“For traditional Buddhists, resurrection is daily business. Monday, kind of.”. This is a Good Friday Tweet posted by Morbus Laetitia this morning[1]. What a lovely thought, I thought. And then: What if, indeed, Easter was not a once-a-year excuse for taking a few days off, while the feast itself (at least in Western Europe) has somehow lost most of its religious inheritance and spiritual appeal, in exchange for being devoured by chocolate bunnies and candy eggs? What if we made Easter our daily business, regardless of our religious (or philosophical) inclination? What would this feel like and look like?
Let’s try the idea on in a few different ways:
Easter Eggs Are Everywhere: What if we went about our daily lives looking for Easter eggs all the time? Carefully examining every tiny space behind trees, in the grass, and between the cracks, looking for the sparkle of rainbow-coloured bonbon wraps, the smell of fudge, and the sound of cracking a lollipop[2]? And, when something is spotted, experiencing the pure joy of discovery, the flittering joy of anticipation, the proud joy of reclaiming the prey, and the intense joy of the first bite of the sweet?
It’s Always Time for a Leisurely Walk: Digging up Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s famous poem “Osterspaziergang” is a newspaper ritual for the Easter weekend (at least in the German reading corners of the world)[3]. Without going into the intricacies of interpreting the poem (or its surrounding verses in Goethe’s “Faust”): One thing it does convey is the timeless appeal of leisurely walks (accompanied by casual conversations). What if we could enjoy our walk through life in this elegantly appreciative way, taking whatever comes our way as an invitation for reflection[4] (even if it’s weird black poodle that might eventually get us into trouble)?
Every moment is a resurrection: What if we took the idea from the quote at the beginning to the extreme, thinking of every single moment as a resurrection? What if we could fully savour every single moment with all its history and all its past deaths while simultaneously tasting its complete and utter newness? What if we came to the conclusion that the birth of this moment is completely, magically, and perfectly fresh? And what, if this feels difficult at times, we always knew how to wrap it in the right cloths and dress it with the right stories to remind us of its wonder[5]?
Happy Easter Everywhere[6]!
[1] See https://twitter.com/Morbus_Laetitia/status/583908558443515905 [retrieved Apr 3, 2015]. BACK TO TEXT[2] Just like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0kd-w7Xwd8 [retrieved Apr 3, 2015] BACK TO TEXT[3] The poem is a long monologue by Faust in his walk with Wagner outside the town gates in one of the early scenes of “Faust I” (1808) – there are plenty of versions of the text and plenty of interpretations on the web, so just go on the information hunt yourself. Less well known, “Osterspaziergang” is also the German title for the movie “Easter Parade” (1948), starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, see for example here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xxfm5-zRHo [retrieved Apr 3, 2015] BACK TO TEXT[4] Or, as one might also say, an opportunity for dedication and devotion – see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9_VOy7VipQ [retrieved Apr 3, 2015] BACK TO TEXT[5] For a beautiful illustration of this, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90GR25U8qtc [retrieved Apr 3, 2015] BACK TO TEXT[6] For celebration, listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfMRp9YtmyY [retrieved Apr 3, 2015] BACK TO TEXT