But if we
retreat deep within ourselves,
keeping only our own counsel,
listening only to our own problems,
filtering out all "distractions" from others,
then where is the connection with
the outside world, the teeming mass of humanity,
the long sweep of history?
If you want to be self-centered and egotistical--
and who of us doesn't, really, except for the saintly few?--
better to look upon others as our special teachers,
our personal soul trainers, each with lessons
just for us to see and grasp.
Even if we're not the center of the universe,
we can act as though we are.
But what a complex and interconnected,
multi-centered universe it will then be!
If the truth be told:
Those others who have so much to teach us
(if we listen, if we see)
probably were not put there just for us.
But knowing this
doesn't negate their lesson,
and doesn't negate God's grace
in putting them here.
It merely takes these blessed friends
out of the cloudy heavens
where they can do no good,
and brings them back to this crowded Earth
where they truly, lovingly belong.
jbs
1/28/99 |
