A musing

Do all things with love.

Og Mandino

…… which sounds so simple. But I think that most of us, most of the time, are not doing all the things that we do, with love. I think we, the collective We, make things much more complicated than simple love would have them be. And I think usually the things we do are aimed at fulfilling personal desires for security, power, enrichment, status. I think — & this saddens me, momentarily — that we, the collective We, don’t know how to “do” with love. We clutter most of our behavior with many other motives. For much of my own life, this has been true.

But, I am willing to imagine that it does not need to continue being this way. And, yes, I will actively search for examples to disprove my theory — after all, how do I know what motivations most of us actually have?!? Really, I want to be wrong about this. I want to believe that people do what they do, with Love as the most important part of their calculations. This is the world I wish to live in. In my imagination, that world is very different from the world as it currently manifests.

What would we, the collective We, look like, if we did all things with love?? Hmmm, I’d like your thoughts on this. Here are a few of mine ……

~~~Rather than keeping all earned results for oneself, Generosity could be more prevalent: Businesses, agriculture, industry would give away more of their products & services. Maybe for every 100 doohickeys sold, 2 would be donated. For every ton of grain sold, 1/10th would be given away. For every dozen paid-for haircuts, 1 is free.

~~~Love, as both part of the process, & part of the goal, could re-shape the world of public service. People might go into politics because of love for their country, state, community, sure. But could they approve misleading, deceptive ads? Would they sabotage, set out to ruin, or assassinate each other?! Perhaps the term of service would include being supported by the constituents, but not include any actual money (salary), only the necessities: the service is closer to volunteering. And maybe every citizen is required to serve a term of public service at some level, in some capacity.

Ay yi yi! Already, as I muse upon this, I can feel the rule-making creeping in: how else to make sure it all happens evenly, & fairly? This brings me right up against a concept known in economics as the Tragedy of the Commons—>> For example, in land owned & used communally, some people take advantage, which begins to ruin it for everybody else. Unless there is vigilant & energetic local oversight. I imagine that rule making, rule keeping, with the equitable input of everyone involved, takes a lot of work. I wrote briefly about his before, ‘the commons’ being an idea that I believe can reshape & enrich the world. But my personal experience of living among any communal resources is limited. What do you know? What have you experienced? Sharing your insights with me, & other readers is very very welcome, as this is an on-going conversation I want to be part of.

Do all things with love.

The way we “do” is mostly informed by our unexamined consciousness, I think. But I believe we can change our consciousness, & I know that I’ve changed over the years, changed what I do & don’t do, based on “love”, & I suspect this is true of many others also. For myself: I’m no longer willing to take only the best of the produce at the store. I clean up after myself in public bathrooms. I can no longer rationalize any cheating of corporations. I vote, when I used to harangue others about its essential uselessness. I’ve learned compassion practices, which force me to look at the nature of my own mind, before judging the minds of others. I try hard to understand the motivations behind the choices other people make, & I usually can adjust my thinking when I know them. There are many kinds of work I just cannot do, because of the destructive impact they have of others. And, and, and ……… I am sure there are many other ways in which I can do what I do, with more love. I want to learn them. And that is itself an act of love, no??

What are your thoughts?? I really want to know! In the meantime,

Do all things with love.

Related articles

• My favorite Rumi musings on Love (wisdominthewhisper.com)

I, little conscious dot

We think we are great, broadly significant, & that we cover a whole large area. We see ourselves as having a history & a future, & here we are in our big-deal present. But if we look at ourselves clearly in this very moment, we see we are just grains of sand — just little people concerned only with this little dot which is called nowness.

At first blush, when I read this, I felt: “How insignificant this says I am!” Then, I felt: “Hmmm. If I’m insignificant, then everyone else is too, more or less.” After a while, I realized that these feelings, which I was giving great weight & importance too, were based on my ego, little screaming meemie that it is. It just didn’t want to believe that IT was not the axis of its Shala-centric concept of the universe.

THEN, I came to a different understanding altogether, a change of consciousness. It’s a little bit jumbled, & has more than one part ……… The Future is unknown. In our linear reckoning of time, it hasn’t happened yet, & could manifest in an infinite number of ways. So, it must be discounted as having any immediate significance. The Past …….. when it all comes down to it, the Past is only we what claim it is. How many events do we leave out when we talk of our childhood? How many things don’t make it into the nation’s history books? How fluid & malleable IS memory?? The Past must also be discounted as having any real significance, at any given time. Which leaves only Right Now. The “little dot” Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche speaks of, in this reading from Ocean of Dharma.

The 2nd part of this re-shaped consciousness is that, instead of being unimportant because we are all so small, all of the ‘grains of sand’ are actually of more or less equal importance. Here’s what I mean. Consider an actual grain of sand, tiny, yet definitely ‘there’, & a part of The Beach, or The Desert, which would not be there at all, if there were not all those grains of sand. It’s like a penny — not worth much anymore, but you still need 100 of them to make a dollar, right?

So, consider next how many other grains of sand each little grain touches. Many, possibly. I’ll guess (conservatively) a dozen — each itty bitty grain of sand bumps up against 12 others, or more. The original grain influences those 12. Which have some influence on the 12 touching them, & so on & on. 1 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 — by the time we get to the 6th degree of separation, 2,985,984 grains have been influenced indirectly by that wee, first, seemingly un-significant grain of sand. Nearly 3 million — that’s roughly the size of Chicago, or Madrid, cities of contemporary & historical significance.

That’s 3 million grains lying on the beach, influenced to some extent by that first one. Then the sand shifts — each grain is now possibly in touch with 12 new grains! And that goes on & on & on, & on & on & ON. So, instead of lamenting the small sphere of influence allotted to each little grain, we can instead consider this: What are we going to DO with all of the considerable influence that we really do have??

