some thoughts
Jun. 14th, 2006 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonRe-posted comment made in another journal, some thoughts about balance, and two apropos poetic bits:
Each action enacts its own karma, is its own reward or punishment, as we build the world in our own image, and events sprout and unfold from each choice we make, like resolute seeds. If I am compassionate in my daily life, I will be much more likely to be surrounded by compassionate people, by people who expect to give and get compassion, and by people who have been treated fairly and well by me and others around them. If I am uncaring, cruel, mean, petty, self-centered, or unforgiving, I will similarly find myself surrounded by like-minded folk, and many of these people around me will be less likely to cut me slack, show me compassion, or support me when I inevitably need help, either because it's not in their mindset, or they've been burned in the past by me or others.
I believe there is a clear balance between the poles of sticky sentimentality or false connection, and being callous or uncaring, apart, atomic. Every man and woman is a star, but all stars are parts of clusters, constellations, solar systems, galaxies. I've seen the extremes, I've lived the extremes, and neither one is pretty. We can hold true compassion and treat others well, while still holding onto our integrity, authenticity, honesty and authority. In the exploration between extremes, though, it's very possible, perhaps inevitable, to swing too far from time to time. I hate riding on swinging pendulums (my own or other's), it tends to make me quite nauseous...
Strong healthy community, and personal health and strength, are both related to treating others well, to creating and being a part of networks of love and genuine connections, not networks of need...and not hollow or shallow connection, either. Need is not weakness, and I think we are often acculturated to be more selfish and glorify sheer independence far more than is healthy (while some other cultures can similarly overglorify the collective over the individual). We all need, and we all need each other. That's been one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn, and I know I'm still learning it.
Two thoughts attached below -- not mine, but I find they resonate with me:
Du siehst, ich will viel
You see, I want a lot.
Maybe I want it all:
the darkness of each endless fall,
the shimmering light of each ascent.
So many are alive who don't seem to care.
Casual, easy, they move in the world
as though untouched.
But you take pleasure in the faces
of those who know they thirst.
You cherish those
who grip you for survival.
You are not dead yet, it's not too late
to open your depths by plunging into them
and drink in the life
that reveals itself quietly there.
--Rilke (trans. Barrows/Macy)
We cannot make bargains for blisses,
Nor catch them like fishes in nets;
And sometimes the thing our life misses
Helps more than the thing which it gets.
For good lieth not in pursuing,
Nor gaining of great nor of small,
But just in the doing, and doing
As we would be done by, is all.
--Alice Cary
Each action enacts its own karma, is its own reward or punishment, as we build the world in our own image, and events sprout and unfold from each choice we make, like resolute seeds. If I am compassionate in my daily life, I will be much more likely to be surrounded by compassionate people, by people who expect to give and get compassion, and by people who have been treated fairly and well by me and others around them. If I am uncaring, cruel, mean, petty, self-centered, or unforgiving, I will similarly find myself surrounded by like-minded folk, and many of these people around me will be less likely to cut me slack, show me compassion, or support me when I inevitably need help, either because it's not in their mindset, or they've been burned in the past by me or others.
I believe there is a clear balance between the poles of sticky sentimentality or false connection, and being callous or uncaring, apart, atomic. Every man and woman is a star, but all stars are parts of clusters, constellations, solar systems, galaxies. I've seen the extremes, I've lived the extremes, and neither one is pretty. We can hold true compassion and treat others well, while still holding onto our integrity, authenticity, honesty and authority. In the exploration between extremes, though, it's very possible, perhaps inevitable, to swing too far from time to time. I hate riding on swinging pendulums (my own or other's), it tends to make me quite nauseous...
Strong healthy community, and personal health and strength, are both related to treating others well, to creating and being a part of networks of love and genuine connections, not networks of need...and not hollow or shallow connection, either. Need is not weakness, and I think we are often acculturated to be more selfish and glorify sheer independence far more than is healthy (while some other cultures can similarly overglorify the collective over the individual). We all need, and we all need each other. That's been one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn, and I know I'm still learning it.
Two thoughts attached below -- not mine, but I find they resonate with me:
Du siehst, ich will viel
You see, I want a lot.
Maybe I want it all:
the darkness of each endless fall,
the shimmering light of each ascent.
So many are alive who don't seem to care.
Casual, easy, they move in the world
as though untouched.
But you take pleasure in the faces
of those who know they thirst.
You cherish those
who grip you for survival.
You are not dead yet, it's not too late
to open your depths by plunging into them
and drink in the life
that reveals itself quietly there.
--Rilke (trans. Barrows/Macy)
We cannot make bargains for blisses,
Nor catch them like fishes in nets;
And sometimes the thing our life misses
Helps more than the thing which it gets.
For good lieth not in pursuing,
Nor gaining of great nor of small,
But just in the doing, and doing
As we would be done by, is all.
--Alice Cary
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 07:57 pm (UTC)