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Modest Proposals
A Modest Proposal: Be Good Enough Last month's Modest Proposal used a style that I called "semi-Socratic," basically a question and answer format. I asked for subscriber feedback, many of you provided it (thank you), and on that basis, I am going to use this style for a few more editions to determine if continues to work well. As always, your feedback is much appreciated. ---------------------------------------------- Are you good enough? Please do not answer without first reflecting. On one hand, our egos may tell us that, of course, we are good enough. On the other, our darker, shadow selves may have a different, more ominous answer that has a very deep root into the murky beginnings of our lives. Spirit tells us that we are children of the Light. Our Dark side tells us that although we may lift our eyes to the Light, it is unobtainable for we are flawed and unworthy, firmly grounded in the Dark. Where do your seek your worth, in the Light or the Dark? What is good enough? Perhaps, it is having whatever I desire. The Dark promotes this definition reminding us countless times daily. Thus, my assessment of my worth correlates directly with my accomplishments and possessions. "He who dies with the most toys, wins!" He still dies, and he can't take the toys with him. The remains of his lifetime are left to scrambling relatives bent on accumulating their own possessions, the unholy Grail of contemporary life. Perhaps, being good enough is opening my heart to exchange Light with my fellow humans. Perhaps, being good enough is simply to accept and learn thereby reflecting the Light back to itself. Perhaps being good enough is leaving a legacy of love that inspires others. Where do your seek your worth, in the Light or the Dark? How do you know when you are good enough? Society rewards you when you are good enough with your name emblazoned on a building, a street sign, or on a star buried in a concrete sidewalk. Decades later, small children tug at their parents' hands asking who you were, and they don't remember. It could be that an idea, a poem, a song, or a story that you created wove its way into the Light and, anonymously or not, brings joy and harmony to others long after your passing. Maybe, one single act, performed seemingly on behalf of just one other person, ultimately results in an uplifting of all of humanity. The song can remain long after the singer is gone, his identity forgotten. Where do your seek your value, in the Light or the Dark? How did you learn that you're not good enough? It always comes from the Dark, that feeling in the pit of your small belly that you somehow offended the gods of your childhood. As you matured, many people gleefully reinforced your permanent residency in the Dark for misery does indeed covet company. Reaching adulthood, the beast of your imperfect image, with its last breath of free air, defends its accumulations howsoever grand or modest they may be. Life becomes a struggle to survive for there is never enough; pauper and king are never satisfied in the kingdom of the Dark. Far above the Dark, Light shines on the mountaintop where judgment is banished, and we are asked only if we know the truth of who we really are. How freeing it is to be without obligations and encumbrances, to live free of all debts. Where do your seek your worth, in the Light or the Dark? Can you let go of the need to be good enough? The ego says no for that is ego's sustenance, its life force. Society, the collective ego, scorns non-materialism, non-achievement. The pressure to benchmark ourselves against others surrounds us making us dizzy with its unrelenting din. We keep up with the Joneses right into our graves and thereby at last finding equality. The worms don't care who we were. To let go of the need for status and recognition, we need but look up from the racket of daily life and see the Light. At first, it is dizzying to experience the release of the shackles of the judgments and opinions of others. The vertigo passes, and the Lightness of being becomes all that there is. Where do your seek your worth, in the Light or the Dark? Can you really be good enough? The Dark voices tell you no. They tell you that striving to be good enough, and at the zenith, better than others, is the game of life that can't be won but is the only game around. Life is short, fleeting, and the only things that matter are fun and excitement. Heaven forbid we should become bored, that surely must be hell on earth. There is also an infinity of the simple; a flower, a drop of rain, a tree, an ocean wave, cannot be acquired, only experienced. In each of them, including every human, there is Light if we only look. Where do your seek your worth, in the Light or the Dark? My Modest Proposal to you is be good enough. Look into the Light and smile with the realization that there is nothing to do, nowhere to go, no feet to prostrate before, no rings to kiss. Connect with the Light that is surely in you and the rest of us as well. Being good enough is simply a choice that you can make anytime and many times. Nothing to join, there are no operators standing by. I don't care what the Dark says, you ARE good enough. Choose and accept. As a last comment, I am not critical of life's material aspects. I am not saying that materialism is unspiritual or "evil." My point is that I think materialism is best seen as a byproduct of life, not the goal of life. I know that when I shifted my awareness to that perspective, suddenly, I had everything that I needed. Comments and counter proposals are welcome. Please email ron@RonMcCray.com. Peace & Light...Ron
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Email Ron: Ron@RonMcCray.com
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© Ron McCray 2002 - 2004
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