What, Who, Where?
What am I? Who am I? Where am I?
The story of Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s brilliant novel, Les Miserables, is an example of changing our identity from a person who did not realize who, what or where he was - to a man on his knees in prayer. It is was a selfless act of kindness by the Monseigneur that changed this angry, released prisoner into a generous, devoted worker.
Are we willing and able to to take up the simple practices to be selfless, generous and devoted to the transcendent work right where we are.
If we are are unwilling to do so, we continuously identify ourselves as selfish, angry, disappointed, righteous - a what is in it for me attitude - which leads to suffering.
WORK. GENEROSITY. DEVOTION: CARE FOR OUR PRACTICE
Our we willing to follow this teaching:
From NOW in our body, WORK is devotion and our generosity is to help ourselves & others to awaken.
The majority of us WORK whether it is for pay or not; there is constant work to be done. From making the bed to doing the dishes to sitting in front of a computer screen. The body works along with the mind to maintain our life which is constantly changing. Our body & mind are constantly sloughing off.
WORK according to the Oxford language dictionary is:
activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
According to this definition everything we do is WORK. But is the work we do a devotion?
Are we loyal, steadfast, concentrated & focused on WORK as an offering of confidence from an unselfish mind.
Not looking to get anything for ourselves?
Unselfishness is essential.
We need the strength and faithfulness to welcome what comes into our life as our life. We must be willing to accept what comes into our life with a clarity of all acceptance of what shows up.
The basics of this acceptance rests on our attitude of giving to those who ask for and for those who need our help. Giving to those in need, giving to those we do not want to give to - to those we dislike, find irritating, beligerent, strangers - all those who show up in our life.
Awareness of the other’s need for kindness and a helping hand requires that we do our best without wanting anything in return, anything extra. Expecting no results.
Our willingness to give includes everyone. This willingness requires no measurements, no likes or dislikes, no favoritism. We practice an openness to offer kindness from the heart. It requires that we give up picking & choosing those we think are valuable and worthy of our generosity. to include all beings.
Giving is not easy. We all might know someone who we do not like, someone who is crude, beligerent, haughty… someone we shun or condemn. We hold back, cut them off, remove them from our list.
Giving requires an understanding and knowledge of our mind, not the other’s mind.
We are well-served when we take our time and study the mind (which is an object) in such a way we relinquish our grasp of keeping, hoarding, measuring, liking, dismissing, stinginess and all those mental forms in the mind that inhibit us from giving.
We are served when we accept that all beings includes all beings. That we take up the path and walk it without concern for our self-interest.
When we are able to tread this path of selflessness, the questions of What am I? Who am I? Where am I? dissipate.
Are we capable of being a monseigneur who offers what we have to offer as a selfless act? Perhaps we are in need of kindness, a kind act that helps us relinquish our anger to the extent we fall to our knees in gratitude for unbidden kindness.
Don’t give up! Keep going.
