Take It Or Leave It
In the blogs I read regularly, and friends I've talked to there are big thoughts and issues spinning around. People changing or dumping careers, contemplating big moves, what they are doing with their lives, what they should be doing with their lives. Speculating on why so many are exploring these thoughts right now is another topic.
There is the usual conflict between established norms of a tired, flat, mundane culture and higher callings. In most cases there seems a tension between higher callings, which I also think is a good thing. To simplify down to two foci I have perceived... "What will I leave behind?" --or-- "What will I take with me?"
At some level we'd like to think some essence or memory of ourselves will persist, whether it be an imprint on a coin or the shape of a child's nose. I'm thinking both larger and smaller. When I am distracted or angry and push my way past another person I affect them, and in turn how they behave to others. The same is true if I help someone pick up a bag of spilled groceries. It subtly and irreversibly alters the world. I am thinking a lifetime of the uncountable lasting changes we make to our universe, when wondering what I will leave behind.
We'd all like to take our good memories, glorious achievements, and heart warming relationships with us when we die. Again, it speaks to something under the surface for me. As we build up life experience, we define our souls. Did we serve the destitute in Calcutta or gas those who frightened us at Dachau? Those actions and experiences define our essential identity. I do not believe in deathbed confessions. A life of actions is more informative and definitive than a moment of possibly sincere remorse. It may be as I think, that evil stalls or atrophies the growth of the soul. Regardless it is your life which you take with you. No more, and no less.
In nailing down these thoughts as I write I have realized the two foci are not mutually exclusive in any way. I believe what I leave behind is exactly what I take with me. They are merely different aspects of the same thing. If I am worried whether I am concentrating on what I will leave behind versus what I will take with me, I am either looking at the issue wrong, or I don't understand it yet. Sounds like complexity in simplicity. It really is simple, and all the work lies in removing all the complications I've introduced into the mix.
There is the usual conflict between established norms of a tired, flat, mundane culture and higher callings. In most cases there seems a tension between higher callings, which I also think is a good thing. To simplify down to two foci I have perceived... "What will I leave behind?" --or-- "What will I take with me?"
At some level we'd like to think some essence or memory of ourselves will persist, whether it be an imprint on a coin or the shape of a child's nose. I'm thinking both larger and smaller. When I am distracted or angry and push my way past another person I affect them, and in turn how they behave to others. The same is true if I help someone pick up a bag of spilled groceries. It subtly and irreversibly alters the world. I am thinking a lifetime of the uncountable lasting changes we make to our universe, when wondering what I will leave behind.
We'd all like to take our good memories, glorious achievements, and heart warming relationships with us when we die. Again, it speaks to something under the surface for me. As we build up life experience, we define our souls. Did we serve the destitute in Calcutta or gas those who frightened us at Dachau? Those actions and experiences define our essential identity. I do not believe in deathbed confessions. A life of actions is more informative and definitive than a moment of possibly sincere remorse. It may be as I think, that evil stalls or atrophies the growth of the soul. Regardless it is your life which you take with you. No more, and no less.
In nailing down these thoughts as I write I have realized the two foci are not mutually exclusive in any way. I believe what I leave behind is exactly what I take with me. They are merely different aspects of the same thing. If I am worried whether I am concentrating on what I will leave behind versus what I will take with me, I am either looking at the issue wrong, or I don't understand it yet. Sounds like complexity in simplicity. It really is simple, and all the work lies in removing all the complications I've introduced into the mix.
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