Where I live, I have a view up the California coast. Many a night I sit on my patio and study the lights along the horizon. It’s one of my meditations. Warm or cold, rain or moonlight, I often sit.
 
Last night, it was very clear. Some nights it is not that way, due to the California marine layer, or other factors. Recently, it has been very hazy, so I haven’t had a very clear view of late. But last-night, while looking up the coast, I immediately noticed that there was a big swath of blackness in the Malibu area. It struck me as very sad as that is where a large number of homes were destroyed by the recent Palisades Fire. And, it’s still buring as I write this.
 
I mean, Malibu, or, “The Bo,” as it is sometimes joking called, is a dream location to live; right there on the coast. I know I have dreamed of living there. But, a large segment of those homes are gone.
 
There has been a lot of very large-scale fire destruction of people’s lives over the past few years. The fires of Northern California a couple of years ago, the fires in Australia, and Greece, just to name a few. Fires in places that one may not expect would be destroyed, like urban neighborhoods. But, they’re all gone. Memories and lives destroyed.
 
One can say that if you hold onto nothing, then nothing can be taken from you. Sure, that’s very Zen. But, think how few people live like that. Do you? Once it’s gone, it’s gone, then what?
 
I believe the, “Then what,” is the question. And, it’s a big one.
 
Hopefully you will never have a, “Then what,” question asked of you in your life. But, in some/many ways, we all do. We are all going to come up against the wall of that, “No more.” Each of our lives will eventually end. Then, as always seems to be the case, family and friends go through the possessions, keep what they want and toss out the rest. But eventually, even the people who do that will be gone as well. It will all eventually be gone: you, me, and all the stuff. Then what?