The rewards of remembering death.
gratitude
Why are my wife and I such good friends?
Adverse conditions are our spiritual teacher, sages say. That’s why we might consider kissing Trump’s ring. You know, metaphorically speaking. Few people have made our nation so dangerous and our government so mean-spirited. Few people, therefore, have obliged us so strongly to engage in one of life’s most important activities––sharpening our sense of:
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- What’s essential, what we cannot live without.
- The values we hold sacred.
- Who we aspire to be or die trying, no matter what.
- And, given our answers (for ourselves individually, and for the world), the healthiest action we can take now.
Trump may be over the moon nuts, a crackpot extraordinaire with no ethical center, as trustworthy as a brain surgeon with hiccups, but anybody who prompts us to pay attention to considerations that help define the well-being of every person on earth is useful, if not enjoyable.
A friend who spent decades as a monk recently shared with me a pocket card that he and the other monastics were given at one point in his tenure. The card enumerated 10 reminders the monks and nuns were asked to keep present in their consciousness as they went about their daily activities. The points ranged from always keep your mind upon God to eat food slowly and avoid too much salt. I thought the purpose of the card terrific; valuable to anyone: a list of the key reminders we want front-of-mind no matter what comes our way. (A nation gone wacky, for instance.)
Of course, since monastic life is anchored in a vow of obedience, those monks and nuns were “given” the 10 points they were encouraged to remember––each receiving the same 10. Those of us free of such vows have the privilege of choosing the cues we’d like in our back pocket at all times. Among the reasons I find this process so rewarding is that we can pick things that are particularly gnarly for us. Even better, we can change our list anytime we wish for the rest of our lives. As you know, the universe is not shy about revealing new things worth remembering.
Below is my first crack at ten, plus a few extra, in case they stimulate your own discovery process. Before you get to them, however, I have a request. If you find this exercise useful, I would love to see the list of things you want to remember. We all have so much to learn (and steal) from one another.
My Other Website
"The push to change the words “nigger” and “injun” in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, because the so-called offensive nature of those terms might limit today’s readership and appreciation of that literary classic, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we avoid taking responsibility for our feelings––and therefore miss the chance to become more awake, more whole, more useful friends to one another."
The Essay: The Gold in Niggers and Injuns