The 3rd part of my newly forged understanding of Li’l Ol’ Me is this: I am now hyper-aware of those other grains of sand I come in contact with. I feel some heightened responsibility for them, & a greater sense of responsiveness to them. Instead of feeling like I can do nothing of worth in this lifetime, I see now — because Now is where I/We exist, ignoring the so-called Past & Future — that I have virtually unlimited opportunities to do something worthwhile, however small it may be. However small I may be, little conscious dot that I am.

Wow.

Struck anew

Whether the all-encompassing sky, globe-girdling rivers, seasonally sojourning seed pods, the witnessing creature ……. all living beings have their consciousness. It struck me anew this morning, that it is the intersections & collisions of them that create the world, as it is. And as it can be ……

Metaphor: Why, yes, it IS!

We wee humans have many, many ways to perceive & process the world, do we not? There are the empirical tools: science, metrics. There are the interactive tools: religion, philosophy, analysis. There are the imaginative tools: art, metaphor. These are all means of getting at the truth of life & reality, of bringing its vastness down to a level where we wee humans can manage it; they all have their place in human existence. My very favorite of all our mind-tools is metaphor — I think it is the most interesting & mysterious, & the means of understanding the world that gives us our richest, most multi-dimensional understanding of life, of ourselves, of each other. Finding & using metaphorical imagery uses all the parts of our minds in a way that some other mind-tools do not – metaphor requires defining, analyzing, describing, using symbols & memory. In other words, most of the parts of our brains are activated by the use of metaphor.

And I truly pity those who cannot access “metaphorical truth”. Allowing into one’s imagination only what is understood as “literal truth” seems so limiting; it bespeaks a minimized, locked down consciousness. For example: How much compassion can you have for someone else if you believe “hell” is only a distant place,

Symptoms of the Shift

Week 2: Inward Compassion, Me, now …… Me, then …….

This is a re-post of something I wrote a short while ago. I am posting it on Alternate Economy, as an entry in the 8 Week Challenge. It speaks very well to Tristan’s idea of Inward Compassion: We are who we are because of what we have done/not done in the ‘past’. Whatever mistakes we made, or wrongs we did, are part of that past, but holding onto them — blaming & shaming ourselves because of them — does no one any good. Seeing them for what they are, & truly forgiving ourselves (with the resolution to ‘be better’) turns all of the blunders of our lives into powerful lessons. The mightiest teaching of all is this: Through seeing our own crap, we can be much gentler with other people. This is the essence of compassion, for in seeing my failures & screw ups, how can I be so harsh with yours?

Me, now …… Me, then …….

I have learned, through the years & because of numerous struggles, to not compare myself to others – there is ALways someone smarter, funnier, prettier, richer, kinder, more powerful, more together, more enlightened, more <<whatever>> ………….. And next to most others, the comparison is so often unfavorable to me, haha. But I do find it useful sometimes to compare Me, Now to Me, Then & most of the time, this reveals something I like to call “progress.”

Though never a raging beauty, I used to be decidedly prettier – thinner, no gray hair, no droopy eyelids.  But since I smile more easily, laugh more & am much kinder now, I am decidedly more beautiful than my young-woman-self.

I used to greatly admire the bold ones, those who took a risk & made some mighty achievement. Now, having taken many risks of my own, & sometimes flaming out spectacularly, I am not so judgmental about those who are seen as “under achievers”, or those who live modestly.

Strength & the ability to ‘bounce back’ — I used to be contemptuous of someone who did not have these qualities.  Since those long ago days though, I’ve endured deep depression a few times, finding my way out of it finally — not through being strong, but from being able to surrender to the transformation it demanded.  Having sustained several grievous wounds — physical, emotional, interpersonal — I now feel that the ability to keep going on, without hurting or destroying others, is a far more worthy quality than mere ‘strength’.

Long ago, I looked up to those who Stood For Their Values, uncompromisingly, never giving in. Having a tendency toward such stridency myself, & also the tendency to dig in my heels when challenged, I could identify. Being sensitive & intelligent though, & really looking at the world & myself in relation to it for decades now, I see that changing one’s mind is sometimes quite necessary, & the mature choice. The evolution of one’s intellect, views, mindset is a mark of growth, & I understand now that rigidity & staunchness are detrimental to that growth. Someone (not sure who) put it this way:

If you are the same person at age 50 as you were at age 20, then you’ve wasted 30 years.

What this refers to, I think, is one’s awareness, one’s consciousness. By that measure then, I haven’t wasted ANY time!! Definitely a form of impermanence I can embrace. Hahaha, as I grow more mindful, it becomes more of a blessing to look at my “failures”, & at the things I’ve squandered — knowing that my life has not followed the untainted, mythically perfect path tells me that this is most likely the truth of everyone else’s life too. We’ve all been broken, or wrong, or betrayed — it’s one way we are the same. Along with our inevitable death, our weaknesses, mistakes & missteps make us One with each other. Within this oneness, this same-ness lie the seeds of compassion – — for who has not been lost in some way, & who will not die? No, no, your pain, my failure — our lives, our deaths — are shared experiences. Yes, we go through each on our own, but the having of them we share.

Looking at Me, Then & Me, Now, I see what I can think of as “progress” in my consciousness. It is my success that I am much more capable of feeling compassion for others, than way back in the day. And around the world more & more people are working toward that too. Increasingly, I see compassion as being the only proper response to the myriad troubles of we wee humans. When I, when we, feel compassion instead of judgment, hate, bigotry & all other forms of division ……… well, then, there’s a work in progress.

Related articles

• Week 2: Compassion (alternateeconomy.wordpress.com)
• Virtue–Compassion (patcegan.wordpress.com)
• The Difference Between Compassion and “Idiot Compassion” (mindmindful.wordpress.com)