On Work

 Most people I know work for a living. In fact some of us are working longer than we had planned since some economics have not been as certain as they once were. However, there are a few different ways in which we can think about work. Are we looking at “gainful employment,” which is exchanging some of our time and energies for money? Are we looking at putting our vitality into something we love doing, which may or may not involve the exchange of money? Either way, it seems that, in order to be healthy, we’ll need to be active in some pursuit, even if making money is not an issue. Seems the mind needs a focus and the body needs movement.

 "right work"

            You’d think all of this would be self evident and hardly needs saying, but there are a number of people who tend to confuse how they attract money with what we could call right use of time and talents. When Siddhartha Gautama came forth from his meditative state and became The Buddha, he understood that we must play a part in the world. In his spiritual system, which contains ways to think and live, he included a very pragmatic path called “right work.” As human beings that are spiritually based, we make an impact on life, and we can choose how this will take form in the world. One of the ways we can create a place is through work, whether money is involved or not.

a joyless chore

In thinking through these ideas…which seem to make sense…I have to wonder…when did work get such a bad rap? When did it become a joyless chore? Could it be that much of it is done strictly for money with little regard or honor in what we do…and maybe little regard or honor for ourselves in doing it? I think that if we find ourselves in a stuck place in our work, we may find we are in a stuck place that is within ourselves, and this may cause us to be in a place that is really not for us.

an evil profession

The American Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once wrote, “What have we to do with an evil profession?” I think that the evil consideration here does not so much have to be something illegal or destructive as much as it may mean something completely unsuitable for us. What can possibly be gained eventually if we hate what we do?

We bring light

Does it take more effort to bring our best heart and mind into a circumstance than it does to just get by? No doubt, but what is the cost to us emotionally and psychologically to short ourselves in the bargain? If The Buddha’s wisdom still prevails, it would be important to find the “rightness” in the use of our time and talents. I think that work done with love, creativity, integrity and real understanding cannot fail to celebrate us as we bring light right where we are. This will stand whether we are presidents of corporations, school teachers, mechanics or fence builders.

On Grace

 

Grace can mean a lot of things. Aside from being a lovely, feminine name, it can be viewed as a divine dispensation. The “grace of God” usually refers to a divine gift given to the undeserving, something that God gives even though we, the receivers, may not merit it (which, incidentally, I do not buy. I think of God as essential being that is revealing itself through creation, not making choices as to who gets and who doesn’t. This, however, is a topic for another essay.)

A joy to watch

Then there is the “grace of beautiful movement.” We are very aware of some living things, maybe human beings, maybe some animals, who strike our senses with the fluidity and ease of their physical movements. They seem to track from one place to another with a minimum of thought, effort and no impediments to their travel. At the very least they are a joy to watch.

The grace of small deals

There is also what I like to call the “grace of small deals,” which some people carry off with aplomb. At any time during a busy day things can unravel and go awry; emergencies can pop up; people can be freaking out about any number of things, and still those possessing the grace of small deals can move through all of these without ever letting anything turn into a big deal. It is not that he or she of the small deal minimizes or makes less important the very important. It is that there seems to be in such people the quiet, strong, stabilizing ability to keep hysterical behaviors from erupting. By their very presence they are a settling influence. It cannot be said that they are without feelings because this makes no sense. Everyone is subject to the emotion inherent in a situation. None of us live outside the moment in some kind of vacuum.

A sense of their own place

I think that small-deal people, those who are full of grace, carry with them a sense of their own place in life. Perhaps it can be said that they know themselves, that they have real love for themselves and that they know they are loved by others. Frankly I think that firefighters can be full of grace. Whenever I see depictions of them engaging in their tasks, they seem to be little-dealing whatever is happening. No doubt there is excitement and a sense of urgency in what they do. No question either that they can be putting themselves in harm’s way, but their disciplines in handling what lies before them appear to be an almost choreographed flow. One cannot help but be inspired at the sight of them in action.

A real sense of self

Perhaps it could be said that those who have a real sense of self and the discipline that goes with directing that self are naturally full of grace. They can be very young…some little children meander along, enjoying their own sphere. They can be very old…some elderly folks know how to stand comfortably wherever they find themselves.

The grace-filled

Whenever I see the grace-filled, I am transfixed by them. I don’t envy them. I would simply like to be one of them.

On Playing Chicken

 

 What should we think of a group of less than 600 legislators who nearly shot an arrow through the heart of the “full faith and credit of the United States of America”…by playing chicken??  What should we think of some congressmen whose narrow ideology cannot or will not embrace a greater good?  What should we think of members of Congress whose holy grail is to get re-elected above all things?  What should we think of a Congress, some of whose members openly want to destroy a President?  What should we think of legislators who refuse to do their jobs and legislate, who view their colleagues-turned-opponents as “the other side?”

