Noise Please, I'm Meditating

Spotted on the way home from the Whole Foods this morning: a guy meditating in full lotus position on a traffic island in the middle of Union Square, the busiest intersection in Somerville. And of course, this is right. What does it mean to meditate in a controlled environment like a monastery? Not much. Our practice, our serenity, our enlightenment, means so much more when it means something in the noise, both figurative and literal, of daily life, life as it is lived when we are going about the business of life.