In response to the first post, people sent in descriptions of living at our best, providing an enduring resource for our conversation. (The post remains open for added comments for 20 days, and you can comment on others’ comments.) These descriptions also provide a good introduction to today’s topic.
Soon this weblog will enter a path of thoroughness, a sequence involving several themes, an approach to living in truth, beauty, and goodness. But we can get lost in the details of a path if we do not stay in touch with the way of simplicity–the kind of simplicity that so many of you expressed in your recent comments. Scott wrote of living life in the moment (a moment nourished by a perspective embracing past, present, and future). Tonia referred to the love of our Father. Pat spoke of doing good to others. Janet wrote of being “fully alive being with a group of people of all ages and backgrounds, united in celebrating our one global family.” Joy related with evident good humor her ability to “’live at my better’ and aim for the best.” For Maradeth it’s a fresh spiritual feeling of cheerfulness looking toward what God’s will brings each day. Charlie told of a clarity linked with “functioning fluidly, without doubt, without question,” when “any ‘I’ that is operational is dissolved: There is no singularity, only relationality, and I mean relationality in any context.” Mahtab wrote of physical, intellectual, spiritual, or blended experiences that feel like an end in themselves. Sherry wrote of loving and being loved in alignment with the Father’s will. James Perry feels integrated and complete when revealing our heavenly Father by truly helping someone with a real need. Karmo briefly indicated a variety of situations of excellent acting and relating in a way that conveyed real depth.
Although people interpret the way of simplicity in terms of different concepts, some concepts recur and cluster together again and again. The convergence of high concepts indicates a harmony of experience. At its depth, the way of simplicity is one.
Honesty demands the way of simplicity when any other approach would be evasive. There are times when it is evasive to ask how, to ask for a method, a list of steps. For example, if we experience the powerful appeal of a person who is spiritually advanced, if we trust our intuition and mobilize ourselves, we can break through and come into the divine Presence, wake up to truth, feel the beauty, and follow goodness. The way of simplicity is the altar call, the Zen gesture, the revelatory proclamation, the decisive action, the enthusiastic hug.
Here’s the example that I promised last time, an example of living at our best with a twist. In an aesthetics class, I asked students to recall an experience of truth, and this was given (with permission to share it) by Sydney Jordan. “For me, truth is a feeling of satisfaction. Not in the way of feeling full and satisfied after a meal, but rather a sense of wholeness. For example, my family has a rather large garden that we work every summer. This past summer was the first time I was allowed to have a crop of my own. The feeling I got from the start when the ground is first turned to the harvest is a sense of completeness. At the end of each session in the garden I am dirty, sweaty, and tired, but it is my hard work and dedication that produces something good. People that do what I do need determination, hard work, patience. Being in the garden every summer is a truth for me. We plant it, care for it, wait, and it grows then feeds us and others. Truth is what is there when all of the fancy is taken away. Truth is understanding the value of things, that all things have value and are in some way connected.”
I have a request of you today. As you express the simplicity of living at your best, you mention core concepts. If you can reasonably find the time, would you please share an experience that has deepened for you the meaning of one of these concepts? We have seen how teamwork greatly multiplies results. Thank you for your silent and verbal responses.
The photo is from Wikimedia Commons.
Isolation is a terrible state to bear. Approximately 14 years ago one of my older brothers suffered
a stroke shortly after retiring from work. Subsequently he experienced four more strokes that
affected his speech, his hearing, swallowing, and left him paralyzed on one side. As he was older
than his wife, who had to continue to work, he was left home during the day by himself with a
cell phone and a television set to watch. This stroke occurred about the same time, that health
issues began to force me to retreat from my active social involvement, finally forcing me to give
us the practice of medicine which I so dearly loved. Before becoming unable to travel, I would
visit him periodically as he lived in another state. But I continued to call him once a week to talk
with him. And his appreciation of my calling was evident in his slurred speech. I could tell he
was happy to receive a call from someone who loved and cared for him. Too often we abandon
people when they become incapacitated as if being with them will cause us to become as they
are.
