free peace of mind

a Lohbado graphic

Being able to recognize the limits of self and of one’s knowledge requires an intuition of something beyond the usual way of looking at things. Lohbado remembered an episode of when he was a PBE (push button expert) for the Department of Regulation. One day the boss, Lyle Prickle walked into Lohbado’s cubicle and began snorting through the nose, gasping and sputtering, as if he actually believed he was a representative of civilization out to protect himself, his family and loved ones from the threat of wild spirits such as Lohbado. While Lyle went on and on about the MRM (Minister of Regulation’s mandate), Lohbado gazed at dust spots on the dry wall and at a stained tile of the drop-tile ceiling. Lyle reprimanded Lohbado about a comment he made to a colleague, who felt a moral obligation to go straight to the boss and report what Lohbado had said. Lyle’s eyes bulged in his pale face. His limbs stiffened. He looked like he was on the verge of having an inverse orgasm as he gave Lohbado hell.


Lohbado patiently endured as Lyle Prickle ejaculated pent up frustration. A sense of unreality swept through Lohbado’s mind. He wanted to reach out and pinch the boss to see if he was for real. As the boss got worked up, Lohbado focused on his breathing to avoid bursting out laughing. To laugh at the boss during a reprimand would up the punishment to higher levels of administration. None of this would have happened if Helen hadn’t repeated Lohbado’s comment. Everyone knew Helen was a control freak who had built a nest up the boss’s ass. Helen winters controlled the department. She wound the boss around her little finger. Helen Winters nurtured her soul on an intense hatred towards Lohbado. He represented everything that stood in her way, all the afflictions of her body and mind. She felt if she could use her influence to rid the department of Lohbado, the world would be a better place for herself.

When Lyle Prickle finished his business, Lohbado went home, even though there was still an hour left on his shift. He felt the eyes of jealous colleagues blazing through the window as they watched him cross the icy road in front of the department building to his house.

Lohbado put on down trousers, a heavy parka, felt-lined boots, mitts and fur hat. Let us go then to the eroded cliffs and see what lies beyond one’s point of view. Rise above the claustrophobia of ego battles, power struggle and wounded vanity. Lohbado walked down the road, crossed the frozen stream and climbed a steep rock hill. It took about thirty minutes to reach the summit. It felt good to open his heart and mind to the power of the elements, to infinity, to gaze across the vast wilderness. He sat cross legged on a flat rock in front of a huge boulder, which provided shelter from the strong cold wind. Blowing ribbons of snow animated the landscape, a landscape in motion, alive, dancing.

Lohbado’s hopes and fears dissolved into particles and were blown away in the cosmic wind roaring across the frozen plains. Moments of awareness poked holes in the tissue of drowsiness and agitation that often enveloped his mind. For a few minutes, he was able to drop his life story, to forget about petty resentments and unpleasant memories. He laughed at his foolishness, how he reacted so often to jealous insults and mockery. At one point, it’s time to stop cowering. It’s time to be confident and cheerful. He spent so many years pretending to be miserable so as not to get clobbered by jealous creatures.

He could never understand why anyone would envy him. That was the joke, there was nothing to be jealous about. Lohbado noticed how sometimes when a somebody sees a relaxed, cheerful person, jealousy and resentment occurs, along with a dose of self-pity. The person wants whatever is causing the cheerful person to be cheerful. The irony is that anyone could have even more than what Lohbado had. But to get it would require a leap beyond ego constraints, beyond selfishness, aggression and ignorance. It would require effort. Cakes don’t fly into one’s mouth. To have and eat a cake requires one to bake a cake. It takes patience, discipline, exertion, concentration and generosity, unless one intends to pig out and not share.

These qualities are available for free to whoever wants them. Free peace of mind, free equanimity, free loving-kindness, free sympathetic joy...