Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Here's The Sense Of It

This masterpiece is entitled
DESTINY

Silvia J.
Site: http://simona7569.photosight.ru/
  • Life is relationships; the rest is just details.- Gary Smalley

  • My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?- Charles Schulz

  • Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep.- Fran Leibowitz
And here is a former Roman Emperor. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the last of the "five good emperors". Here is an example of his philosophy. He was a Stoic. He was an amazing man and an example of what happens when a man of ability meets his destiny and does not rest but instead develops an inner life.
  • "Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid."- Marcus Aurelius
Ah, yes, I love Marcus, but still I have to ask, what's the sense of having a position if you can't flaunt it, just a little? That's the trouble with sainthood or becoming enlightened. The Taoists say the most enlightened people disappear from sight, or when they appear they don't look like much, looking rather like tramps or simple and poor old fellows (women too, I presume, unprepossessing crones) who shuffle along and don't have much to say or do. I believe this picture the most accurate, and that there may be many enlightened people about but you will have a really hard time recognizing or even finding them at all. I have noticed that at a certain level of expertise things go two ways, you might find a flamboyant person who flaunts his gift and much else, or else you have someone who tends to disappear in the work. Neither of these people make very good partners and require a devoted follower more than a true mate. It is very hard to find two equal horses in this situation.

Occasionally someone well balanced will show up bearing a developed great gift. He or she is not the rule. Being well balanced while having and developing extraordinary capacities is in itself a work and a practice. Not that many people want the task. I would say very damn few ever try it unless they are forced by being backed into a corner they cannot otherwise escape. Becoming well balanced even without extraordinary talent requires a rather painful and embarassing series of things I call growing up in public. I don't really think there is any choice for a person in this attempt to grow up in one important respect. It will require strong support in the process from time to time. It is impossible to find that support of an instant. Instead one will need to build a fellowship or else risk the one sided outcomes that come from self education or too few teachers. It will remain true that much of the time there is not much to do. The fellowship is an investment in the potential for serendipity that can happen at any moment, though it most often will not happen. The work of growing up in public is never easy but it is often simple.

I cop to it. I would like a bit of display should I really end up on top somehow. I have a growing suspicion I need not worry about such matters. It might be a little late in the game.

Here's The Sense Of It

If I had the chance
to lead, orchestrating from
on high, the traffic,
the commerce in all,
in the whimsy of fine things,
I would wear purple
in the off shade, red
shoes, orange socks and ruffed shirt
to mark the moment.

August 6, 2009 12:24 PM

6 comments:

  1. I love it, Christopher -- both the poem and the background. I actually worked with one of the ones who, unfortunately, had to flaunt it. The image eventually overtook the deeds and he fell. When the flash becomes the most important part of the work, there is a real problem. I am known to some as a leader in my job. I try to remain humble. I know from where I came. i know my limitations. From some accident of circumstance, I am in a position to help others. I try to view my "job" as that -- an opportunity to help others. I value the work and I value those whose lives my decisions affect. I'm certainly not perfect, but I try hard not to wear the purple with the orange socks!

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  2. I've always been known for my impeccable sense of color!

    We seem to like it when the ones who irritate us take the falls, as if they bring it on themselves and it suits our sense of justice. But does it really? It always feels a little like revenge to me, like I would have brought them down with a little courage but lacking that, I am just happy someone or something did. The deeper feedback for me is a little sense of guilt, that my ill will may have been a real participation in pushing this person over the edge.

    I too have a person in my larger life who I think of immediately when you speak of yours. He recently went through a big change of life, and those in the know mostly feel he caused his own fate. It may be an exquisite example of justice. On the other hand, I do not know everything about his life, don't even want to, and I don't know then the rest of the story.

    I am fairly sure that it is better for me to stay mostly quiet about all this. I am pretty good at it. I wish my inner life would reflect this possibility too. But no, I chews on this one a little bit.

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  3. I love the poem. Wish that I had the confidence. Even if I were in such a place to boast and loom large over my minions, pretty sure I couldn't pull it off. People would know me a fraud.

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  4. Annie, you always roll back upstream in these things. If you haven't the courage for this fantasy, then fantasize about having the grit. :D

    Choose one piece instead of the whole enchilada. How do you eat the elephant? One bite at a time, a certain amount each day, with discipline. Anything worthwhile takes discipline.

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  5. Truly, the angel on one of my shoulders wept that this man should fall while the devil on the other jumped for joy. I have done my best to stay quiet and not show any feelings one way or the other and only felt able to speak here because I knew the person could not be hurt by this discussion. Now I'm wondering if he is hurt in some cosmic way just by my little devil rejoicing. You make me feel ashamed, which is a good thing.

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  6. Hidden agendas don't count for much in the face of God's will for you and your own connection in that regard. This of course means that God accepts you more easily than you Him and he does this right where you are with nothing at all hidden, how could it be? I would not worry too much about how I participate or not in the downfall of another unless I have been substantially present in it. To build too much magic into things is presumption and arrogance unless you are sure of your power.

    Rest in the One Who sent us here.

    However, to entertain these thoughts of responsibility is not useless and can serve as a goad. In that capacity that you prepare yourself for this much broader burden of a realized woman may serve you in your Pilgrim's Progress. :)

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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