Now my brother is not a very good conversationalist in addition to the difficulty talking and
hearing due to the stroke. And I must admit I am not a very good conversationalist myself. I am a
good listener. As the years have passed it has become increasingly difficult to verbally
communicate with him. And I often ask the Father what else can I do? It seems that everybody
else accept his wife has forgotten he exists. Shortly after asking the Father what I could do, I
began to realize that it was not so much what I said to him or what he said to me during the
telephone conversation, but it was the reaching out to him that made the difference. It was the
showing up, the willingness to overcome the feelings of helplessness and powerlessness to alter
the outcome in his material life, that made the difference. This making contact with him removes
the isolation of the personality and removes the misery from suffering, and obeys the Master’s
command to love one another as he loves us.
James Perry
Brother James, Dr. Perry, I’m very moved by your faith in reaching out to one whose ability to reach back is diminishing. Thank you for relieving my brother’s isolation! In my opinion, isolation is a problem for us all, although in different ways, sometimes very subtle. Charlie commented on the previous post about being able to be in pure relation with anything whatsoever. Sometimes, when we feel isolated, we wait for someone to reach out to us; but sometimes we can mobilize the faith to take the initiative in reaching out. A philosophy of living reduces our isolation by helping us identify with all cosmic reality.
Isolation is a terrible state to bear. Approximately 14 years ago one of my older brothers suffered
a stroke shortly after retiring from work. Subsequently he experienced four more strokes that
affected his speech, his hearing, swallowing, and left him paralyzed on one side. As he was older
than his wife, who had to continue to work, he was left home during the day by himself with a
cell phone and a television set to watch. This stroke occurred about the same time, that health
issues began to force me to retreat from my active social involvement, finally forcing me to give
us the practice of medicine which I so dearly loved. Before becoming unable to travel, I would
visit him periodically as he lived in another state. But I continued to call him once a week to talk
with him. And his appreciation of my calling was evident in his slurred speech. I could tell he
was happy to receive a call from someone who loved and cared for him. Too often we abandon
people when they become incapacitated as if being with them will cause us to become as they
are.
Now my brother is not a very good conversationalist in addition to the difficulty talking and
hearing due to the stroke. And I must admit I am not a very good conversationalist myself. I am a
good listener. As the years have passed it has become increasingly difficult to verbally
communicate with him. And I often ask the Father what else can I do? It seems that everybody
else accept his wife has forgotten he exists. Shortly after asking the Father what I could do, I
began to realize that it was not so much what I said to him or what he said to me during the
telephone conversation, but it was the reaching out to him that made the difference. It was the
showing up, the willingness to overcome the feelings of helplessness and powerlessness to alter
the outcome in his material life, that made the difference. This making contact with him removes
the isolation of the personality and removes the misery from suffering, and obeys the Master’s
command to love one another as he loves us.
James Perry
Brother James, Dr. Perry, I’m very moved by your faith in reaching out to one whose ability to reach back is diminishing. Thank you for relieving my brother’s isolation! In my opinion, isolation is a problem for us all, although in different ways, sometimes very subtle. Charlie commented on the previous post about being able to be in pure relation with anything whatsoever. Sometimes, when we feel isolated, we wait for someone to reach out to us; but sometimes we can mobilize the faith to take the initiative in reaching out. A philosophy of living reduces our isolation by helping us identify with all cosmic reality.
To me the way of simplicity is what feels right to my intuition; it is in line with that deeper satisfaction of my soul. I experience that in my interactions with my students. When I am at my best I see them as more than my students; I see them as wonderful beings who are abundantly loved, gifted and destined for a bright, eternal future. When I am at my best this feeling is, simply, there. In simplicity, there is wise mercy. I’m less likely to get frustrated with their mistakes, instead, I am inspired to help them. I find it easy and pleasant to give them more of my time and energy; to go the second mile.
Thank you, Mahtab, for taking the time to add to what you’ve already contributed. I find it interesting to see your association of intuition with the satisfaction of your true and deeper self, the soul in a feeling that is simply there. Your description of your experience of relating with your students is the most inspiring I have ever seen or could imagine. You are going the second mile in this conversation, too: helping me, helping others, helping to launch a movement of individuals who are developing a philosophy of living. And there are always rewards for the one who serves so beautifully!
