Knock on the sky and listen to the sound. ~Zen Saying
Sometimes I forget to protect myself. Most times, really. Well, lets be honest--I always forget. In fact, I cannot say that I even try to remember, I merely tell myself that I am going to, and then proceed straightaway to ignore my own advice.
Why then, given my own stubborn lack of prudence, do I continue to be surprised by unkindness?
Is there something to be gathered up, treasured to oneself in the wounds so carelessly inflicted by others? Does unkindness without recognition remain undone, something that never happened?
This is the heart of carelessness: To inflict pain or insult without acknowledgment or remorse.
What if people had no target, no victim readily available? They would, of course, curse God.
And yet, as the Kabbalists say, when you curse another human being, you curse God as well, for the object of the curse is His image. We are that which of He is visible.
God does not react. He cannot be touched. Therefore the individual is a far more satisfying objective.
Why does a man, because of kindness, feel stupid? Why does it seem a reasonable option to learn for ourselves the carelessness by which harm was in the first place inflicted?
Do you remember me, the one you love, the man you made of words and kisses?
Strange world, ours. World of questions and riddles, and the answers all of mist and enigma.
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Showing posts with label kindness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kindness. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Living Water, II
Wellington Boone was wrong. Or was he?
He had said, in the space of 200 pages or so, that if a man will go out of his way to serve others, then others will acknowledge the effort in like manner, i.e. the natural response to giving is to give in return.
Now, having afforded the theory a trial run of some 10 years' duration, I can say nothing other than that the results have consistently failed to support the hypothesis. Rather, extravagant giving would appear to create in others an extravagant appetite for receiving.
People do not see the force of will behind self-effacement. They simply conclude that you are weak. They do not see the strength in forbearance. They simply conclude that you are foolish. They do not understand that generosity is powered by love, nor that true love elevates the one who is loved above the common elements of personal recompense.
I have become, therefore, the proverbial doormat. Or so they will say, even as they continue to benefit by every property they have deemed foolish, weak, callow, obtuse.
What's up with that, Mr. Boone?
The answer, as it happens, is a bit beyond the mere ink that ended up on the page.
He had said, in the space of 200 pages or so, that if a man will go out of his way to serve others, then others will acknowledge the effort in like manner, i.e. the natural response to giving is to give in return.
Now, having afforded the theory a trial run of some 10 years' duration, I can say nothing other than that the results have consistently failed to support the hypothesis. Rather, extravagant giving would appear to create in others an extravagant appetite for receiving.
People do not see the force of will behind self-effacement. They simply conclude that you are weak. They do not see the strength in forbearance. They simply conclude that you are foolish. They do not understand that generosity is powered by love, nor that true love elevates the one who is loved above the common elements of personal recompense.
I have become, therefore, the proverbial doormat. Or so they will say, even as they continue to benefit by every property they have deemed foolish, weak, callow, obtuse.
What's up with that, Mr. Boone?
The answer, as it happens, is a bit beyond the mere ink that ended up on the page.
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