What's a well lived life?
Monday, November 10th @ 5:37 PM
That pesky thing we call 'purpose' again:
I was today sent this poem and am reminded of how small we can make ourselves when we cling too tightly to an identity - sometimes masquerading as purpose!
"A human being should be able to change a diaper,
plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship,
design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders,
give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations,
analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a
computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects."
What is 'The World?'
Saturday, November 1st @ 6:41 PM
Another lesson from my father.....
My father was distressed on the phone today when he recalled 'the state of the world'. He recalled scenes on British TV of starving children in Africa, abuse and the credit crunch. He also talked about visiting a friend of his who had just returned from a psychiatric unit visiting a family member. Why does he ask my opinion when he knows I will no doubt provide a non-typical answer?
I said to him that 'the world' 'out there' didn't actually exist - all he was seeing was it portrayed through the eyes of the media, journalists and repeated portrayals of dread. I also suggested that perhaps the individuals he was showing compassion towards in the psychiatric institution, instead should be congratulated! He was alarmed at this and still struggled when I suggested that maybe they were an invitation for us to reflect on the type of society we create which no doubt drives people crazy. What is more crazy? A person who withdraws from this reality possibly because of its conditions, judgements and intolerance OR others who bend themselves into shapes and live what we might call, inauthentic lives?
At first he thought I was being incompassionate until I told him that much of my training was in a psychiatric hospital - after that experience I questioned what was abnormal - inside the unit or outside in society.
I debated with my father that the world wasn't bad per se and that the solution is not for 'it' to change but 'us' to change for what we believe to be world is a reflection of what we are Thus we can change the world simply by changing 'our' world - I don't mean this simplistically - but no-one is going to save us - we have to be the change leaders by examples of how we live.
I haven't owned a TV for 4 years - I don't watch the news - I don't want someone out there to tell me what to watch - I do seek out such information on the net and I feel my life is lighter for us - it's not about lack of compassion or burying my head in the sand, for me it's all about 'creating a world now that I want to be in with others - and that doesn't a sense of powerlessness and fear that there is nothing we can do to change the world 'out there'.
I blame my father entirely of course for bringing me up to ask questions!
