December 08, 2005
Questions from an Attendee
I'm up in the dark at 3AM these mornings, keeping to East Coast time in prep for this Friday's 8am talk in Toronto. I actually enjoy this. It reminds me that I am living a purposeful and rather unique life. Which brings me to your questions:
What inspires you to travel and ask people the questions you do?
Why is it that you believe you can make a difference in the world? (And I don't mean this last question in a condescending way at all)
How do you maintain personal integrity in the work that you do?
In a nutshell (the sun will rise soon and I've got a climbing date with a buddy and I need to pack for the next 10 days of being on the road!).... I don't know why some of us are born with a more philosophical/spiritual inclination. The loss of my pal Steve on that mountain? My ancestral rabbinical past? An errant gene? But I've always been a tad crazed, interested in the BIG picture. Aware of the curious and fleeting nature of life. Attention to detail has never been my strong suit. Definitely a touch of A.D.D. and healthy insanity. I ask the questions I ask because the little stuff bores me and the sky is so huge and full of stars and the entire span of our lives is the flap of a hummingbird wing. What else is worth talking/thinking about?
A difference? Absolutely!
Is that my motivation?
Absolutely not.
It is my nature.
I am a supremely selfish being. I take time to express love and joy and do my dance and connect with others because it is what ultimately turns me on. Makes me feel like I am alive. I think that is simply the divinity in me seeking union with the divinity of life. I am the furthest thing from a saint that you can imagine, but do I feel like I do 'holy' work? Totally. I have no choice. If I want to stay healthy, feel plugged in to life this is what I must do. Expectation of making the world a perfect place. Hmmmm.
That would be nice but it is not going to happen on my watch. Still, how else can I live but by making the world in my immediate vicinity better for having passed through? Finally..... Integrity. Again, I know when I'm out of balance. I try and self-correct. I guess that is integrity for me. No moralizing... just an evolving understanding of what works. 'Sin' - as I understand it - comes from the old archery term for 'missing the mark'. No moralizing involved.
Missing the mark gets old. So we self-correct. As you wrote, ‘travel’ is essential. Not tourism but 'travel', It broadens and deepens us, opens our minds, but most importantly our hearts. When we feel our connection to others, experience their pain and the ever-present injustice and inequity that informs the lives of so terribly many, we see that a life of personal integrity - rather than relentless self interest - is the one thing we can do, must do, to feel like we are more a part of the solution than the problem. Then we find ourselves committed to 'sharpening the saw'... so as not to grow dull once more... where we live and in the work we do. I will hang from frozen granite this morning and my lungs and fingers will ache in the cold. But I will feel more alive for the discomfort. I will take time in my day for this 'conversation' with you to remember again that there is something large at stake ... and that we are a part of that and to garner the joy that comes from taking a moment to do something for another with no intention of personal gain. So I will pack for Toronto and DC and Florida where I will try and lift an audience out of their seats and into a greater appreciation of life and later, when I read about yet another horror or injustice, I will know that in my small way I am doing what I can. Because, like it or not, I am a part of it all.
So... Enette, thanks for asking!
I wish you great success as you get your career under way. Speaking is so tough (travel-wise, repetition-wise) but what a delight when you finish a talk and there is someone who says to you "You have touched me and inspired me."
That makes it ALL worthwhile! So thank YOU, Enette.
All the best and adventure on!
Warm Regards,
Jeff
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