“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.” ― Miguel Ruiz
Monk:
On the BBC Television show Time Team, a group of archeologists go around the United Kingdom digging up history. A short while ago I saw an episode about the Salisbury Cathedral, a place where I had recently visited during a trip to England. While I had no Idea that they had been there at that point, I walked where the cameramen had walked, where the archeologists had excavated. They were digging up a small personal chapel that Bishop Beauchamp had built adjacent to the larger cathedral. The little chapel, now gone, had been built by Beauchamp and he and a few of his close friends had been buried there.
Even though I’d stood at the site I had no idea that the chapel had even existed until I saw the TV show, but here’s the really interesting part: While the archeologists were trying to locate the bishop’s friend’s bodies, they serendipitously uncovered a building foundation that predated not only the Bishop’s chapel but also the cathedral itself. Underneath that they discovered an older burial ground that no one suspected was there.
To tease this out; I stood on a lawn, which once held a private chapel I didn’t know existed for a prominent Bishop I had never heard of. The private chapel was built on an older
foundation from a project that was lost to time. Further, bones were discovered of people who were buried in the chapel that had no documentation. One might make a calculated guess of who they once were, but all records had been lost to antiquity. That’s nothing new. Let’s face it, history runs deep; and it has no need for your name. The world does not think of you, or me, or any of us truly. You may think of the world, but there is no reciprocity. In fact I’d go so far as to say that thinking deeply of yourself is a waste of time. Eventually, no matter how rich, famous, or important we are in life, we all move from being remembered to being forgotten in death.
Thinking deeply of yourself not only wastes your time, it also makes your ego hard to be around. Everybody has an ego, of course, and that ego is needed to survive. If you didn’t have an ego you would die simply because you would take no action to sustain yourself. On the other end of the spectrum is the ego that enters the room twenty minutes before the person arrives. Neither of these egos is very successful over time. Putting your focus on the world, on the other hand, is a way to engage creation in a manner that is far more productive.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “If it bleeds it leads.” When we listen to the nightly news, the focus is about manipulating our emotions the majority of the time. News agencies often have entertaining products because they focus on ratings, since that’s how they sell their advertising to fund their operations, but the news becomes valuable to us directly when it speaks to a true threat or opportunity, often a natural disaster, election, or local issue that we need to know about personally. The rest of the time, most of the time really, the news becomes little more than an ego stroke. With these new broadcasts emotions are elicited—
simple, direct, easy-to-understand emotions that grab and keep a viewer’s attention. This combination allows for a
quick validation of our emotions, and the emotions are further validated by jumping to swift conclusions about what we’ve seen and heard. We think, “That is bad,” or we reflect
“That was really nice.” We have seen something, judged it, and are validated emotionally in the clarity of our choice. A simple, direct formula.
The challenge in all this is that watching and coming to a conclusion based on an emotional response can, more often than not, result in failure. In sports it would be called “losing your head.” The emotions have taken over; they are in control which means that you are not. This is what happens when you think too much of yourself. Whether it is the news validating your emotional decision, or the (often) ill- conceived advice from a fellow sports enthusiast, or simply the day to day-to-day emotions that come with your family or occupation, losing your head is not a good thing. The root cause of most of this dysfunction comes from thinking too much of yourself while not taking the world seriously enough. The world you and I all too often live in is constructed around the wrong object, our ego.
The caution that we should think lightly of ourselves is actually very close to what many religions teach in that we should place others’ needs ahead of our own. It’s a tried and true axiom that comes not only from religions, but also from a master swordsman. Interesting, huh? When you get such divergent origins of the same idea, it is worth review and study. Ultimately, you and I will not be remembered just like that anonymous skeleton buried under a chapel that no longer exists in an island country on a river delta. But, seeing the world deeply and your life lightly is a formula that brings clear insight and a unique beauty to the dance while we are here. That’s what this precept is about.
Warrior:
From the Fred Neff and Bruce Tegner books I studied as a kid in the 70s, to my Judo competitions, military years, karate, taekwondo, and finally settling with Hapkido as my primary martial art, I physically trained and also devoured every text about warriors I could find. Through this training and study, I’ve come to believe that character is the most important element of living as a warrior, more important than the physical skills, more important than weapon skills, and more important than determined discipline.
