Life seems to require persistence.
Just as there are often benefits, there are also limitations to nearly any system.
You can become so good (so focused, that is) at the way you see things that you no longer notice that other people are equally as good at the way that they see things.
When do you ask if this is good — when you do, do you also ask for whom?
Prior 3 Observations & A Question….
The Constitution does not permit the Executive to commandeer the entire appointments power by unilaterally creating a federal agency…and insulating its principal officer from the Constitution as an ‘advisor’ in name only.
-- Tanya Chutkan, U.S. District Judge
The Earth and goodness are alike in many ways.
Perhaps, this is because they are kind of like personifications of each other.
Like many good things, the earth both persists and prevails over time. The rate and degree, however, can be significantly repressed, in the short-term. Usually, this happens by lack of understanding and wisdom, not to mention exploitation.
A world view that excludes reciprocity quickly leans into this lack of understanding (and its consequences). If we don’t recognize the Earth as a function of goodness, then we will tend to exploit tit through an extraction mentality. Capitalism is just one way this can so easily happen.
Harmony is a much broader concept than just two people getting along. It contains the totalities of our whole existence. We are all interconnected — and not just with each other, but with everything in our collectively shared environments.
Here are a couple of examples:
-- Katherine Center
[O]n behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I'll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay.
-- Donald Trump
Where we're going is always impacted by where we've been.
A census is more interesting than we tend to think — it reflects what is deemed as worth counting (and what isn’t)...in other words, what we value.
The Bible is not nearly as much about history (particularly, in the modern understanding of the term), as it is about the story of history.
How long can we survive without considering what we mean by the common good?
What does it really mean to have a eternal life?
I, likely, grew up with a somewhat fanciful vision of eternal life. That’s not to say that vision isn’t true (at least, any of it). But, like many things perceived as a child, there is surely more to the notion of what eternal life is. There appears to be something embedded in the human psyche that has a desire for something eternal. And, we tend to like the idea of that being related to life.
Perhaps, if the truth really were told, that is more of a function of our notions about death, than it is about life. Large swaths of American culture have a misunderstanding (if not aversion) of the role of death in life. This may, in fact, be where the real fantasy exists. The one that is infatuated with the notion that we could somehow live forever. Of course, when we imagine that idea, we are largely doing so in the frame of living in one, persistent, universal form — pretty much how we see ourselves at our best moments in our lives...forever.
Of course, there are virtually no domains of existence that conform to this particular fantasy. Everything is born, grows, and dies (including Jesus, by the way, if that's where you're coming from on the question of eternal things). In fact, the ability for that very process to be perpetual is the feature of both life and death...and there is something eternal about it. Life does, in fact, go on. What goes on about it simply changes. DNA structures, for example, demonstrate this truth. Parts of us, at the core of who we are, live on (almost always), just not in exactly the same form. We can even observe this, without too much sophistication, in both our offspring and in people groups at large. We can see this in animal kingdoms. We can see this in plant kingdoms. In living things of nearly every kind, in fact. Something about the universe itself lives on, endlessly perpetuating, in spite of death. Life and death are not mutually exclusive after all.
Against that back-drop, life is rather...eternal.
Time (or, should I say, time-keeping), then, is mostly something like an accessory we came up with. We're rather fixated on it, again perhaps from our cultural affinity for desiring to live forever. But, eternity doesn't really work in that dimension. Time, in fact, from the viewpoint of nature is rather ambivalent about our point of view. We would likely do better to notice nature's perspectives on such things. It seems to prefer the measurements of things like day and night, celestial cycles, and seasons.
And then, from the Christian Bible,
...the one who believes has eternal life.
-- John 6:47
The most obvious question here would seem to be, 'believes' in what? Because that answer would likely infer what the meaning of eternal life really is. What one believes in is a function of what one understands. In the context here then, I would take it that what one believes is the key to eternal life. According to the plain language of the verse, it appears to be something (perhaps, somewhat surprisingly) that one already has. In other words, it is the current believing that is key to the thing that one already has — in this case, eternal life.
