May
Attending the Present
The first stanza of the Havamal offers this advice:
All door-ways, before going forward, should be looked to; for
difficult it is to know where foes may sit within a dwelling.
Does that sound cynical to you? Actually, it is good common sense. One ought always look about when entering a place. One never knows who – or what – might be there. There might be rare occasions when it is best to turn around before entering. A quick glance might be the difference between exiting or walking into a robbery, for instance.
How many people actually look into the back seat of their cars before entering? Not a few car-jackings and robberies were done by someone hiding in the back seat.
This verse is not a call for paranoia, but advice to pay attention. A modern equivalent is the slogan “Look before you leap.”
Many of us go through the day in a fog of our own making. We are so busy thinking of other concerns that we do not heed what we are doing at the moment. We need to be attentive as we go from place to place, task to task. Being alert is being alive.