It’s taken many years of study to realize this. When younger, I was most interested in the physical skills. I wanted to be able to place a bullet down range with precise marksmanship; I wanted to physically defeat those I faced in competition or in those ugly circumstances in barrooms and parking lots; I wanted to be able to use gun, knife, stick, or empty hands to defend myself; I wanted the determined discipline to win at all costs. Fortunately, through all the training, another message seeped through and permeated my consciousness and became a central focus of my warrior training. Not to the neglect of my physical training, but as an integral part of my complete warrior training. I’ve come to realize, as many have before me, that character training must accompany the physical training or you only create thugs, scoundrels, and unscrupulous denizens with fighting ability, not warriors.
When Musashi wrote “Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world,” I believe he too, as he aged, came to realize that there were things more important to the warrior than the physical skills he worked so hard in his youth to hone and master. In this precept we see benevolence and the true core of honorable character; selflessness and compassion toward the world.
The precept reminds me of the writings of Kumazawa Banzan (1619 – 1691). Kumazawa was around 26 years old
at the time of Musashi’s death, and I have no idea if Musashi’s writings were ever read by Kumazawa, as his beliefs seem to come from his study of Confucianism, Shinto mythology, and his experiences in public service. Kumazawa believed in a concept of social service as the foundation of warrior culture, and among his writings, he stated, “A good warrior is always courageous and deeply devoted to the way of the warrior and martial arts; he takes care not to stumble no matter what happens, respects his ruler, pities everyone from his wife and children to the old and young all over the world, and prefers peace in the world from a humane and loving heart.”
I believe both men came to realize what most warriors realize as they age, and that is that selflessness and benevolence surpass might and force when one considers those things that are truly important in life. When your world revolves around service and the death of others and the possibility of your own death, you realize your own insignificance. You look for the greater good. This allows you to think lightly of yourself and more deeply of the world.
Unfortunately, it is a precept that I believe will be lost with youth and only appreciated and learned by those with a number of years behind them. I especially fear this when I witness the constant bombardment of selfish materialism through every media imaginable. Despite the current narcissistic selfie-stick popular culture, every once in a while I witness a young student following the path of his or her elderly warrior instructor, and I have hope.
Teacher:
I often comment to people that they need not take me seriously. I am not a serious person. In the words of Alan Watts, “I am often quite sincere, but only rarely serious.”
And here I am reminded of the line from G. K. Chesterton who said, “The angels fly because they take themselves lightly.”
This is true for me.
Not calling myself an angel, such irony would be too much for me to take. But I do find it easier to get along with other people when I do not take myself too seriously. There are times when I find myself thinking that I know a lot, and at these times I go and look at some of the greats in my field of study and am quickly and justifiably humbled. Not taking myself seriously allows me to learn more from everyone, to hear an insult without taking it personally. When a student insults me, mocks me, or lies to me, or a peer lectures me on a subject he or she knows very little about, I do not see the action as something personal. This prevents my emotions from hijacking the entire event and also allows me to stay more peaceful and keep my blood pressure under control.
This precept is one I can get 100% behind and say that it ranks among the best advice that can be given. In our modern society, so much could be cured so quickly if people understood the importance of thinking lightly of themselves and deeply of the world.
On February 14, 1990, the Voyager I space probe was about four billion miles from Earth, just past Neptune. The team of scientists turned the cameras on the probe back toward Earth to get a look at our world from the edge of the solar system. The image captured has been named, “The pale blue dot.” It is a tiny dot, little more than a pixel. Dr. Carl Sagan noted that from there earth didn’t look like much; but every human who ever lived, lived out their entire life on that dot and called it, “A mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.”
This thought is humbling if we are the type to allow ourselves a dose of humility from time to time. If people could take themselves lightly, they might be able to think more deeply of the world. People commit horrible atrocities on one another. People kill over religious doctrines, country borderlines, natural resources, pride, and emotions in part because we have forgotten how tiny we are. We puff up with pride and self-importance. We think too much about how we look and how we think we are judged by others, but we forget that everyone has problems and struggles. We lose sight of the fact that our problems are the biggest in the world to us, but that every person feels the same about their own problems.