Wait!
But wait!  If it is the collective consciousness of the people who have sent such unworthy legislators to represent us, what does this say about us?  Are we by extension combative, power seekers, enemy creators…or are we so cynical and so inattentive that we simply do not care what our representatives are doing in our names?  England’s Margaret Thatcher pointedly said:  “It is very easy to give power away and very hard to get it back.”  Our own Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, warns that a small number of elites count on peoples’ cynicism and non participation in government to absorb more power.

Creative untidiness...
 My husband of over 30 years tramped across a broken Europe after WW II and eventually made his way to American shores.  He and throngs every year come here for a fair shake.  They come to participate in the creative untidiness of a democratic society, something most of us born here never think about.  This land still holds a fair vision of hope and possibility.  Visions must be allowed to unfold and find footprints on the ground.  Visions, like liberty, must be admired and protected, and we are inattentive to this at our peril.

 Not only deaf but blind!
If we allow unworthy politicians to play chicken in our names, they could finally succeed in pecking their eyes out.  Then we will be allowing ourselves to be led by those who are not only deaf but blind!

           

On Cooking a Frog

I love to use little metaphors to make a point, and there is a story these days that creates a very obvious image. To wit: If you toss a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will hop out immediately. On the other hand, if you toss a frog into a pot of cool water and turn on the fire, it will slowly get used to the increasing temperature and eventually let itself boil to death. Grim story, but it makes an unmistakable point. It illustrates serious inattention. In fact if I wanted to give this essay a different title, I would call it “On Not Paying Attention.” Our lives can move along, seemingly in a particular direction, and then end up where we had never meant to go. We can be asking ourselves the question, “How did I get here?”, and then search for the answer. Often we will find a series of unnoticed choices…or non choices…that brought us where we are.

the unexamined life

It is Socrates who said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” While I would hardly go that far, I would say that an unexamined life can cause us to be caught in a drift we hadn’t noticed. I could also call this essay, “On Thinking Ahead,” so that we might be able to avoid some of the hot water into which we get ourselves.

the original heart's desire

It is true that some of us plan our lives down to the last detail, almost ad nauseum sometimes. Nice work if you can get it and not be interrupted by wars, pestilences, family trauma or simply, the unexpected. Many things can interrupt the most thoughtful plan, but a heartfelt way to go can still carry a vision when the smoke clears enough for clarity to emerge. Some of us end up in quite different places than we had imagined, but the original heart’s desire does not necessarily go astray. Can we not also do what we had in mind in another venue?

A general guiding principle

I believe there is a general guiding principle that runs through all and this is to express life fully. We can do this in a gazillion different ways, but we will need to pay attention to it. Nature finds ways to express itself because it knows nothing else. The creeper blocked off by a wall will go through a crack or extend its tendrils around the wall. You and I can sigh and forget the whole thing. Not important enough, I guess…or maybe it is, but we simply stop seeking other ways to be fulfilled. We don’t have to handle everything that comes along. Maybe it really is not that important, but we don’t have to be casual about it either. There are always choices in front of us, and the mind is always thinking because, unless insanity clouds it permanently, it can’t do otherwise. Barring the inability to think clearly, we will need to keep noticing and deciding. We can be directive or give our lives over to fate, and that would truly be the tragedy.

On Ordinary Miracles

To a lot of people, miracles mean something completely unnatural, like setting aside the laws of nature to allow someone to fall out of a three-story window and hit the ground unharmed. Or maybe being able to stave off the inevitable consequences of some unfortunate act we may have initiated. As far as I am concerned, sometimes getting out of bed in the morning is a miracle. Oy! (Bones don’t always want to cooperate much!) Seriously, though, miracles do not have to be big, earth-shattering deals; they can be and often are the most effortless flows in the world. In fact I think that the definition of a miracle can be reduced to five, simple words: The truth revealed without obstruction.

The deep, abiding connection

There is a spiritual portent to this that does not involve a god that rearranges the laws of the universe to satisfy our needs. I am not talking about a god that stops a lava flow in mid descent because we choose to live at the foot of an active volcano. As I have often written, I am a believer, and I revere the deep, abiding connection that is always present among all of life, however we may postulate this. I believe as the ancients said that I live, move and have my being in something greater than myself. Some days…no lights, bells and whistles…some days…a bird song or two outside the window…or maybe a bit more.

