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Today's
Meditation:
We
can't touch the stars, even though there is a connection
between you and the stars that you see at night. The
light that reaches your eyes has been traveling for many,
many years, and since you can see the stars, you know that
there is a beam of light that extends all the way from your
eyes back to the star (if it hasn't ceased to exist in the
meantime). But
keep in mind that in the time that it has taken the light to
reach us, the sky as we see it probably has ceased to
exist. So while we may want to keep that star as our
own, there's a good chance that it's no longer there.
The night sky that we see probably is much different than
the night sky that exists now--the one that people on our
planet will see hundreds or thousands of years from now. So
if we grasp at the stars, we'll come up empty. If we
grasp for the hand of a friend, guess what? The
friend's right here. If we put our full effort into
the work that we do, the work will become more fulfilling,
and we'll get better at it. And if we do so and it
doesn't become more fulfilling, that should be a pretty
clear sign that we need to find new work. Our
daily duties can be awesome reminders of how alive we are,
and just how simple life can be, and just how fulfilling
life can be when it is simple. One of my favorite
things in the world is to curl up with a cup of coffee, and
English muffin, and a good book, and if I had to choose, I'd
pick that over an expensive show or concert any day. I
often have more fun washing my car than I would doing almost
anything else--there's something about the flowing water and
watching something become clean that's very fulfilling. I
don't think Robert's telling us not to set our ambitions
high, or to be satisfied with mediocrity in the things that
we do. But he is telling us not to ignore those
beautiful things of our daily life that, if we do pay
attention to them and appreciate them, can greatly enrich us
as human beings. |
