Enter the Clown
Jeffrey Angelson
The Greatest Show on Earth
Enter the Clown
Yesterday I was sitting outside reading Wei Wu Wei. After about fourteen pages I closed my Kindle and just sat for a while.
An image came to me.
Imagine a three-ring circus.
In one ring, elephants perform feats that seem impossible. In another, acrobats fly through the air, reaching for one another with perfect timing. In a third, lions respond to the trainer’s commands. Everywhere there is movement, color, sound, risk, wonder, and surprise.
Yet in the midst of all this stands the clown.
The clown moves from ring to ring directing our attention.
Look here.
Now look there.
Did you see that?
Watch this.
Through his antics and colorful costume, he becomes the center of attention. In a chaotic environment, he provides a reference point. By the time the show is over, many people remember the clown more than anything else.
They love the clown.
It occurred to me that the clown is a bit like what we call the self.
The self comments on events, interprets them, judges them, compares them, worries about them, and tells stories about them. It constantly directs attention from one experience to another, announcing what is important and what should be ignored.
The problem is not the clown.
The clown belongs in the circus.
The clown is part of the show.
The problem begins when we become so fascinated by the clown that we forget there is a circus.
The three-ring circus is Life.
Everything is included. The elephants. The acrobats. The lions. The audience. The lights. The music. The tents. The rings. The clown.
Nothing stands outside the circus directing it.
The clown does not create the show. He participates in it.
In the same way, the self is not outside Life looking at Life. It is one expression of Life, one movement within a much larger happening.
Perhaps awakening is not getting rid of the clown. Perhaps it is simply noticing that there is more to the circus than the clown.
The clown remains.
We still love him.
We still laugh at his antics.
But now he is seen in context.
And perhaps that is the final twist.
The clown spends the whole show pointing at everything else, never realizing that he too is part of what is being pointed to.
What he points to is Life.
The elephants. The acrobats. The lions. The audience. The lights. The music. The clown.
Life in all its forms.
The Greatest Show on Earth.
Paul Rezendes
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