BALI, INDONESIA – Recently I participated in a silent meditation session inside a beautiful domed pavilion in northern Bali.
The introduction to the meditation was punctuated by brilliant lightning flashes, startling cracks of thunder and cascades of torrential rain outside.
An open gap circled the top of the dome
Our host pointed out that the pavilion had a narrow open gap circling the dome near its peak to allow free air flow. She warned us that we might feel an occasional raindrop from the open space.
Upon sitting down in the meditation circle, I had positioned my hands together between my knees, fingertips touching.
Our meditation leader suggested we hold our hands in a comfortable manner, perhaps resting open-palmed on our knees. I followed his suggestion and repositioned my hands so they were palms up.
My eyes were closed
All this time I kept my eyes tightly closed as I concentrated on my breathing – in and out, in and out…
As soon as I placed my open hands onto my knees I felt a drop of water land on my right palm. I didn’t think much of it because we had been forewarned that it might occur.
The ‘raindrop’ was not what I expected
I closed my hand to wipe the drop from my palm with my fingertips. But as I wiped, I felt something solid in the drop. Startled, I opened my eyes and saw that the ‘raindrop’ was actually bird poop that I had just smeared across my open palm.
It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. I couldn’t wait to tell the story to my wife who sat silently next to me in the circle, oblivious to what I had just experienced.
I couldn’t tell anyone
But since we were committed to silence for the next several hours, I had to hold my tongue through the rest of the meditation, through dinner, dessert and after-dinner tea.
It was only after we returned to our villa to retire for the night that I could break our public silence and tell her my tale. She thought it was just as funny as I did.
Gotta love Mother Nature and her offbeat sense of humor.