Absurd Heroism

I found this well-reasoned piece of common sense consistent with ancient scripture. Unfortunately, I commented at length and went on to defend Margaret's piece on the Kosmos Forum. This text area did no allow it to be cut and pasted from there to here. So, anyone wishing to read both comments, please go to:

http://www.kosmosjournal.org/news/absurd-heroism/   

I appreciate Margaret Wheatley's emphasis on working where we are with what we have. This has been a hard lesson for me in my life. It's one that I am learning. These thoughts help and I am grateful.

'"Let us walk away from that mountain of despair-inducing failures and focus instead on people in front of us, our colleagues, communities and families. Let us work together to embody the values that we treasure, and not worry about creating successful models that will transform other people. Let us focus on transforming ourselves to be little islands of good caring people, doing right work, assisting where we can, maintaining peace and sanity" ...  And this is not changing the world?

 On first reading, I resonated with "we participated with numerable other players and causes and this is what emerged --------absurd heroism."  

But I find myself tied in the paradox of parts nestled in the whole that is constantly expanding. Can the parts have an existence removed from the whole.  Human imagination keeps emerging to deal with the minuscule and vastness and absurd heroism at core may be individual and  collective responsibility inherent in our imaginations.  Our evolutionary development has both an inner and outer awareness and so we find ourselves grappling with both micro and macro aspects of our world.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSF0vX6pMw&feature=youtu.be

everyone needs to contribute for the betterment of society..Delhi has shown it at experiential level..

 Thank you, Margaret Wheatley, for these wise words. You remind me to stop running away from my fears or running toward my solutions and to place my attention here in my heart. If we can really be present to one another, maybe what emerges will be what we need.

I find parts of this passage difficult to understand, including the concept of "emergence."  But it feels significant and my curiosity is sparked so I will try to learn more about the concept in general as well as the author's ideas.  In the present moment, I especially admire and am grateful for the accompanying Dharma Comic :)  Simple and true.  Playful.  Makes me smile.  Thank you, Leah.   

 Just realised recently, as a parent and partner, my absurd self-sacrificing heroics is what  has got my sense of self into trouble, trying to fix it for everyone in a transactional dynamic that leads to fantasy of return on investment  rather than being kind to myself and by extension others, Put down the boulder. Stop trying to please and simply be, it is not all my responsibility nor is it all my fault. So yes its n ot about doing the right thing it is about doing the kind thing.

  I agree with Meg Wheatley that we can't lose sight of our own need for spiritual development and for taking care of the small things around us but look at Gandhi, King or Lincoln and understand that it was their "absurd heroics" that ended the suffering of millions. As Rabbi Abraham Herschel put it, "Some are guilty but all are responsible."  We can, as Martin Luther King put it, bring "together head and heart— intelligence and goodness--" to make a better world, or we at least we have a moral duty to try.  To try is both invigorating, connects us to others, and gives meaning to our lives. It is the opposite of energy destroying!  Gotta have a little faith and hope. :)

 And then there was Atlas

 I am thankful for the few gifted people, like the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, who believe that they not only can, but WILL change the world. Not all of us have that capacity, so we must do what we can, where we can. There is more than one path. Let's not discourage the next pivotal human being.

What if what seems like 'absurd heroism' is actually a spiritual practice? That it is not about the boulder or the gravity, nor about the objective of putting the boulder up the mountain, but just deepening oneself as one does that?

I feel unequipped to judge Sisyphus.....and if we are not vigilant, can't 'everything emerges' become another kind of absurd heroism? The one where we relinquish action trading off one belief for another?

In my journey I found myself pushing the boulder, putting it down but then picking it up again - this time, not because I wanted to put it up, but perhaps because I wanted to play with gravity, to see what pushing it makes me (as a person).....it was from feeling that whether its a boulder or a stone or a pebble, whether it is a pushing or a pulling....it is anyways Life acting on Life as Life