Paradise Is Not Lost

While I was reading today’s verse of “Living the Wisdom of the Tao”, I had an “ah-ha” moment. In the verse which was titled “Living Your Own Utopia”, Dr. Dyer quotes Voltaire who is a French Philosopher. He states “Paradise is where I am.” What a simple statement – yet it is so true. I forget where Paradise lost comes from but applying his quote, it can never be lost because it is where you are. It is not lost and is always found. It maybe a stretch to call my current living conditions paradise, but it is my paradise. The philosophy will be with me as I go forward into the free world and I can’t wait to take it with me. In years past, I have always been searching for what seemed to be this elusive paradise when it has been with me all the time. Sure it has taken me to come to prison to realize this concept but it is one of the many lessons I continue to learn. Paradise is most certainly where I am and being ever so mindful of this makes life a great deal simpler.

The overall theme of the passage is to keep things as simple as possible. The passage was written 2500 years ago and well before the advent of life’s modern time-saving inventions. These are meant to simplify life but really having been without many of these inventions for the past 16 months, I can say they make life more complicated. I was a person who was always on the computer everyday and had to check my e-mail along with other sites. Now having been unable to do this it really does make life more simpler. The key comes down to balance for me. I’m not advocating living the life of a monk. I am trying to say life is much simpler without all those distractions which can be found in modern technology. I’m sure when I enter the free world I will go back to the modern technologies; however, with a watchful eye of keeping life simpler. At this point of my journey my life is about as simple as it will get and truly this in not a bad thing. Through this simplification, I have found paradise and by being mindful, I will never lose it.