THINK HARD…DO GOOD
How much is there left to think, or think about?
I’m beginning to believe there are just a few original thoughts in the world, and that everything else is mere repetition, regurgitation, re-interpretation, mythologization.
What is there in life?
Well, you have your birth, from a womb or a tube.
Then, you have your expanse, all the way to death.
In between birth and death, there is activity, most of which is designed to avoid facing the reality that, well, we all begin and end the same way. There’s no getting out of this.
Activities between birth and death include automatic experience (breathing a millionfold breaths, feeling a billionfold heartbeats, uncountable blinkings, etc.) and somewhat controllable experience (laughing, ingesting, believing, disbelieving, ranting, relaxing, accepting, etc.).
Controllable experience sometimes disguises itself as uncontrollable (having faith, being cynical, being realistic, being a smartmouth, etc.).
Uncontrollable experience can make you think you’re really in charge when you’re not (waving a wand to make the sun hide at the exact moment an eclipse occurs, seeing the face of Jesus in a potato chip, pretending not to itch—which is one of the most profound things to accomplish, etc.).
The one thing hardest to face or believe or realize is that you’re in control of a lot more things than you can possibly imagine. You can decide not to act like a smartmouth (you can stifle a belch if you really try, you can hop one more inch than you think, you can look an unattractive person in the eye and see something really beautiful, etc.).
As meek and unimportant as you and I may be compared to the universe at large, we can be and act a lot more powerful, with effort and concentration. It is possible to make a difference, once we accept the notion that difference comes in many sundry incarnations, mostly small and at first difficult to recognize.
Are there a million examples I could cite? Yes. But I’d rather describe just one thing and leave the rest of the metaphor, the figuring-out, to you—being as how you are so powerful and all.
Try this one thing:
Find someone who could use a smile or some cheering up. Pick someone you’d ordinarily ignore or dismiss or even dislike. Decide that you are far too powerful to miss this opportunity to step outside your small private cone of silence, that you will do this one thing. Leave a thoughtful and hopelessly cheerful gift where this person can find it.
Then, follow the immutable rules of true selflessness: Never, never let the person know who gave such a thoughtful thing. Never, never take credit for your act. Never, never write or tell about it. And…the hardest but most humane thing to do, learn to live without credit or reward for this special act.
Once you become comfortable with committing an anonymous and loving deed, the number you can continue to do will always be ten more than you imagine.
Just an idea
© 2010 A.D. Jim Reed