Is it possible to be grateful for every breath? That was the first question that crossed my mind when I heard this name. We have lived through an interesting pandemic period in which we were able to remember the value of our breaths. A tiny virus came, closed the world at home, forced us to breathe, made nature breathe… Can we say that we realized what is priority, what is more precious, and that many issues and problems we take for granted are not that important…? Do we really understand?
If we were asked to describe a day in our lives, I don’t think any of us would answer that the activity we do most during the day is breathing. Thanks to a great grace, we are able to do it so naturally, we can do it so naturally that we don’t even think about it, we don’t even mention it. This gift we have been given is so great that if breathing were an act that we had to do consciously, that we had to concentrate and be aware of, we would not be able to enjoy life, nor would we have the strength to do anything else. We are able to enjoy such a value that keeps us alive naturally and unknowingly. Even if we don’t think about the countless blessings we have been given, if we could just say thank you for every breath we take every moment, would we appreciate it even a little bit?
As human beings, we always seem to be in a state of arrogance. This arrogance is not only in our daily life, not only towards the people around us. We are arrogant towards nature, plants, animals, stones, soil, maybe even the breath we take. This arrogance makes us forget that we are part of nature, that we are actually one with nature as well as with all human beings. Just as we do not realize the value of every breath, we cannot be in nature without noticing that we are one and the same among many creatures. On the contrary, we are passing over it. However, nature took a breath when the small virus, which reminded us of the value of our breaths, prevented people who are too big for it from going out to the streets. All animals and plants, big and small, rejoiced, revitalized, discovered new places and were purified. Maybe it’s back to what it was supposed to be. After seeing all this, I thought that when we leave our homes, our awareness will be higher, our values will have changed, we will experience ego dissolution, we will break down the walls we have built with our egos, we will become one with the insects, stones, soil that we consider smaller than ourselves, or rather, we will realize that we are already one, and as a result, we will strengthen our connection with the power that is much bigger than ourselves. I wish we could have done so…
If we can free ourselves from subject and object relations and become nature itself, perhaps we can establish a deep connection with that which is much bigger than us, even infinite, but which is actually one with us, and feel true love. Then the burning of a single tree, or even a single leaf, will burn us too. Then maybe we will hear the cries of green and blue. Maybe we try harder not to use plastic, avoid unnecessary consumption even more, turn on the tap slowly, turn off the electricity if it is unnecessary… With all these values we waste, we pollute our own breath. As our breath is cleansed, perhaps our filters that express events and the world from such a materialistic perspective will also be purified. As our filters are cleaned, we will hopefully be able to see with the eyes of virtuous people.
We and plants, all living things and even non-living things are the same. We are One. Everything is of equal importance in this union. We cannot consider ourselves important at this point. In this world where we forget the facts and create our own chaos, the plastics we consume recklessly are taken back into our bodies with a fish we eat with the intention of eating healthy. As we pollute the world and nature, we pollute Oneness. When we pollute Oneness, our souls are polluted. And that’s when we keep questioning why this is happening to us in a world that is more and more chaotic, more and more angry, more and more unstable, and we can find neither an answer nor a solution to the question. But the answer and the solution are in our hearts. If we can polish our hearts and turn them into mirrors, and when the number of mirrors increases and all mirrors show the beauty of Oneness in each other, we can experience the infinity of true beauty in the infinity of mirrors. May each breath polish our mirror a little more…
