Wednesday, August 17, 2011

We are all "me"

"The self is a false reification of an improperly delimited part of a much larger field of interlocking processes."  -- Gregory Bateson

I found this quote this morning in Ordinary Magic, and it seemed to relate directly to the poem by Baba Afdal Kashan whose translation I posted yesterday on Contemplative Icons:

"Not a thing in this world 
is outside of you. 
Whatever you are seeking 
you will find it already there 
waiting inside of you."  —Baba Afdal Kashani

 I know: it's fairly easy to give lip service to this; far harder to live into it -- to relinquish that egoic self, that conviction that we are separate; that the world and people around us are other; that what happens to them has little effect on us.  In a way I believe it is this conviction that lies at the heart of the most difficult challenges facing the world today -- global warming, war, drought, famine -- they all seem to occur because we don't understand the consequences of our actions, and because we still don't get, after all these centuries, that "whatsoever you do unto the least of these my brethren you do unto me." 

We are all "me," and as long as we continue to misunderstand that; as long as we fail to see -- and live into -- the infinite connectedness of leaf, fish, water, sun, sky and self, I'm afraid we will continue to cause suffering for this precious planet of ours... 


2 comments:

Louise Gallagher said...

And the hard part for so many of us is the realization that I cm me because you are you. And I can only be me when you can be you.

It is something I have learned working at the shelter -- I am exactly where I am meant to be -- and so is everyone else. It is what we do where we are that creates the difference -- deep thoughts in your post diane. Thanks.

Joyce Wycoff said...

Gorgeous image!