Sunday Musings – June 10, 2018
As I wrote in yesterday’s blog it has been a week in which I was blessed with a lot of mind stimulation and challenges to my often-narrow way of viewing the world. It has also been a week in which I have been acutely aware of both the resilience and the fragility of all sorts of friendships including that with our own body. This morning I am particularly aware of the fact that today several people I know are attending the funeral of a young man who lost his sense of hope and committed suicide. I did not know this young man but after speaking to many who did it was obvious that he was loved and admired. Two very well-known people lost hope, energy or both and decided that they would no longer force themselves to struggle to live. This week I was also reminded by several people that I am in that generation when the remainder of this life journey may be measured in weeks, months, or years.
At the same time, I could not avoid the fact that as a nation the United States seems to be isolating itself more and more. I fear that many perceive the leaders of this country and, thus, this country, as even more arrogant and self-serving than it may have appeared in the past. There are, of course, others who suggest that it long past time for the United States to put itself before the needs of other countries. They seem to believe that it is possible to put one’s own needs first without feeding a negatively spiraling system which insures that in the end all will be worse off.
One of the last session I attended at the conference was on cyber bullying. This morning while at the gym I listened to several Ted talks on how we learn to hate and how we learn to make that hate an action word by bullying or otherwise terrorizing an individual, a group, a community, a gender, or a country.
We all know that we learn to hate. While some of us may be born without the ability to experience the other as a mirror image of ourselves (some perhaps on the autism spectrum for example) and some may be born or develop brain disorders which force the brain to become paranoid and delusional (tumors, some cases of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, and others) most of us systematically learn that we need to booster our self-esteem/self-worth by convincing ourselves we are better than, more than, superior than, smarter then, or more powerful than. We use physical strength, myths about color, gender, sexual orientation, age, health, religion, appearance and a variety of other constructed externals to convince ourselves of this enhanced worth.
We fail to have the sight, insight or courage to accept our own temporary, limited and very flawed humanness. We learn that just being us is not enough. We than look for others who will join us in our search for a mythology of self-worth based on the lies we have learned.
It is not surprising that emotional and spiritual healing – claiming that peaceful, strong, center of our being which is not dependent on comparisons to others – requires humility. Humility, of course, requires a simultaneous letting go of hate, judgement, arrogance and of the fear that it is not enough to be us.
Humility dictates that I see myself in all other humans; to see the “I” in the other. Thus, when teachers such as Jesus suggests that we must love our enemy, those teachers are suggesting that we love the whole of us which is reflected in the other. Humility first is a cognitive exercise. Then it must become an action word.
Today I will notice when I am judging others rather than embracing that part of me which is reflected in others. Today I will notice the potential in others for unconditional love and courage which reflects that very same potential in me.
Just for today.
Written June 10, 2018
As I wrote in yesterday’s blog it has been a week in which I was blessed with a lot of mind stimulation and challenges to my often-narrow way of viewing the world. It has also been a week in which I have been acutely aware of both the resilience and the fragility of all sorts of friendships including that with our own body. This morning I am particularly aware of the fact that today several people I know are attending the funeral of a young man who lost his sense of hope and committed suicide. I did not know this young man but after speaking to many who did it was obvious that he was loved and admired. Two very well-known people lost hope, energy or both and decided that they would no longer force themselves to struggle to live. This week I was also reminded by several people that I am in that generation when the remainder of this life journey may be measured in weeks, months, or years.
At the same time, I could not avoid the fact that as a nation the United States seems to be isolating itself more and more. I fear that many perceive the leaders of this country and, thus, this country, as even more arrogant and self-serving than it may have appeared in the past. There are, of course, others who suggest that it long past time for the United States to put itself before the needs of other countries. They seem to believe that it is possible to put one’s own needs first without feeding a negatively spiraling system which insures that in the end all will be worse off.
One of the last session I attended at the conference was on cyber bullying. This morning while at the gym I listened to several Ted talks on how we learn to hate and how we learn to make that hate an action word by bullying or otherwise terrorizing an individual, a group, a community, a gender, or a country.
We all know that we learn to hate. While some of us may be born without the ability to experience the other as a mirror image of ourselves (some perhaps on the autism spectrum for example) and some may be born or develop brain disorders which force the brain to become paranoid and delusional (tumors, some cases of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, and others) most of us systematically learn that we need to booster our self-esteem/self-worth by convincing ourselves we are better than, more than, superior than, smarter then, or more powerful than. We use physical strength, myths about color, gender, sexual orientation, age, health, religion, appearance and a variety of other constructed externals to convince ourselves of this enhanced worth.
We fail to have the sight, insight or courage to accept our own temporary, limited and very flawed humanness. We learn that just being us is not enough. We than look for others who will join us in our search for a mythology of self-worth based on the lies we have learned.
It is not surprising that emotional and spiritual healing – claiming that peaceful, strong, center of our being which is not dependent on comparisons to others – requires humility. Humility, of course, requires a simultaneous letting go of hate, judgement, arrogance and of the fear that it is not enough to be us.
Humility dictates that I see myself in all other humans; to see the “I” in the other. Thus, when teachers such as Jesus suggests that we must love our enemy, those teachers are suggesting that we love the whole of us which is reflected in the other. Humility first is a cognitive exercise. Then it must become an action word.
Today I will notice when I am judging others rather than embracing that part of me which is reflected in others. Today I will notice the potential in others for unconditional love and courage which reflects that very same potential in me.
Just for today.
Written June 10, 2018
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