Certainly the mind gets in the way of the heart and vice versa. We are always looking to rationalize and fight and defend. But sometimes we get away from the simplest of philosophies.
I suppose that most people rely on the fact that there is a “god” or a “universe” and I don’t really care what you want to call it; I just want us to realize that regardless of that belief behind our existence, it is the HUMAN SPIRIT that drives the world for better or worse.
And those who wait for their ‘god’ or the ‘universe’ to make something happen are doing nothing but wasting precious seconds of their lives and others’ when they could be out participating and helping in moving us to a better place.
I actually think lowly of the monks who do nothing but pray in isolation. They are breaking the human spirit chain. They are not facing the triumphs and tragedies with other humans. And they have bailed on us. They aren’t holding that little girl’s hand after her father was gunned down in the street; they don’t comfort that woman who can’t bear the thought of going on without a man she loved for forty years, day in and day out as soul mates after a plane crash; they aren’t trying to explain to the little boy why his mother had to die of something called ‘cancer’; they aren’t counseling the children that were saved from a sex slave ring, used and abused like dolls. No, the monks, these dudes, they don’t deal with any of that. They don’t bring a dollar to the guy who served two wars and lost his mind but lives on the street in a box. He just wants a coffee or a drink. Or a hit of acid. And who cares what he wants—whatever it is that will make him happy— the isolationist monk has decided not to do anything for him anyway. He won’t be participating in the energy transfer that is so desperately needed to sustain this run.
Ok, we aren’t isolationist monks, but we sure can act like them in our busy lives. Gym, work, lunch, happy hour, game, dinner, TV shows, sleep and do it again the next day. Just because you are surrounded by people all day, doesn’t mean you aren’t lonely. Trust me. And Just because you are busy and active in the world, doesn’t mean you have participated in making it a better place.
So, go ahead and use your religion as the propeller for you to do good. Or maybe its politics. Or guilt from your parents. Some people are building their resume. But just remember it all comes from the same place. Us. The HUMAN spirit. And it isn’t about keeping score. If you find yourself doing so, then you have completely missed it; you have lost the point. Because it isn’t about how much you give, but that you do.
“[…] every once in a while, if only individually, a man must suddenly set an example, and draw the soul from its isolation an act of brotherly communion.” The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky
How ya feeling? 