Comments on: Bound http://thewhole9.com/blogs/ourmaninnirvana/2009/05/30/bound/ A lifestyle blog by Daiken Nelson on The Whole 9 Mon, 6 Feb 2012 16:22:47 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: miltt http://thewhole9.com/blogs/ourmaninnirvana/2009/05/30/bound/comment-page-1/#comment-22 miltt Sun, 31 May 2009 14:03:10 +0000 http://thewhole9.com/blogs/ourmaninnirvana/?p=29#comment-22 Although my sense of obligation to the world came from a different source than yours, it was instilled in me early on that I had to have a purpose if I wanted to call myself alive and that purpose had to be congruent with the betterment of the world. I did not have to choose a purpose that was global. I could pick a small target but it had to be relevant and it had to give to rather than take from the substance of the whole. Of couse, as a youngster, I had to ask the selfish question, "What about me and my needs?" The answer I got was so simple that it made it easy to focus my life: "What do you need that won't be provided if you follow the path I outlined?" Over many decades that proved true and the only time I suffered cognitive dissonance was when I went off the path and put my selfish desires ahead of my purpose. If I poke fun at others who seem caught up in the pursuit of things and their purpose appears to be subservient to their own quest for some kind of accounting that makes acquisition the goal it is perhaps because I know where their pursuit will lead. When you lose the gifts of youth and prowess, you damn well better be able to have vision to substitute for sight and the ability to fly when you can no longer walk. I'd rather chide them now than tell them "I told you so," when it is too late for them to alter their path. Hey, New York isn't too bad if you don't have to see it, smell it, touch it, taste it or be carried along with those whose God can be counted on little pieces of green paper or put in safety deposit boxes. Me? I don't have to own the Venus DeMilo to understand that she was a stone fox when she was sculpted and 2000 years later still is an object of supreme poise, beauty and dignity. Lollipops and unicorns Although my sense of obligation to the world came from a different source than yours, it was instilled in me early on that I had to have a purpose if I wanted to call myself alive and that purpose had to be congruent with the betterment of the world. I did not have to choose a purpose that was global. I could pick a small target but it had to be relevant and it had to give to rather than take from the substance of the whole.

Of couse, as a youngster, I had to ask the selfish question, “What about me and my needs?” The answer I got was so simple that it made it easy to focus my life: “What do you need that won’t be provided if you follow the path I outlined?”

Over many decades that proved true and the only time I suffered cognitive dissonance was when I went off the path and put my selfish desires ahead of my purpose.

If I poke fun at others who seem caught up in the pursuit of things and their purpose appears to be subservient to their own quest for some kind of accounting that makes acquisition the goal it is perhaps because I know where their pursuit will lead. When you lose the gifts of youth and prowess, you damn well better be able to have vision to substitute for sight and the ability to fly when you can no longer walk. I’d rather chide them now than tell them “I told you so,” when it is too late for them to alter their path.

Hey, New York isn’t too bad if you don’t have to see it, smell it, touch it, taste it or be carried along with those whose God can be counted on little pieces of green paper or put in safety deposit boxes. Me? I don’t have to own the Venus DeMilo to understand that she was a stone fox when she was sculpted and 2000 years later still is an object of supreme poise, beauty and dignity.

Lollipops and unicorns

]]> By: agodoy http://thewhole9.com/blogs/ourmaninnirvana/2009/05/30/bound/comment-page-1/#comment-21 agodoy Sat, 30 May 2009 18:35:24 +0000 http://thewhole9.com/blogs/ourmaninnirvana/?p=29#comment-21 I like this. And I'm on it. Dukkha is the deal, but it doesn't have to suck so bad. I like this. And I’m on it. Dukkha is the deal, but it doesn’t have to suck so bad.

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