reforming our attention
Feb. 24th, 2003 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iamomThis morning's deMello quote underlines my recent post about what to do about the war in Iraq:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chaizzilla had asked me after that previous post, "Why do anything?" That's kind of what I was talking about. I don't think there's anything to be done, really. But at the same time, the idea of war is quite disturbing to many of us for many reasons, and we feel compelled to do something about it, anything at all.
We have to do what we have to, and if we feel that we must march on Washington, then we should. If we feel that we must sit quietly and do nothing, then we should. Whatever we end up doing in any moment with respect to this war or anything else in our lives is perfect. If we weren't meant to be doing whatever we were doing, why else would we be doing it?
I say this as a former news/politico junkie (and current enthusiast, to be honest) who used to listen to every newscast on the radio and get really riled up about all the stupid things our government was doing all the time. What I realize in retrospect is that I was breeding ongoing violence in my own mind all the time by getting emotionally involved in events that had no effect on my own life from one day to the next. In some part, it was the dismissing of my emotional involvement in these and other activities that allowed me to become more peaceful and relaxed about my current life situation. In other words, I stopped worrying about things over which I had no control or which did not affect me directly, and this allowed me to accept the reality of my own personal situation at the moment and feel at peace about it.
These kinds of letting-go practices are essential for anyone who is trying to work through past painful experiences or other events that have happened to them in their lives. For example, so many of us have been emotionally and physically abused as children, but what if we always walked around thinking, "If only my this hadn't happened when I was younger, I would be able to deal with this situation better." These "if only's" are perilous to our enlightenment -- they keep our attention focused on what could have been instead of what is.
Paradoxical as it seemed, the Master always insisted that the true reformer was one who was able to see that everything is perfect as it is -- and able to leave it alone.
"Then why would he wish to reform anything?" protested his disciples.
"Well, there are reformers and reformers: One type lets action flow through them while they themselves do nothing; these are like people who change the shape and flow of a river. The others generate their own activity; they are like people who exert themselves to make the river wetter."
--Anthony de Mello, SJ
chaizzilla had asked me after that previous post, "Why do anything?" That's kind of what I was talking about. I don't think there's anything to be done, really. But at the same time, the idea of war is quite disturbing to many of us for many reasons, and we feel compelled to do something about it, anything at all.We have to do what we have to, and if we feel that we must march on Washington, then we should. If we feel that we must sit quietly and do nothing, then we should. Whatever we end up doing in any moment with respect to this war or anything else in our lives is perfect. If we weren't meant to be doing whatever we were doing, why else would we be doing it?
I say this as a former news/politico junkie (and current enthusiast, to be honest) who used to listen to every newscast on the radio and get really riled up about all the stupid things our government was doing all the time. What I realize in retrospect is that I was breeding ongoing violence in my own mind all the time by getting emotionally involved in events that had no effect on my own life from one day to the next. In some part, it was the dismissing of my emotional involvement in these and other activities that allowed me to become more peaceful and relaxed about my current life situation. In other words, I stopped worrying about things over which I had no control or which did not affect me directly, and this allowed me to accept the reality of my own personal situation at the moment and feel at peace about it.
These kinds of letting-go practices are essential for anyone who is trying to work through past painful experiences or other events that have happened to them in their lives. For example, so many of us have been emotionally and physically abused as children, but what if we always walked around thinking, "If only my this hadn't happened when I was younger, I would be able to deal with this situation better." These "if only's" are perilous to our enlightenment -- they keep our attention focused on what could have been instead of what is.
