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I'm not trying to save the world
And I don't recommend it for you either.
Still, there are some who think I have taken on that work.
Like the message board poster who wrote yesterday: "Seems ironic to me for someone who claims to want to save the world to also say the most important thing to do is to save yourself. If we're all busy saving ourselves than how do we have time to save others?"
I never made such a claim. Although plenty of others have. Our President seems to have that in mind--democracy! everywhere!--and if that is the case, well, maybe he might have done better to have had some counseling/therapy about his drinking before he picked up the cross and urged us to follow him.
I am not even here to "save" my readers. I am here to "be" with them. To quote Anna Akhmatova, one of the greatest Russian poets:
Not under the protection of foreign skies
Or saving wings of alien birth –
I was then there – with my people –
There, where my people, alas, were.
The reason to save yourself first is because damaged souls who try to do good often do it through the lens of their damage--and they do damage. "Life waits patiently for true heroes," Thich Nhat Hanh writes. "It is dangerous when those aspiring to be heroes cannot wait until they find themselves. When aspiring heroes have not found themselves, they are tempted to borrow the world's weapons--money, fame and power--to fight their battles....False heroes often find it easier to make war than deal with the emptiness in their own souls."
Got that? A time and a place for everything. I do not believe we are yet at the moment of a True Test. Thus, I believe our first job is to prepare the self. And then--or maybe at the same time--be useful and kind to those we encounter.
I've made this analogy before: On a plane, they tell you if the oxygen masks drop, put yours on first--and then the masks of your kids. My message board poster might disagree?
Finally: Every night, as I put Little Uptown to bed, I ask her: "Who loves you the most?"
Gleefully, she shouts: "Me!"
And then I ask: "Who else?" and I get the laundry list: "You, Mommy...."
My message board poster might be appalled by Little Uptown's "selfishness." But I am happy that Little Uptown seems happily connected to her Buddha nature. She strikes me as utterly sane and totally healthy. On any given day, she could go out and save the world. Alas, she's only four.
Still, there are some who think I have taken on that work.
Like the message board poster who wrote yesterday: "Seems ironic to me for someone who claims to want to save the world to also say the most important thing to do is to save yourself. If we're all busy saving ourselves than how do we have time to save others?"
I never made such a claim. Although plenty of others have. Our President seems to have that in mind--democracy! everywhere!--and if that is the case, well, maybe he might have done better to have had some counseling/therapy about his drinking before he picked up the cross and urged us to follow him.
I am not even here to "save" my readers. I am here to "be" with them. To quote Anna Akhmatova, one of the greatest Russian poets:
Not under the protection of foreign skies
Or saving wings of alien birth –
I was then there – with my people –
There, where my people, alas, were.
The reason to save yourself first is because damaged souls who try to do good often do it through the lens of their damage--and they do damage. "Life waits patiently for true heroes," Thich Nhat Hanh writes. "It is dangerous when those aspiring to be heroes cannot wait until they find themselves. When aspiring heroes have not found themselves, they are tempted to borrow the world's weapons--money, fame and power--to fight their battles....False heroes often find it easier to make war than deal with the emptiness in their own souls."
Got that? A time and a place for everything. I do not believe we are yet at the moment of a True Test. Thus, I believe our first job is to prepare the self. And then--or maybe at the same time--be useful and kind to those we encounter.
I've made this analogy before: On a plane, they tell you if the oxygen masks drop, put yours on first--and then the masks of your kids. My message board poster might disagree?
Finally: Every night, as I put Little Uptown to bed, I ask her: "Who loves you the most?"
Gleefully, she shouts: "Me!"
And then I ask: "Who else?" and I get the laundry list: "You, Mommy...."
My message board poster might be appalled by Little Uptown's "selfishness." But I am happy that Little Uptown seems happily connected to her Buddha nature. She strikes me as utterly sane and totally healthy. On any given day, she could go out and save the world. Alas, she's only four.
