“Beware the Ides of March,” is the ominous prediction which warns Julius Cesar of his impending doom at the hands of Brutus. And mid-March can seem pretty darn bleak and full of portent, one could agree. However, prior to Shakespeare’s immortalizing that phrase in the eponymous play, the Ides of March – March 15th – was set aside as a festival time to celebrate the warrior god Mars. We have adopted the doom and gloom of March through our literary Western culture over a span of 400 years or so.
It is endlessly fascinating to me how any event is completely subject to interpretation. The Buddha tells us that, yes, life is suffering but, in effect, the suffering is optional. Yes, Caesar was murdered on the 15th of March but the residual evil hanging over that event 2000 years later is a choice we make. There is suffering but the suffering is optional.
What are we hanging on to that we can let go of? From what are we still suffering? What events from long, long ago do we carry forward, allowing those events to color how we feel, think and act?
As I said, endlessly fascinating. Well you know where to contemplate all that and begin to work it out. I’ll be there too.
See you on the mat.
