Finding peace in order

he was in a playful mood
although the garden hose was not the most exciting thing in the world  
the composition of the scene looked right
with the shadow
and with the mark on the floor
appearing in a sense as though it were the clothing
of the humble hose
he took a picture for fun

dwelling a little longer on the scene
his mind went surprisingly quiet
the sense of order in the scene seemed to be gently stilling his mind
he also began to see a similar sense of order elsewhere in the scene
when the angle was right

he could not explain what it was that was right
and the fact that he could not explain seemed to be part of the reason for his silent mind

somewhere he remembered somebody telling him that computers don’t understand such things as artistic composition
perhaps the computer part of his mind could also not understand
‘maybe this is the way out of the never-ending computer mind,
‘but I had better not touch anything,’ he thought

‘otherwise I will be trying to order the whole world and I couldn’t do that, 

maybe just in my own room,’ he thought

he paused and sat down
something rather monumental was arising in his mind
he was realising that he had been trying to put the world in order all his life

‘so is the answer to do nothing?
no, that is not right
the world needs to have some order 
for us to be safe,’ 

‘putting things in order is part of looking after them, isn’t it’

‘but I can’t put everything in order so what must I do to find peace’

‘I can do what I can, changing what I can change and have to accept what I cannot’
he sat a while longer

‘and if I can see a deeper sense of order than the colours and the shapes
even deeper than a moral sense 
if I can see that everywhere
then I will be at peace,
such is the peace of true Dhamma
where we see everything as natural,’ 

‘but seeing Dhamma is like finding order through peace
rather than finding peace through order,’
he thought

​

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