Perfect, you say?
Is that possible?
What about the popular saying, “Nobody’s perfect” ?
What does perfect mean, then?
Well, it means that I, in my uniqueness, my Anchenness, am perfect with all my flaws and, ahem, imperfections. Because I’m me, I was born, I exist, there is no one like me, no one else who can fill my spot in this life, in this universe, and in that respect I am whole, complete, perfect.
This is not to say I don’t have things I want to change about myself. Au contraire, now that I see myself as a whole, I am better able to see who I am and who I have the potential to be. Or rather, what I have the potential to be? My potential, in any case, and it’s
Frightening.
Yeah, really scary.
I see myself being great. I am slowly realizing that I am a great person, that everyone is fantastic in their own way (if only they would step out of themselves and see it!) Everyone is good at something, everyone has that skill or the passion or the knack in something. It’s a matter of recognizing and embracing whatever it is.
What is it for me? Why do I think I have such potential?
Because I feel it. I want to make the world a better place, as in help people to realize their own potential greatness and give them courage to explore and utilize it. Maybe this isn’t making the world a better place, but helping people to be happier living in it.
I mean, what if everyone in the world was happy?
Is that even possible, you ask? Personally, I think Americans are some of the unhappiest people alive, and they’re good at spreading the discontent. If I start with
How am I going to accomplish this making people happy thing?
Well, I believe people don’t get out enough.
Not “out” as in bar-hopping, drinking and dancing out, I mean “out” as in Outside. Into the Great Outdoors. Just taking a moment to enjoy the sight of spring leaves on a Maple tree, to watch the park ravens trolling for trash and listen to their gurgling call, to pause and just be and to remember where we all came from, remember what we’ve built our cities on, what provides the means for food and life – that’s what I want to remind people of. That’s what I believe will make a difference in people’s lives.
A better option could just be to take people by the hand and lead them outside, show them the beauty all around, how the natural environment affects their world no matter where they are.
Touching people through words accesses the intellectual part of the population that would rather pick up a newspaper than step outside – and for me, that’s the people I relate to, the people I think can take this and make a difference themselves. And how cool is that?
3 comments:
Hey, I wish people would pick-up the newspaper more often. My job depends on it. I don't think picking up the paper and going outside are mutually exclusive behaviors. Too often, it seems, people create for themselves, and others, neat little square boxes, the pure product of their imagination, which then become traps from which they can't escape.
Have you looked into Jon Young/Tom Brown's school here in the Bay Area? I'm not familiar with the name. Tom Brown's school in New Jersey is called the "Tracker School." Jon's old school in Washington is called "Wilderness Awarness School." His new one down here is devoted toward teaching people to connect with nature, and their own natural instincts. They even use the Internal martial arts to help open students up to their interconnection with wild things.
Cool, eh?
---
Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?
"What I’ve been learning and thus realizing is that I’m not anything; I just am. I exist. Simply existing is enough for me to be Anchen – I don’t have to do anything else, be anything else. I can’t be anything or anyone else. And in this way I am perfect."
Perfectly articulated as well. My thoughts (but not as well said) exactly.
- Colby, the ConeMaster
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