Monday, January 26, 2009

Busy Being Born

January 26th, 2009
The cycle of interruption continues. If ripples on the water can alter one’s course, how do individuals in Israel and Gaza, and Darfur (add other trouble spots on the globe your heart and mind are currently alarmed about) ever even catch their breath? It is all struggle. And too much perspective dwarfs the particulars to such a degree as to be immobilizing. Balance takes motion and breath.

Perhaps Bob Dylan said it in one mouthful, " He not busy being born is busy dying."

Really there is much mystery in the phrase, for not only can we not let the death we owe dwarf the life we have, but we are daily called to die to self so that we can be born anew. Second birth, already having embraced death, is free, free from the shadow that mimics and taunts and often drives nubile souls into proclaiming in anguish that all is for naught. Why live and give to your greatest capacity if it can all be snatched from you in an instant? And then under that thrall many are driven to immerse themselves in as much instant gratification as can be born.

Oh this is just a little snapshot, it’s not a full picture or a thorough exploration, but there is a glimpse here of a downward spiral, that can, like Jacob's ladder, also be ascended. Circumstances of suffering do not undo some, while pleasures and plenty take many down. It's the wrestling that is significant. Be busy, busy, busy being born.

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