To me the way of simplicity is what feels right to my intuition; it is in line with that deeper satisfaction of my soul. I experience that in my interactions with my students. When I am at my best I see them as more than my students; I see them as wonderful beings who are abundantly loved, gifted and destined for a bright, eternal future. When I am at my best this feeling is, simply, there. In simplicity, there is wise mercy. I’m less likely to get frustrated with their mistakes, instead, I am inspired to help them. I find it easy and pleasant to give them more of my time and energy; to go the second mile.
Thank you, Mahtab, for taking the time to add to what you’ve already contributed. I find it interesting to see your association of intuition with the satisfaction of your true and deeper self, the soul in a feeling that is simply there. Your description of your experience of relating with your students is the most inspiring I have ever seen or could imagine. You are going the second mile in this conversation, too: helping me, helping others, helping to launch a movement of individuals who are developing a philosophy of living. And there are always rewards for the one who serves so beautifully!
Sorry, if it is hard to understand my English…, but this is what I think.
I can see the simplicity of living in “wisdom of a farmer”, as we call it in Estonia. This means that people live their lives simply, without excessive vanity and struggle. Their energy is spent on only the most important.
I also see the development of two ways. One is horizontal development – where we turn our attention to terrestrial struggle, fundraising, collect pseudo-knowledge. The second, however, vertical development, it is a development which has been the target of the path to paradise, and raising the planet’s light and life. Ideally, it would probably poised somewhere at the heart of where we should all ground operations by the end goals in mind.
Thank you, Karmo, for this comment, which reminds me that I am still a beginner in the wisdom of a farmer. I also appreciate your remark about the heart’s motivation toward the final goal. I have been learning a lesson on feeling this morning, too.
Sorry, if it is hard to understand my English…, but this is what I think.
I can see the simplicity of living in “wisdom of a farmer”, as we call it in Estonia. This means that people live their lives simply, without excessive vanity and struggle. Their energy is spent on only the most important.
I also see the development of two ways. One is horizontal development – where we turn our attention to terrestrial struggle, fundraising, collect pseudo-knowledge. The second, however, vertical development, it is a development which has been the target of the path to paradise, and raising the planet’s light and life. Ideally, it would probably poised somewhere at the heart of where we should all ground operations by the end goals in mind.
Thank you, Karmo, for this comment, which reminds me that I am still a beginner in the wisdom of a farmer. I also appreciate your remark about the heart’s motivation toward the final goal. I have been learning a lesson on feeling this morning, too.
I would like to take up the topic of beauty and simplicity, and hopefully carry this back to some remarks that I made previously. Since I was a child I have always been drawn to beauty. Art for me was something imperative, not just an add-on to make life a bit more interesting. But I have found that artistic beauty, whether in song or in the plastic arts, is more aligned with that element of my life that seeks intellectual understanding. While I do “lose myself” in artistic beauty, it is an order distinct from another kind of beauty that I find swells around me, almost of its own accord.
There are times when I am outside, or even in my office, where I feel so aligned with the sensual world around me that it literally feels as if there is nothing but goodness in the world. Sometimes this feeling is provoked simply by looking at a tree, by really seeing as something marvelous. Sometimes it is brought on by a warm breeze that makes me feel good. Other times it might be the night sky. Mostly, these experiences occur when I am in solitude, and basking in some delightful phenomena. That seems to be the other thing: going back to the tree example, I’m not sure now that the tree as some object of nature is solely bringing about this sensuous feeling of beauty (and maybe goodness) but rather an arrangement of experiences that brings the whole scene — the tree, the warm light, the mood, the wider structure of this embodied experience. Alphonso Lingis speaks of some phenomena imposing an imperative upon us. I think he may be on to something with that, because such experiences direct me in such a way that ignoring them, or scoffing them off would be a profanation. Perhaps another accompanying feeling that I have only more recently begun to understand is that such experiences are properly punctuated by a feeling of wonder and gratitude.
