theory and in practice! It is embedded in the brain. What's the word for it again?

No matter how hard I tried, my mind would not go there. All reason escaped me. As usual, in a situation like this, I thought of my mother. Who is dead now. It’s been eight years. She had Alzheimer’s, the disease of forgetting and dramatic cognitive decline. I wonder often, will my fate be like hers?

Doesn't everyone forget? But not all is forgotten. Humans do forget. Buddhism refers to ignorance as the root of all delusion. What determines what attaches to memory? And what does it mean to become detached? Yes, I desire illumination! But I don’t wish to detach in the way my mother did.

Later, in my room by myself as I listened to music, as I had already forgotten about the previous moment of forgetting. As I had detached. Or so I thought. The song “Within you and without you” came on. My yoga mind turned on. My body mind illumined. And I remembered.

ISOMETRIC