That which is the source of the sun and of every power in the cosmos, beyond which there is neither going nor coming, Is the Self. This Self is supreme!
– Katha Upanishad
Him: The sun’s so hot today.
Me: I believe it’s entirely made up of fire. That’s probably why.
It all sounds so easy, right? Say what’s on your mind, be forthright, speak clearly, with ambiguity about your boundaries, needs and wants. It’s okay to say no and no one is any other person’s ‘everything.’ Be an individual who is tactful, respectful, kind and straightforward. Take no one for granted. Rely on the self.
The world is more different than ever though. Just 100 years ago, the average life expectancy was late 40s. Less than ten percent of homes had a phone. The maximum speed limit in most places was 10 MPH. Almost 20 percent of households had servants or slaves and few people had education, let alone bath tubs. More than 95 percent of births took place in the home and when people died, they were laid out and viewed in the home after death. Life was so precarious then. Well it is now too, and always has been.
Instead of our main concerns being the basic needs of life, we have virtual worldwide communication at the touch of a button. Some diseases are eradicated and we live so long that age related illnesses like Alzheimers and senility do their best to decay our core selves, instead of pneumonia at the age of 30. If I send my child to school, will they be injured or murdered? If I ride an airplane, will it be hijacked, bombed…?
There is a serenity involved in making the conscious decision to NOT allow world worries to affect every aspect of daily life. We are born into this world, and although we must not forget those who came before us, we have to remember that the present way of life is simply borrowed from what will be our children’s future.
That’s why this wise-ass response from me is so crucial to me being in the mindset I must adopt:
Him: The sun’s so hot today.
Me: I believe it’s entirely made up of fire. That’s probably why.
It’s important because I did not enter into a diatribe of “Oh yeah…weather’s changing, global warming, what’s to become of us, yadayada.” I am not ignorant of the precarious nature of this young world which is inhabited by so many lives that walk tightropes every moment of every day simply because we exist.
Unstable, dangerous, not secure, difficult, likely to get worse. That’s precariousness. To dare to push anxiety and hopelessness to the dusty shelf in the brain’s recesses will alleviate the human need to worry, stress, make one’s self sick with feelings of doom and gloom. It’s not easy. But I will smell flowers, gently pick up and study inch worms before returning them to a tree. I will feel joy despite what my life has become:
Chaos spaghetti with a side dish of despair.
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.” — Helen Keller
Read this story of precariousness and feel as if you’re problems are smaller: http://www.terrain.org/fiction/26/weingarten.htm
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