What is Important? This is a set of rambling thoughts on life's priorities. Skip if not in the mood for philosophy. Today i read a quote in one of the local newspapers (alternative press). It went like this: Nothing is as important as the trees! Nothing! -- Terrence O'Donnell At first i thought this a misguided thought and tried to list things more important than trees. Lately i've been convinced the ultimate achievement is to be content. Can we be content without trees. Sure, the loss would be substantial but life would go on. Still, our quality of life would not be the same and the trees would be missed in many ways. Another way to approach this is to go one level deeper and ask: What is contentment? What is a tree? Neither of these questions have clear answers. It gets difficult to separate trees from their surroundings and synergistic organisms. This begins a circle where we depend on plants and plants depend upon other plants, etc. In the end we begin to understand the Native American's belief in the "Great Circle" were everything repeats and is inter connected. What part is more important? Then there is Maslow's findings which show people go through stages and have different priorities in each stage. The initial stages deal with survival and self interest. It is at this time that power, money, and possessions become high priority. If you never feel secure enough to move into the later stages of life then things like "money" will remain important. In the later stages a "tree" might be seen as important. Yet another way to view all this is from the perspective of ZEN and this is where my thoughts finally came to rest. No more going in circles with "words" or trying to create definitions. We are so in the habit of trying to put ideas into little boxes such as "trees" or "contentment" that we don't see the reality. Life is like a river where there are many different reference points, various degrees of suffering, differing points of visibility, and we have limited understanding. We can only travel along and have compassion for those who die as part of our survival. This includes many animals, plants, and often other people. If we accept this view of life then many questions go away. We don't worry about defining "important" and move our thinking to the present moment. We see the raw world and do not need to catagorize everything. It is a ever changing dynamic where everything is important and everything is temporary. jeff
