Secret city

Every city has its side streets, nooks & crannies, secret shortcuts & passageways. It's always nice to have a wander and explore these even in a city you think you know & it's always a surprise to meet other people in these locations & wonder why they are there & where they are heading.

On a side note:

Do you ever get that 'Wow' moment that seems to come out of nowhere (or when pondering the meaning of it all) when it suddenly dawns on you how amazing it is just to exist & that we are all on an astounding adventure flying through an infinite universe full of mystery...?

No...me neither...

Just joking I had one last night. Meditating on such revelations can lead to a wonderful sense of how amazing life is and can point towards what the Buddhists call Satori.

I've had a few such moments in life which led me to study Zen Buddhism on and off over the years.

Satori is the spiritual goal of Zen Buddhism. It is a key concept in Zen. Whether it comes to you suddenly seemingly out of nowhere as found in the Enlightenment process, or after an undetermined passage of time centred around study & meditation there can be no Zen without that which has come to be called Satori.

Satori roughly translates into individual Enlightenment, or a flash of sudden awareness. Satori is as well an intuitive experience as if you've caught the truth through some inner revelation. Its not analytical but revelatory.

The feeling of Satori is that of infinite space & that all is right with the world despite the chaos & pain, that everything has meaning, even those things which seem random and meaningless.