--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote: <snip> > Call me an idiot, or someone who has "missed the point," > but I really don't GET this quest for importance. Maybe > I've read too much Zen poetry written by guys who not > only were comfortable with their unimportance in the > Grand Scheme Of Things, but managed to turn it into > art. Maybe I'm just aware of my own limitations, and > comfortable with the fact that I probably am NOT very > important in the Grand Scheme Of Things. Maybe I'm just > not as evolved as the folks who believe that they saved > planet Earth from imminent destruction by bouncing on > their butts on slabs of polyeurythane.
This is called the "More Unimportant Than Thou" Syndrome. Paint all other spiritual seekers with a garish shade of Self-Importance, then paint yourself a nice subdued shade of Unimportance, and guess what? You'll "stand out" very well indeed. In your own mind, at least. Thought experiment: If some genie were to appear and hand you the cure for cancer, and he told you all you had to do to end cancer forever was to send it anonymously to the National Institutes of Health, BUT that once you'd sent it, you would die instantly and never get to see the outcome nor get any recognition for your sacrifice--nor even get to spend any time congratulating yourself--would you do it? I'd like to think I would. I'll bet many of us here would do it in a heartbeat. Maybe even Barry would. People who follow a famous spiritual teacher may well do so because they think his/her teachings have the greatest potential to do good in the world, not because they want to Feel Important or think it's a way to ensure their memory survives them. We'd be perfectly happy to know that on our collective tombstone will be engraved "Who?" and that even it will crumble into dust in a few generations, if it means there will be less suffering for humanity.
