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Autumn, the changing season, a time of transitions, is heralded by brisk winds and chilling air. The vibrant forest colors mask the disruption of our national psyche as we grapple with an uncertain future.  

During this intensely troubled time, Tibetan monks create Sand Mandalas for planetary healing and Earth’s inhabitants.

University professor Geshe Dorjee, himself a refugee from Tibet who fled violence and brutality in his home country, freely gives his spiritual teachings and blessings in our communities.

Geshe Dorjee and Yeshi Topgyal began the Eureka Springs Medicine Buddha Mandala today. During the next three days, using detailed color and imagery; they will create a “roadmap” to wholeness and compassion.

The visceral lesson of the Sand Mandala is that everything is temporary. As a visual reminder; first, they lovingly create the sand painting “roadmap;” placing each colored sand-grain intentionally while chanting silent prays; then the Mandala is instantly destroyed when they ritualistically sweep away the sand. Always there is a gasp as some try to cling to the moment; then the profundity of the impermanence of all things dawns and reverence for the fleeting moments of our very lives deepens.

We are standing at the precipice of catastrophic climate disasters and staring into the abyss of social suicide. As of today, our country still has a tenuous hold on democracy; the uncertainty of November 6 is still future. To quell my concerns, I take myself back into the gentle sounds of the stick raking across the “chak-pur,” watching flowing grains of sand create gardens, walls and steps leading to ultimate wisdom, the “palace” of peace and healing.

Our country, once a symbol of hope for those seeking personal freedom of self-expression, now cages small children in the name of security and rejects refugees because of their speech, color or religion.

Should we Americans, surrender our precious liberties of self-expression, something else will rise in its place. Like clouds, everything’s impermanent; change comes unbidden with each moment.

However this election plays out, we still have to make personal choices. Will we, or not, allow compassion to grow in our hearts?