Reflection 309

Welcome!


Your Special Role

But let’s not get stuck on the Container here, at the expense of its contents, of the world. We can’t too often remind ourselves that it’s not a case of balancing one against the other, of compromise or moderation, but of extremism. We have to see and to live the strange truth that we are forever free from the stress and pain and tragedy of the world, and we are forever caught up in them, as well as in the joy and love of the world. Then let us go on to discover what is our special role, what is our unique and unpredictable work for the good of the world which is ourself. Maybe it’s a humble and hidden job, maybe little more than setting an example of stress-free personal happiness plus a vivid appreciation of people and things for what they are. (Only this No-body extends the perfect welcome to everybody, letting them all in and letting them all be.) But rest assured that one moment of seeing yourself as Empty-for-all affects all profoundly. Your best contribution to the future isn’t what you say, or even what you work for, but what you are now. Nothing is so catching as this well-founded freedom from stress, this impersonal serenity that must embrace all persons. (Douglas Harding. Head Off Stress.)