Is there a solution? An answer? One single action, or agreement, or understanding, that would transform life from the arena in which we argue over, wrestle with, the challenges of the day? To the arena, if that is still the word, in which we contemplate challenges met and overcome, resolved; contemplate a life empty of - I'm tempted to write 'life', but perhaps I should substitute pain, suffering, the debt crisis in Europe, the other guy's point of view in the studio debate, poverty, that squabble over not bringing in the laundry from the line, the chill this morning, the child's bicycle thrown down in the doorway of the shed where we store the logs (and the bicycles), blocking it.
No.
Tempting to end there, with what my old mentor Dave used to call a "Mozart ending". [An abrupt ending.]
But perhaps - yes.
If the spiritual path teaches anything, it teaches: look inward. And heal thyself, et cetera. And I wonder whether, if we're talking about the challenges of the day, we might consider adding this: a snappier, more instantly quotable way of saying - a soundbite to convey the message that - what you find inward is there to be projected outward, if you so choose. Inner peace is great, wow, but is your house peaceful? Bring your inner peace, as well as your attention, to the protest, the demonstration, and examine your awareness that the other side threatens (seems to threaten) violence. To say "We were peaceful; they were violent" is similar to "We were right; they were wrong", and just as true or false. But is it peaceful to be contemplating their potential for violence?
How is it right to blame wrong? There's something to say here about casting the first stone, and I think it's more subtle than "She did it!" The sun is shining in through the window, lighting the dust as well as the various things I "should" dust. My back is aching, I'm coming down with a chill, and the "My" and "I" of this sentence both have their place in this beautiful day.
No.
Tempting to end there, with what my old mentor Dave used to call a "Mozart ending". [An abrupt ending.]
But perhaps - yes.
If the spiritual path teaches anything, it teaches: look inward. And heal thyself, et cetera. And I wonder whether, if we're talking about the challenges of the day, we might consider adding this: a snappier, more instantly quotable way of saying - a soundbite to convey the message that - what you find inward is there to be projected outward, if you so choose. Inner peace is great, wow, but is your house peaceful? Bring your inner peace, as well as your attention, to the protest, the demonstration, and examine your awareness that the other side threatens (seems to threaten) violence. To say "We were peaceful; they were violent" is similar to "We were right; they were wrong", and just as true or false. But is it peaceful to be contemplating their potential for violence?
How is it right to blame wrong? There's something to say here about casting the first stone, and I think it's more subtle than "She did it!" The sun is shining in through the window, lighting the dust as well as the various things I "should" dust. My back is aching, I'm coming down with a chill, and the "My" and "I" of this sentence both have their place in this beautiful day.