Cool Mind Warm Heart

Toil's Reward

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get from it, but what they become by it.

–– John Ruskin

A Zillion of Us Are Just Like Tiger

I and my zillion closest friends are just like Tiger Woods, and boy are we thankful. 

We’re addicts of one persuasion or another.  More to the point, each of us is on a path of recovery: waking to the beauty of being an ordinary schmoe––doing our best not to bullshit ourselves. 

Big Love, Small Love

 The universe is full of beautiful irony.  Take love, for instance.

Big Love is among the rarest of human emotions because it is so pure and life-affirming.  Small Love is among the most common of human emotions because it is so messy and destructive.  Yet, it is only through Small Love, what you might call our humanness, that we come to treasure and embrace Big Love, our divinity, our true self. 

Pennies for Prejudice

[useful absurdity for a peaceful heart]

My latest idea to save the world came, as usual, while wearing glasses that prompt a view of life that is playful, loving and deep.  How else do you find an idea named  “Pennies for Prejudice”?

It begins with a little gizmo to be invented by a roomful of ruthless saints doubling as computer wonks.  It ends by serving anyone who wants to grow a more peaceful heart while also generating the heavy green needed to bankroll a bunch of those honorable initiatives the world cries for?

Grace and Gravitation

The bird attained whatever grace its shape possesses not as a result of the mere desire for flight, but because it had to fly in air, against gravitation.
~ T. E. Hulme

REMOVING YOUR BEAN FROM YOUR SIT-UPON

Think back about 12,000 years. 

Had Ben and Jerry’s been around, you can bet they’d have created a flavor the likes of “Glacier Granite Swirl.”  After all, the chief topic of discussion in those days was the block of ice two miles high that covered all of North America from the Arctic Circle to Pennsylvania.  (The tallest mountain in Vermont today is just shy of 4400 feet, so this glacier was over twice that high.)  Nothing stands still and a glacier is no exception.  On its underside, the friction created by its weight and movement reshaped a whole bunch of rock. 

You ask: What does this have to do with with the meaning of life? 

The Universe She Be Sneaky

One of my early wake-up calls happened when I was maybe 10, an alter boy daydreaming of God.

“Steve, a gigantic meteor is headed for China.  If you choose, you can prevent the death of the entire Chinese population.  To do so, you must dive to the deepest part of the lake and move a stone that covers a secret passage to the center of the earth.  Unfortunately, the dive will kill you.  Even more, your death will be painful.  Will you take on the job?”

“Gee, I guess so, why not?” I found myself saying. 

And with that, I could no longer get why anybody thought it was a big deal that Jesus died to save humankind.  I mean, who wouldn’t? 

A Few Good Funerals

“Divine perversity” (a term I made up) is when the universe asks us to teach that which we most have to learn.   If that weren’t bad enough, the best teaching can take place only with a few good funerals.

Since all we ever teach is ourselves, teaching the “real” us requires the death of whatever masks we wear.  Such as my old standby, Mr. I’ve Got My Shit Together.   Letting go of masks can be like the passing of a dear friend.  It’s tough for anyone, perhaps  especially those who play the role of leader in a world where image is everything. 

But that difficulty is actually a blessing, so far as I can tell.  It is the universe encouraging us to become more and more aware that, in every moment, with every choice, we are answering what some consider to be life’s most important question: “Who am I?” 

You can read more on the topic in my recent essay, Divine Perversity and the Death of Masks.

Laughter Intervened

Like all young men I set out to be a genius, but mercifully laughter intervened.

–– Laurence Durrell