Re: [pf] A new list serve

by Molly Williams

30 December 2000 01:40 UTC

Yes, I agree with all this that Betsy wrote. I believe my thinking was
shaped radically by reading Madeleine L'Engle as a child.

~ Molly

Betsy Barnum wrote:

> 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.