A Tale
We were moving her office, and when I walked in with a box, she jumped, startled from reading something “Oh, I must have been having a Zen moment," she said. (She knew I had been meditating and was ribbing me a little.)
“Maybe not,” I said. (We’re good friends, and I knew she was interested in spiritual topics.) “If you’d been having a Zen moment, you’d have heard me coming, made room for the box, all without losing track of your reading.”
She liked that, tilting her head slightly to the side, then nodded with a tiny smile gracing the corners of her mouth; then we did have a Zen moment, indeed . . both of us!
The Tale Wagged
One accurate use of the word “Zen” points toward those moments when we’re fully absorbed in an event or a thing or an activity, free of worry (or any other kind of discursive thought), totally attentive to all the circumstances in our surroundings. For one friend, it happens when he’s fishing; for another, a racquetball game with his best buddy invigorates him all day. Doing most of the MomStuff does it for someone else I know.
It seems I have never caused an accident when I was completely calm and alert, preoccupied neither by events in the past or concerns for the future. Seems like I always get into trouble when I’m going too fast, thinking about something other than what I’m doing. (Showing off for other people almost guarantees that I get into trouble.)
Echoes
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. II assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
Jesus
(Mark 10:13‑16)
Zen has been setting up a tent in America for forty years or so, plenty of time to trickle down into pop culture. My impression is that people use the term “Zen” to mean everything from “spaced out,” to its opposite, “task‑focused.”