My brief experience of Zen led me to meander around the idea of movement. Zen prioritises a stillness- of both body and mind. And as I struggle with the physical effort of keeping still I come to realise that movement is always futile. I am uncomfortable so I desire to move; I give in and move, but am at once dissatisfied in my slightly altered condition. I am uncomfortable so I move; but then I am still uncomfortable- simply in a different place. I experiment with keeping utterly still and over time the body seems to sink into an equilibrium with its discomfort- a pain that looses sharpness as stillness is maintained.

Can I translate this bodily experience to a wider context? I attempt to expand these observations from a few hours in a small temple room to ideas about our movement through the world. Our constant seeking which requires constant movement; a societal phenomenon which we can see boldly represented in the capitalist economic system; the personal psyche writ large- this monster of unrequited desire; a system of endless dynamism. It is the antithesis to stillness. And has produced a widespread malaise.

Is it that, like sitting practicing zen- life is an uncomfortable thing…yet moving, and desiring will not end this discomfort? One can move constantly; shifting and niggling and never be completely at ease. What is required is a stillness, the coming to terms with discomfort, rather than a constant shifting, buying, chasing that always proves only a minor distraction before another movement becomes necessary-to maintain the escape (from what?).