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