03
We all possess a super weapon that is well within our reach, yet far exceeds our grasp. It is simply-and-simultaneously-impossibly being mindfully aware of what is happening and what needs to happen in response in each situation as it arises, and how we might help meet that need with the gifts/virtues/characteristics/ genius/original nature that come with us from the womb for just such an occasion-- to be used with innocence, sincerity and spontaneity, with no investment in what we stand to gain or lose, or any idea of exploiting the situation for our benefit in any way. That's it. We are equipped to see and do, to rise to every occasion, and live out our lives in the service of compassion and grace. If that doesn't impress you as being much of a super weapon, that is because you are thinking about weapons in the wrong way. They are not for serving our needs and interests, but for doing what is right at the right time, in the right way. Why do anything other than that?
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02
What do you care about? Why do you care? How would other people know you care about it by the way you live your life? Get to the bottom of all three questions. Write down your answers in a poem, or an essay, that speaks the truth about you and what you care about. Take your time with this exercise, but do not put it off. It will take you to the core of who you are, and what you are doing about it-- and call you to life.
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01
Martin Palmer says all of our lives are grounded on faith, but not all of us have any idea of what the ground of our faith is. It helps to know what grounds us, and to know what we think about that in terms of its helpfulness to us and to the life we need to be living. Martin and I give away something of our faith when we imply that there is a life we need to be living. That is a statement of faith if ever there were one. Speaking of statements of faith, here are two collections: "It's fine. It's all fine. Everything is fine." "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Nothing has ever mattered." These are statements of faith representative of attitudes, frames of mind, perspectives that ground someone's life and direct their living. We all believe things incapable of verification that reflect our general orientation and the effort we make to shape our life and impact the world around us. What do you believe? What is worth believing? Everything about you/us hangs on how we answer these questions. The things we tell ourselves and the seriousness with which we take them make all the difference in terms of the quality of the life we live, and the enthusiasm with which we live it. If you are going to take anything on faith (And we all are going to take a lot of things on faith!) let the importance of the things we tell ourselves be one of the things on that list! Martin and I would say that our story-- the story we are telling about us by the way we are living our life-- our life story, is important beyond all we are capable of imagining, and, more than that, it is a part of another, larger, story that encompasses all of our stories throughout time. Our story is connected with all of our stories, and all of our differences create our commonalities and produce the song we all are singing that we don't know anything about. And everything we do has an impact beyond anything we recognize as being impactful. Our influence is actual, and it is amazing. It matters how we live. If you are going to believe anything (And you are going to believe a lot of things!) believe that! And live as though it is so! Moment-by-moment, day-by-day, your whole life long!