In sum, I am trying (maybe failing) to describe not so much an intellectualized account of beauty, but one that is more primal and basic. It comes on the scene, swells up, and brings me along with it. It is simple because it is produced by basic encounters with ordinary objects and sensations: a tree, warmth, stars, light entering a room in certain way. But it is also profound. I cannot seem to force such experiences to happen, they just do, and this is why I am fond of addressing them with wonder and gratitude. These are distinct from BIG things that produce a similar experiences of losing myself, such as the excitement of a major sporting event, a fantastic movie or play, being in New York, and so on. These are quietly beautiful and unassuming. Both kinds of experiences produce the effects that I was attempting to articulate in the previous blog, but the simply experience of beauty that I am alluding to above is born from basic experience not activity, intellectual or otherwise.
I hope this is coherent!
I would like to take up the topic of beauty and simplicity, and hopefully carry this back to some remarks that I made previously. Since I was a child I have always been drawn to beauty. Art for me was something imperative, not just an add-on to make life a bit more interesting. But I have found that artistic beauty, whether in song or in the plastic arts, is more aligned with that element of my life that seeks intellectual understanding. While I do “lose myself” in artistic beauty, it is an order distinct from another kind of beauty that I find swells around me, almost of its own accord.
There are times when I am outside, or even in my office, where I feel so aligned with the sensual world around me that it literally feels as if there is nothing but goodness in the world. Sometimes this feeling is provoked simply by looking at a tree, by really seeing as something marvelous. Sometimes it is brought on by a warm breeze that makes me feel good. Other times it might be the night sky. Mostly, these experiences occur when I am in solitude, and basking in some delightful phenomena. That seems to be the other thing: going back to the tree example, I’m not sure now that the tree as some object of nature is solely bringing about this sensuous feeling of beauty (and maybe goodness) but rather an arrangement of experiences that brings the whole scene — the tree, the warm light, the mood, the wider structure of this embodied experience. Alphonso Lingis speaks of some phenomena imposing an imperative upon us. I think he may be on to something with that, because such experiences direct me in such a way that ignoring them, or scoffing them off would be a profanation. Perhaps another accompanying feeling that I have only more recently begun to understand is that such experiences are properly punctuated by a feeling of wonder and gratitude.
In sum, I am trying (maybe failing) to describe not so much an intellectualized account of beauty, but one that is more primal and basic. It comes on the scene, swells up, and brings me along with it. It is simple because it is produced by basic encounters with ordinary objects and sensations: a tree, warmth, stars, light entering a room in certain way. But it is also profound. I cannot seem to force such experiences to happen, they just do, and this is why I am fond of addressing them with wonder and gratitude. These are distinct from BIG things that produce a similar experiences of losing myself, such as the excitement of a major sporting event, a fantastic movie or play, being in New York, and so on. These are quietly beautiful and unassuming. Both kinds of experiences produce the effects that I was attempting to articulate in the previous blog, but the simply experience of beauty that I am alluding to above is born from basic experience not activity, intellectual or otherwise.
I hope this is coherent!
I figured out more interesting things on this fat loss issue. Just one issue is a good nutrition is especially vital if dieting. A big reduction in junk food, sugary ingredients, fried foods, sugary foods, red meat, and white flour products might be necessary. Having wastes organisms, and wastes may prevent ambitions for fat-loss. While specific drugs in the short term solve the challenge, the terrible side effects will not be worth it, they usually never present more than a short-lived solution. It’s a known indisputable fact that 95% of dietary fads fail. Many thanks sharing your ideas on this blog.
Thank you for sharing this example. One of the examples I had in mind as selected material for this post was a link to an article that excellently explained the benefits for the brain that come from proper nutrition.
I figured out more interesting things on this fat loss issue. Just one issue is a good nutrition is especially vital if dieting. A big reduction in junk food, sugary ingredients, fried foods, sugary foods, red meat, and white flour products might be necessary. Having wastes organisms, and wastes may prevent ambitions for fat-loss. While specific drugs in the short term solve the challenge, the terrible side effects will not be worth it, they usually never present more than a short-lived solution. It’s a known indisputable fact that 95% of dietary fads fail. Many thanks sharing your ideas on this blog.
Thank you for sharing this example. One of the examples I had in mind as selected material for this post was a link to an article that excellently explained the benefits for the brain that come from proper nutrition.
What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious knowledge about unexpected emotions.
Thank you, Leroy, for your appreciation.
What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious knowledge about unexpected emotions.
Thank you, Leroy, for your appreciation.