An Awakened Outlook

Something I wish I’d learned during my growing up years, and that had been stressed above all at home and in school, is the importance not of proving myself as an individual, but of embracing and cultivating my natural talents in a spirit of contribution and cooperation. Instead, I was caught up in the cult of individuality, wherein I mistakenly equated self-worth with accomplishment on the dead-end terms of a society based on acquisition, competition, and making it on one’s own, all of which entailed a kind of showman’s or salesman’s attitude and mentality, and resulted in a prolonged waste of energy. I don’t say I regret an experience shared by millions; I do say the experience is exactly the kind that has made our human culture the sad thing that it is; I also say that, until it’s recognized and understood, it’s illogical to expect a better result. Far too many of us are unhappy, angry people doing unhappy, angry things. At the same time, we search for the peace, fulfillment, and order only an awakened outlook and experience can bring. We long for simplicity, and foil ourselves at every step by believing that if we can just make it to the next hard-won station along the way, all will be well. But no station is worth attaining at the price of our peace and happiness, our physical and mental health, our environment, and the well-being of the rest of the world. We may be proud of our ability; we may be proud of all that we’ve accomplished; but pride alone is meaningless in a world that’s crying for love and begging for help. Our talents and abilities are on loan only for the brief time we are here. We must use them not to advance ourselves; instead, we need to find ways they might be used as a contribution to the greater good. Then we can live knowing they’re well justified, and that they’re being gratefully repaid.

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