the other shore

On my drive to therapy the other day Pema was nibbling around the edges of a description of enlightenment. One approach was to think of 'real' life as cinema, and she noted the tendency of people to cast themselves as the lead, however incidental their role in the drama actually is.

This is a helpful insight to carry around the house with you, folded in a pocket or tucked in your hat band. Consult it when the bathtub is full of toys that need excavating before a morning shower, or when confronted by a teetering pyramid of dishes that materialized in the sink while you were at work.

The toys are there because someone else gave the baby a bath and was too busy wrestling the little python into his pajamas to tidy up. The dishes are there because someone else was struggling to satisfy the bottomless demands of his appetite.

It's easy to be unjustifiably annoyed by things like this that happen while you're off stage. The star of the show shouldn't have to worry about these incidentals, should they?
Well, except a family is an ensemble cast.