Flashy whiz bangs

Does it deflate the whole idea of miracles to deem them so simple? Oh, sometimes they come as flashy whiz bangs, as something that occurs that is big and magnificent like a wonderful, unexpected healing. But I also think that healings of any kind would always be possible if we could clear up our infernal capacities to misunderstand everything! This, friends, would truly be a miracle! No kidding, it would be because we finally share the awareness of our connections with the great love and wisdom of That Within Which we all live and move. There are no pragmatic proofs of the miracle maker, only those that come as light through minds and hearts. No books, no gurus can give us what we can only know and experience for ourselves, and every wonder will not line up according to reason. Once we are open to this and don’t disparage what we can’t always explain, we are ready for ordinary miracles…things that fall into place just as they should…our being exactly where we need to be…large and small gifts coming to us…bringing gifts we never knew we had.

Follow our footsteps

Ordinary miracles would follow our footsteps every day if we would let them, and in fact they often do. When we get out of the way of our own truths, they come forth as the most natural things in the world. How can we not know this? Probably because we don’t always know how to look. What if we woke up one morning with a dawning clarity about something we had been wrestling with for God knows how long? If that isn’t a sweet miracle, I don’t know what is!

On Governing a Free People

 Americans are a dynamic lot. They are independent, opinionated, energetic, and it is very hard to tell them what to do. In dealing with citizens of a free country, the best that legislators can hope to do is use reason and rhetoric to persuade people to their points of view. Our Constitution guarantees this, along with the right to function as free people so long as we do not force our ideals upon others. Right now, however, narrow points of view are prevailing in Congress, not the inclinations of our legislators to vote and govern according to the best interests of our country.

 So sorry looking...

 I think the picture of the flag on this blog very much depicts where our legislators find themselves right now. We see our iconic image so sorry looking. No wind unfurls its folds; we do not see the stars and stripes flying vigorously in the breeze as they should. Lack of motion mutes the flag’s swirls, this same lack apparently denying our legislators the vigor of governance. Confusion and anger are overtaking the American people as we wait for legislators who will not legislate.

Entrenched, ideological camps... 

 It does not matter what our party affiliations are, whether we live in a red or blue state, and what our ethnicities and cultures may be. We are at heart and with reason Americans, and we deserve the vitality and action of legislators who were elected to represent us, not hide in entrenched, ideological camps.

Let us have those who will...

The country and its citizens are suffering because of the mindless intransigence of a few. We know what to do…First we pray; then get on phones, computer, and iPhones. Make calls, send e-mails and tweets; mail letters. According to the Constitution we live under a social contract through which we consent to be governed by representatives. Let’s get on it and demand that our elected officials either govern…or go home and let us have those who will!

On Kids

We are immersed in a world of children. Some are wanted; some come along by accident; some come through the birth process; some come through adoption; some are enchanting; some are difficult; some are ours; some are other people’s children. In a word, we live surrounded by kids, and it is my belief that kids can never have too many people loving them. In fact they need as much love as they can possibly get, love that is patient, understanding and love that says no when it is needed.

"Blended" families

Many kids live in what are called “broken” families; the unit is no longer intact and the members may become scattered. Some kids live in “blended” families, groups that did not begin together but come together as parents either remarry or form another family unit. I know something about this because I, a divorced woman with children, married a divorced man with children. I learned very quickly that these new kids are not “add-ons;” they are part of an entirely new family community. Challenging, yes! Rewarding, absolutely! And the ultimate magic comes about when the kids you have taken the time to love turn about and love you. Seems that we can never have enough kids loving us either!

Blossoming adults

When does a kid stop being a kid and become an adult? We all know the objective standards that indicate adulthood. That pliable little boy one day becomes surly and grows lots of hair. Our girls develop attitudes and wear clothes that seem way too tight. As adolescents they are on their way and will hopefully realize some of the guidelines we have given them until at last real adulthood emerges. I think that fathers delight in seeing their progeny grow up. Mothers, on the other hand, are another matter. They may be proud of their children’s successes and may beam at Graduation Ceremonies or other celebratory recognitions, but in their hearts, those blossoming adults are still their kids. And even when those adults themselves begin to gray and change direction a time or two, they are still their kids. No one ever said that parenthood made perfect sense.

Seriously spoiling

Then there is the second round of kids…grandkids, and these relationships can be a real head scratcher. If grandparents become responsible for raising grandkids, as sometimes happens, they have a second chance at correcting the mistakes they made the first time around and are often very diligent at it. On the other hand, if grandkids are being finely reared by their parents, grandparents can now attend to the ruination of grandkids by seriously spoiling them…and then giving them back at the end of the day! Go figure!

 Always in our hearts

Admit it or not, kids are the extensions of our own lives. Certainly they will do what they choose to do, but a part of us goes with them, perhaps in a shared feature or a gesture. They may be lights of our lives or deep disappointments, but they are always in our hearts.