Dreams

Freud said, "Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious."

If only more people were willing to go there.

The leaf

The leaf.

 

We spring - along with many others - from the branch of a tree.  We live.  Nourished by, and clinging to, the tree, we grow.   We wave in the wind.  We provide shade.  We take in the sun.  

 

We contribute to the health of the tree - a family tree. The human family tree, even the tree of life, if we take the long view.

 

We are beautiful - often especially as our fall approaches.  Sooner or later, though, we let go - or are torn away by storm or accident - and we fall.  But, though no longer alive, green and growing, no longer connected to the source, we are still part of life.  We still exist.  We are still a part of a larger source of which the tree from which we sprang was itself - as great as it is - only a small part.  And, in our withering time, we can still give back: we fertilize the source that gave us life and the leaves that follow us. 

October 26, 2014

For me, Meeting for Worship consists mainly of gratitude and questions.  Often the answer to a question is a question -- sometimes a series of questions.

My most common question is, “what of God can I bring to this moment?”  Today, the answer comes in just one word: grow.

Then come these questions:

In what ways do you want to grow?

In what ways do you think you should grow?

What is holding you back?

Is it fear of responsibility?

Ah.

Hiding from service

I have accepted that I am selfish.  However, since I profess to strive to serve others, this question matters: what am I doing to avoid, or to distract myself from, the troubles of the world or from what I could be doing about them?

Being a saint, briefly.

"Why would anybody want to be a saint?"
"Become a saint and find out."
That question, to a Hindu guru, and his answer have stayed with me for many years.  I am all for learning by experience, but the answer seemed so daunting as to be evasive.
 
Now I see that that answer, that invitation, need not mean a change of career or of faith or a commitment of years, let alone a lifetime.  The first two definitions of "saint" in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd ed.) are "a holy person" and "a person who is exceptionally meek, charitable, patient, etc."  One doesn't have to be religious to be a saint.  One can try it for one day, an hour, or even, by some gesture (or restraint), a moment.  Whenever we choose kindness for its own sake, we have the opportunity to learn why one would want to become a saint - again.

Life is choices: let's choose well.

Life is one choice after another, ideally - but hardly always - conscious choices.  The choices start with and, consciously or not, return again and again to one's attitude.

When I feel weary, when I feel lazy, when I procrastinate, what is my attitude?  In particular, to what extent is my attitude self pity?  Self pity - feeling as though I should have something more, or different, than I do - is toxic in any dosage.  It is a kind of self righteousness.  Self pity tells me that the way things are is not right, or not enough.  It rejects what is right and the good things which are plentiful and, to that extent, undermines peace of mind, gratitude, happiness, energy and motivation.

(In my office, I keep a copy of Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand's riveting story of the late Louis Zamperini's travails - an understatement - during World War II, as a warning to myself against, and an antidote to, self-pity.)

September 21, 2014

Being an instrument of peace may be a habit, but it is never an accident.

To be an instrument of peace requires intention: navigation toward that goal, vigilant attention to one’s situation and opportunities, reassessment of one’s values, and moment-by-moment adjustments.

It calls upon us to choose what is most important: commitment to peace, to one’s community, and to spiritual growth – our own and others’ – or avoidance of discomfort and, ultimately, even survival.