Sunday Musings - April 28, 2024
When young some of us may have laughed at the elders in our family who seemed obsessed with checking the obituaries in the morning newspapers. Now that some of us are the same age as those elders we may find ourselves engaging in the same morning ritual; that is if we are lucky enough to live in a community which still has a local print or on line newspaper containing such information. We may frequently see the names of our contemporaries and a listing of those loved ones who preceded them in death. We may also read a list of achievements. Most of the time the achievements will simply include such acolytes as “loving parent, siblings, partner and perhaps successful businessperson or respected professional person. Occasionally, we may read of that person whose legacy includes acolytes as a “revered spiritual leader”, “friend of the homeless” or some other imprint left on the lives of some in the community.
Most of us may not give a lot of thought to the legacy or footprint which we are leaving each moment of his life journey. We are busy with the survival tasks of each day. We seemingly go from childhood to adulthood to old age in the blink of an eye with little proof we were here. The fact the lawn is mowed, the children fed and bathe, the dishes done, the bed made, and the bills paid do not earn a plague on the community square or some building. The fact, as is the case with many of my friends who are now in the ranks of the elderly, one was a loving, 24-7 caretaker of a partner, parent or child may only earn a brief blip on the historical record.
Do we not leave a legacy which permanently marks the fact that “He/she was here and made a difference in the life of the community or even the planet?” Are we like the lilies of the field which briefly live and, as part of the whole field of lilies, remembered only as one of many?
We humans have been pondering the meaning or purpose of this brief journey for at least as long as we have been able to leave some record of our pondering. We have posited religious and philosophical theories to convince ourselves there is something beyond being born, briefly living - often with great suffering - quickly dying and returning to the dust of the earth. We still have no absolute answer for what happens to our energy/our essence once we are clinically dead.
We know from a young age that death will visit all of us. Yet, we act shocked and often betrayed when a loved one dies no matter the manner of death or the relative longevity of the journey. We may often create an entirely new history of the deceased; perhaps, an attempt to give the legacy of the person importance or meaning. The husband or wife we could not stand can morph into the sweetheart we thought we were marrying. The child whose struggle with addiction or other diseases left us exhausted, angry, and frustrated becomes the innocent child we brought home from the hospital. We seemingly need to justify the energy we invested in the relationship.
Is there an alternative? Should we just accept our journey is briefly a part of a whole which has no more or less meaning than the lily of the field? Could we possibly be at peace with such a possibility, or would that admission not be enough to willingly step into our role on the stage of life?
What if all of life’s meaning is contained in the moments; the moments in which we are intentional about leaving a loving smile with all that we meet; the offering of a libation to Mother Earth before each sip of liquid or meal? What if we show up with the ability to embrace the humanness of all of us? What if we accept the possibility that our delicately balanced brains intermittently have a shared reality? What if we stretch out our arms to bring the sunlight and the rain into the moment? What if we are simply present with each other and all of nature without labels or judgments? What if our legacy is that we showed up and for that moment all in our circle experienced all of existence.
Many have posited the only reality is this moment - our legacy. What if we are the gods and the gods are us; we are the lily, and the lily is us? What if we embraced this reality each moment while we accomplished those necessary mundane tasks? What then would be our legacy? Does the positive energy of that reality spread out to be embraced by the universes? Perhaps?
Written April 28, 2024
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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