And, here might be the greater clue. We often think of eternal things in the frame of something ahead of us. But, note that the present tense is the focus of the concept of eternal life. The idea doesn’t seem to have as much to do with the future, as it does the present. If you believe, you have whatever is eternal about life. It is not primarily as much something about what you will have, as it is what you already have.
So, if what is eternal is something we have now, then what does that look like?
Most of what we think about the eternal is related to our understanding of life and, in that sense, it is likely assumed that that life has something good (after all, why would you want something eternal, if it was bad?). So, if life is a representation of something that is good and that goodness has a quality of the eternal about it, then it would seem to follow that whatever is eternal now is about whatever is good…now. In other words, whatever is good about life now is something eternal — something that we would like…to last forever.
Have you ever had moments where something felt so good — so rich, so satisfying, so peaceful, so inclusive and at harmony with all things — that you just wish it could...last forever? That is what we want both now and in the future.
Eternal life in original understandings seemed to have more to do with a state of being, than with how long we would live (exist in the future). When that state of being is the experience of what is truly good, it is...eternal.
When you have this understanding and you experience it, you have...eternal life.
I believe that defeat is life’s way of nudging you and letting you know you’re off course. There’s always some sort of hidden opportunity or lesson in each episode—a chance to build your character.
-- Sara Blakely, on not letting a temporary defeat turn into a permanent loss
Kindness is not as much about being nice as it is about anticipating the needs of others.
We all have desire to grow, get stronger, and care for others — fostering that desire is another thing.
The needs most in need of your attention and care are those of the ones right around you.
What do you feel proactive about in your life?
Authoritarianism doesn’t start with laws. It starts when people stop paying attention. Continue here….
-- Sharon McMahon
Authoritarianism is not merely a matter of state control, it is something that eats away at who you are. It makes you afraid, and fear can make you cruel. It compels you to conform and to comply and accept things that you would never accept, to do things you never thought you would do.
Authoritarian regimes...can take everything from you in material terms—your house, your job, your ability to speak and move freely. They cannot take away who you truly are. They can never truly know you, and that is your power. But to protect and wield this power, you need to know yourself—right now, before their methods permeate, before you accept the obscene and unthinkable as normal.
We are heading into dark times, and you need to be your own light. Do not accept brutality and cruelty as normal even if it is sanctioned. Protect the vulnerable and encourage the afraid. If you are brave, stand up for others. If you cannot be brave—and it is often hard to be brave—be kind. But most of all, never lose sight of who you are and what you value.
-- Sarah Kendzior
I’m wondering…about purpose.
As we age, we may become more observant about the 'why' of things. Why do we do what we do? Are we just going through some elaborate scheme of cultural activity? To what end?
What is the purpose of our existence?
-- Rich Villodas
Why do you think we are advised by spiritual teachers over and over, and over again, not to BE afraid?
I saw a discarded beer can on the side of the road by a curb next to our local elementary school.
Fascinating? ...probably not.
Such a sighting is likely only one of millions across the span of our country. What was a little more interesting to me was my urge to pick it up and throw it away. My only real hesitation was there were no trash cans in sight. So, I would have to carry it, as I continued on my walk, for some distance.
I didn’t do it.
I realized, though, that I wanted to. But, why? What was prompting me?
As I continued my walk, I noticed a place where an old building had been, that had recently been taken down. It wasn’t in some far off abandoned place, but rather in the middle of a college campus. What really caught my eye was the fact that a rather large collection of glass clippings had been dumped where the building had been. It was pretty clear that the dumping was intentional. This got me thinking about the likelihood that someone was trying to use the decaying benefits to enhance the ground-soil in the area.
Somebody else was prompted by something they saw. And, they too wanted to do something about it.
I’m guessing part of the reason why I wanted to pick up the beer can was because of the unsightly nature of it and what that represented in the context of an elementary school in what is otherwise a beautiful little community. Perhaps, similar thoughts were going in the mind of the person who wanted to enhance the soil with grass clippings.
