Using Mirabai's devotional focus on the absent-present Krishna to examine how we relate to civilization—simultaneously real and disappearing.
Mirabai's Krishna is paradoxically present and absent—embodied in her devotion yet unreachable, responsive to her love yet ultimately mysterious and autonomous. This dynamic mirrors our relationship to civilization itself. The world we love is tangibly real—in daily relationships, ecosystems, institutions, art—yet it is also disappearing, transforming in ways beyond our control. We cannot know the future it will take. Like Mirabai addressing Krishna, we must learn to love what is here while acknowledging what is slipping away, to engage fully while releasing certainty about outcomes. The beloved-as-mirror practice involves sitting with this paradox: When I look at civilization, what do I see? What am I projecting, and what is actually there? What can I love in what exists, regardless of what comes next? This contemplative stance prevents both toxic attachment and dissociative withdrawal.
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