The Ruler's Sitting Before Judgment
Ten to twelve minutes, before a decision that weighs on you.
Before you begin. This is a practice for clear-headed adults facing a hard choice. It is not for decisions made in acute grief or crisis; seek support first. If you have a history of depression with numbness, or of depersonalisation, use it with a clinician. Do not practise while driving. Sit upright in a chair.
How to return at any moment. Open your eyes, put your hands on the desk or your thighs, and say the decision aloud in one sentence.
Name the dilemma exactly, both horns. If I do this, these will suffer. If I do not, those will. Say it once, plainly, and let it be true.
Close your eyes. You have withdrawn for a few minutes to a quiet place. The sage has given you the questions and gone home.
Ask them slowly. What am I? Where do all these things come from? What is this life? What is this death? Do not answer. Let each settle like snow.
Now step down the ladder. On each out-breath, one rung.
I am not this place. Breathe out.
I am not this office. It was given; it will be given again. Breathe out.
I am not these possessions. Breathe out.
I am not this body, this flesh, these bones. Breathe out.
I am not these senses. I am not this restless mind. Breathe out.
What remains? Do not name it. Rest there, a moment, as if in sound sleep.
Now see the stage. On it, the mind plays its part: the ruler, the decision, the people. You sit in the dark of the hall, silent, watching. You can see the whole play from here.
From that seat, look at the decision again. Without anger. Without favour. Let it be what it is.
(Silence: one minute.)
Keep the calm as a thread, not a lock. Do not hold it tight.
Feel the chair, the floor, your hands. Breathe in fully.
I will count from one to five. One: breath. Two: hands and feet. Three: the sounds of the room. Four: a deep breath, shoulders back. Five: eyes open, alert, here.
Say your name, the time and the task in front of you. Then return to act.