What is a community anyway? I’m sure there would be lots of different considerations in answering that question. At very least, it feels like something that a group of people desire to protect. That might be because it’s something that a group of people had previously desired to build. And when the results of that collective effort becomes something beautiful, it seems to naturally follow that it would be something a community would want to protect. It took effort. It was worth it. And the group doesn’t want to lose it.
It is Spring right now where I live and many people and organizations are cleaning and sprucing things up. Fresh mulch blankets the ground around freshly popped spring flowers. The early morning is filled with the sound of birds welcoming each other to the day. The air is cool and crisp and the eastern sky is draped in colorful hues announcing what looks to be a sunny, 70° day. Life feels alive. And, I was walking through the middle of it, taking it all in, allowing it to poke at the wonders of what it all means and where and how I fit in it.
I suspect that is the point. That I fit into something. Something larger than myself. Something beautiful. Something worth making a contribution to. Something worth preserving.
This Saturday morning, the annual farmers market and our little community will draw hundreds of people to fresh coffee, cinnamon rolls, pretzels, artwork, and fresh spring plants that many people will buy, plant, and do the best they can to remember to nurture. Some plants won’t grow because they aren't planted in a suitable spot. Some plants will be neglected, after their Spring-beauty wears off. But, some plants will also make it and will grow back the following year all by themselves; adding their contribution to the qualities of things like soil or food or visual beauty for passers-by to enjoy.
I’m still thinking about whether I should go back and get that beer can. I’m going to a T-ball game this evening. So, I’m guessing I’ll stop on my way to work and pick it up to dispose of it somewhere along the way. Nobody will likely notice. But, in its absence, just one person might say something like, "...this is a beautiful little community. I like it here".
As I finished up my walk, I passed the construction of a couple of new homes. Because of the focus on the building side of things, the grass and weeds were Spring-prolific all over the torn-up yards. Across the street, was a home that had been completed last summer. The grass in that yard was perfectly manicured and beautiful (no discarded beer cans in sight).
I’m not the only one, apparently, that wants to be a part of this community.
I’ve noticed…that I have more internal substance than I often realize.
What does that indicate…about things like narrative and awareness that operate within me?
There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.
-- Linda Hogan
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. -- Kahlil Gibran
One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken. -- Leonard Tolstoy
Prior 4 Observations (from Others).
The benefits of strength and connectedness are fundamentally enabled by health. Correspondingly, lack of health disables them (among other things).
So, what are the things that we need to be cognizant of, and disciplined in, that enable (or disable) our health?
For one thing, we have to be increasingly aware of how the economies we live in impact our ability to do this (not to mention, be healthy).
Learning is a key ingredient to our mental health — perhaps because of things it requires of us…willingness, curiosity, adaptability, humility. After all, look what happens to us when we stop being willing to learn. Not only do we lose knowledge and insight we could benefit from, but also our disposition toward everything in life changes. Spiritually speaking, I would go as far as to say that our willingness to learn IS the way we know and experience God...initially and perpetually.
Beyond our disposition to learning and awareness, health seems to require putting forth some actual effort. Simply knowing about something doesn’t do the trick. We actually have to do that something. Effort seems to reinforce what is true and makes what is true about it true. We actually have to, for example, not eat unhealthy things. Further, we also have to eat healthy things. It takes a kind of commitment to be healthy. We have to work at it (especially in our current economies).
Exercise is another example of something that is required of us beyond just knowing about it. We actually have to do things that strengthen us and we have to do them routinely.
Physical health enables mental health. Both enable emotional health. And, when we are healthy, our sense of connectedness to the world, and the people in it, is better (more healthy).
Health is actually a very broad concept. It is the womb from which all things are sustained and grow — enabling the quality of our relationship with the context that we’re in. It is important individually. It is important collectively — reaching and impacting nearly all dimensions of our existence.
