A delightful short dialogue from the movie ‘Spanglish’:
Dad: (Open’s son’s door) You don’t have to get up yet, but are you thinking seriously about it?
Son: Yes.
Dad: Okay. (A few minutes lapse, before he opens door again)
Son: Now?
Dad: Yes, actual up.
Being lazybones myself, I like the idea of being preempted to wake up first, before needing to do the actual crawling out of bed later. It’s like having a human snooze alarm clock, that gently awakens you to the fact that you have to really awaken soon. Now, reread the previous sentence in the spiritual sense – to derive another level of meaning! It’s true that if you are not thinking seriously enough about waking up, you will not really do so. That’s how we stick to the bed till late mornings on weekends! In Buddhism, ‘awakening the thought to enlightenment’ marks the very first moment we begin walking the path towards actual awakening. Time to wake up. You don’t have to do it immediately. But are you thinking seriously about it? Aspirations are the mothers of actions, towards the perfection of compassion and wisdom. (Perfecting the qualities related to pure compassion, wisdom, aspiration and action form the path towards Buddhahood.)
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