Re: [pf] A new list serve

by Jill Taylor Bussiere

30 December 2000 00:11 UTC

You are wise to know your own contradictions, Betsy. Would that we all did.

I can relate to your *believing* that we make a difference and yet *knowing*
that the outcome will not be what we want.  If fact, that pretty much sums
up a part of the Nader/LaDuke campaign.


Perhaps the way one can resolve the seeming paradox is to know that the
richness of the moment for many of us on the list means working toward
justice and equality and for the love of the earth - that perhaps that is as
much who we are as that we have brown (or other) colored eyes.  And that to
not act in such a way would diminish the moments of our lives.


----- Original Message -----
From: Betsy Barnum <bbarnum@wavetech.net>
Cc: pf <positive-futures@igc.topica.com>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 5:10 PM
Subject: Re: [pf] A new list serve


> Jill Taylor Bussiere wrote:
>
> >     The only thing that I would differ on is trusting that "this course
will
> > lead to the best possible outcome for oneself and for the universe, even
> > while not knowing what that outcome will be".  I can not trust that the
> > outcome will be the best for all, but only that we can try to seek that
> > presence in the moment of whatever outcome unfolds.  That there are
things
> > of beauty and love in the midst of whatever course the universe takes.
>
> Jill, this is what I meant--not that the outcome will be wonderful and all
I
> could desire, but that it will be what it will be, and my positive
contribution
> by living with integrity and awareness will make it just that tiny little
bit
> more to the positive. I'm reminded of an image of George Fox, founder of
> Quakerism, of the "ocean of light and the ocean of darkness." He spoke of
it as
> the balance of the universe, and each of us had just a drop to add to
either
> side.
>
> I guess my point, and it's one I have a really hard time with, too, is
that I
> believe two things at the same time: one, that I *do* make a difference in
the
> present and future by how I live my life (I can add my drop to the ocean
of
> light or two the ocean of darkness--I have, we all have, that choice); and
two,
> that the outcome is entirely out of my hands. I can't *make* things go the
way I
> want them to, hard as I might work, and if I get too caught up in wanting
a
> certain outcome, or fearing another outcome, I miss the richness of this
life,
> right now, both the suffering and the beauty.
>
> And I paradoxically believe, though this is completely unmeasurable and
> unprovable, that it is more effective to let go of outcomes and act in the
> integrity of the moment than to focus on what I desire or on what I fear.
When I
> am as fully aware as possible of the richness of right now, and am
participating
> in life to the fullest extent, whether I am cooking a cup of rice or
speaking to
> hundreds of people or  creating a new endeavor with the potential to
influence
> thousands, my actions will contribute to the ocean of light, and making my
> contribution there is the most and best  I can hope to do in this
lifetime. As
> to outcome, all I can do is trust.
>
> Betsy
>
> --
> Betsy Barnum
> bbarnum@wavetech.net
> http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1624
>
> **************************************
> No politics, song, religion, behavior, or what not,
> is of account, unless it compare with the
> amplitude of the earth.
> Unless it face the exactness, vitality, impartiality,
> Rectitude of the Earth.
>
> -- Walt Whitman
>