I can talk, but I can't speak very well. I can type, but my writing is mediocre. I can listen, but I don't often make listening my intention. I can read, but I choose to do many other things that, in comparison, are a complete waste of time.
Talking, listening, reading, writing. Two active and two passive activities.
For as long as I can remember, I've wondered about my place in the world. Who am I? What's important?
I grew up with a great deal of exposure to the Bible, and I was thinking of how impossible it seems to escape ego, to think and act in any way that doesn't somehow promote self-interest. Yesterday, I thought about the Ecclesiastical conclusion that "all is vanity." Although at the time it was written, vanity was probably synonymous with futility rather than ego, I feel pretty sure the two concepts are closely related.
Distill life down to its simplest form. Imagine all of the vanity being boiled away, and only the essence of life dripping into a bowl. What remains in the bowl is survival.
I watched the President's state of the union address last night with my son. A gathering of human beings, but I could not see the iceberg. I could only see the tip above the water. The words, the faces, the expressions and actions of the participants were visible, but the innumerable thoughts were not.
I hope the men and women who lead the United States of America have found a way to escape ego, and that their efforts do not, in the end, result in futility. I have hope that with each successive generation, like the Colorado River carving the Grand Canyon, we survive, and our children imagine and create a new world, a world of patience, tolerance, and above all, kindness.
Let's strive to find a way to beat our swords into plowshares.
