SEPTEMBER , 2010

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVING IN THE PRESENT

Good Morning,

I hope all of my followers are enjoying the last days of Summer, as we get ready to enter the Fall season, this is a great time to hang out with ourselves and take stock of where we have been this year and to look forward to the coming days that lay ahead keeping in mind that to look too far into the future robs us of our most valued commodity, that being the present.

I am reminded of a quote I recently read from the great philosopher Lin Yutang. Although not known as a philosopher in the traditional sense, a philosopher none the less. "revere inaction as much as action, involve humor to maintain a healthy attitude and never forget that there will always be plenty of fools around who are willing __ indeed eager __ to be busy, to make themselves useful, and to exercise power while you bask in the simple joys of existence".

Quite a quote you may be thinking, and I would concur, I believe Yu was on to something as I read further his writings on the importance of living . I myself have been busy of late in creating my own philosophy so to speak (though I would hasten to add that I am also not a philosopher in the traditional sense). But by not being a true philosophy also frees me from the constraints of academic handcuffs and in so doing allows me to posit are more common sense view of life on planet Earth.

Having explained where I am not headed, let me layout the map of my journey. I was at a friends house for a BBQ and during what can only be explained as a most joyful evening, we were talking and complaining about our lives. All of us being in our late 50's and early 60's, we all felt we had a pretty good slant on life and where we all fit in. As usual as you can imagine, the conversation came around to my blogging on life's challenges and how we all contribute ( whether we think we do or not), to our place and our life's circumstance.

I started out with a quote that for better or worse has become associated with my writings. "If you are what you do, then if you don't you are not". One of the guests quipped, "I never thought of my life as such, but I really am what I do, and if I didn't do my work, where would I be". He looked at me in with that wanting look, as if to say, "you hit my life on the head, you really understand where I am, and where I am is not at all where I want to be. I am so much more than my work, but also I am so much about my work". I could see the searching in his voice and eyes. Then I said, " that is the whole point of what I write about", we are all so much more than what we do, or what we have.

I knew this was going to be an interesting evening, though even I did not fathom how much it would be. I started out by explaining that you couldn't possibly be the sum total of your work or things for that very reason, for without our profession or things, out lives wouldn't couldn't possibly even exist. That for each and everyone of us, there is one overreaching idea that puts us exactly where we are and the whole point of this will forever and always "why" we even here! In the amazingly funny and poignant movie, The City Slickers, the scene where Billy Crystal's character Mitch and Jack Palance's character Curly are having the famous bonding moment when Curly brilliantly posits lives eternal truth, that there is just one thing that makes us who we are and that plants us firmly in the ground, but places out minds and souls in the Heavens. What is this point, what is the secret to our existence her on Earth, what is our raison d' etre, out reason for being?

Curly points his crooked index finger and drolly says, that is it, this is the one thing that makes our lives complete, well what is it Mitch exalts Curly to reveal. Curly says, " that is for you to figure out, that is your quest, that is your holy grail". Well at the party I was at it finally hit me like a ton of bricks, I finally figured out what the "Secret" really is. I can tell you it is not found a book by that name, in fact it is found in many books, in many faiths and in many philosophies. I am sure you are very curious by now, and I won't hold you in suspense any longer.

What I figured out that Sunday evening in the company of friends, what had alluded me for most of my adult life, what I has thought about, what I saw on the fringes of my existence was, Joy.
Yes, plain and not so simple the answer is joy. How to live a life of joy and fulfillment and equally important, how help others live their lives and find their joy. Mind blowing huh, well for me, this was it, this was the whole point of the story. This was my Moses on the mountain top story, my Stanley finding Livingston epic, my digging in the sands of time and coming up with the parchment to my story. What was coming out of my mouth was the thing I had been searching for, but for whatever reason, it never reached the inner recesses of my spirit, my soul like this did.

Well this moment absolutely just blew me away, it shouldn't have, but it did. I had been writing about this very ideas for the better part of a year, yet in this moment, at this place, it all came together like a lighting bolt hitting a tree and alighting it. To say it was a "light bulb" moment would be an understatement, yet at the same time, it was so simple, so right there in front of me, so I get it, I really get.

Do you get it, do you get your time and purpose here. Do you think for a second that this is just chance, all happenstance. That the forces of nature and history just places you here randomly. Not for second friend do you get to just take for granted your being here at this time and place. Now it is your turn to travel to that place where you life comes together, where you ponder and think about all that you are about. What are you going to do, where are you going, and better yet, where are you!

I guess this may be a tad much for some, but I think not. In any case you no longer have an excuse for your life, do with what you will, but I hope I have made you think about. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but who said life was easy, who said it couldn't get messy and I can't remember my parents ever saying that life wassn't messy.

Enjoy your time and may the new year bring you, happiness, joy and of course peace.

L' Shana Tova,

Robb