Worst of all, we hate others for doing the same things that we do.
Setting aside self-importance is a good thing. Seeing the struggles of others helps, but understanding how we are all stuck in this together would go a long way toward getting to a better place. If we were to understand that we are in this together, just maybe we might start to help each other instead of hating and killing each other over what are usually differences in opinion or perspective.
If one looks rationally at the social issues that are thrown at us by the news, they will see that both sides have their valid points and that none of the issues have a simple resolution.
Our emotions are what tell us that there are simple answers, but our emotions also tell us that anyone who disagrees with us is our enemy. Rational thought, on the other hand, is our friend.
An attitude of understanding that we are all in this together would allow us to look at solutions of compromise, you know, that thing that grownups do.
Insurance Executive:
America is an individualistic society while the Japanese are group-oriented. The latter prefer not to be alone and not do things differently from others. They typically eat meals together, work together, and travel in groups. While Americans might perceive being part of a group as confining and restrictive, the Japanese believe togetherness gives them a certain degree of being untroubled and, as one Japanese woman said, cheery.
The reasons for this are complex but in short much of it is a result of their geography (their isolation from other countries), history (Japan was closed to the world for over 200 years), and their culture (it’s said Japanese are embarrassed or ashamed to do something different from others), which together has created a so-called group- oriented Japanese. In other words, it’s a society that generally relies on being harmonious in order to be a unified power to progress.
This might or might not be a good thing but judging it is irrelevant for this discussion. But it does lend light on where Musashi was likely coming from when writing this precept.
America in no way resembles the Japanese culture. In fact, in many ways it might be the exact opposite. America in the 1980s was called the “me generation” and the “greed generation.” College graduates in their 20s and 30s were entering the workforce seeking positions of respect and admiration, and spending their money on luxury items. The times are different today (thank heavens the padded shoulders and big hairstyles are long gone), though one could argue the concept of “me, me, me” is back and perhaps bigger than ever. Today it’s represented by the selfie, a too often crude byproduct of modern technology.
Hold your cell phone just right and take a picture of yourself.
Not just one, lots and lots and post every last one of them, even the blurry and crooked ones, on social media.
The self-centered trend has grown to such an ugly place that people now take selfies in front of burning homes, fatal traffic accidents, violent police actions, and in front of open coffins in funeral homes. The subject of the selfie is almost always smiling or making the so-called “duckface,” in which the lips are puckered and the cheeks are hollowed. If people aren’t taking selfies of themselves at horrific events they do anything and everything to capture the bloody moment on their cells to, you guessed it, post on their Facebook pages.
So instead of coming to the aid of people being victimized or in some way hurt, these self-centered people are interested only in capturing the moment on their phones to show their friends.
While these uncaring and egocentric people garner the attention they so desperately desire, it’s important to keep in mind there are caring and compassionate people out there. Wherever there is a mob stretching their arms up high to film someone being beaten, robbed, or bleeding out at the scene of an accident, there are (generally) people in the front of them trying to help the victims.
As one lone person, I can’t do much to affect the world when it comes to the ugliness of social and technological change, but I can take personal responsibility for my actions. For example, I can resist the temptation to think only of myself to the extent of ignoring others; I can be mindful of compassion and caring for others in need; and I can be willing to step forward, even when the crowd is focused on capturing someone else’s suffering on their cells.
After all, we’re all in this difficult journey together. If we could all step aside from ourselves to respect another person’s suffering and to help whenever possible, how much
better our small space in the world would be, and how much happier we would be.
Buddha said, “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.”
Nothing is hurt but much is gained by thinking of others.
Businessman:
Business often gets slammed as being beholden solely to their shareholders, chasing after the almighty dollar without giving a good damn about their employees or their impact on their community or the world. May Day rioters, free trade protestors, and the like may be misguided in their approach, but in some ways that do have a point… While we are in business to make money, we must do it in a moral and ethical manner.
It is vital to understand that businesses are not faceless conglomerates; they are collections of people who make personal decisions and take individual actions at all levels throughout the organization on any given day. Added together these individual choices drive the way in which the business performs its work, manages its employee base, governs its supply chain, and interacts with the larger community. That means that this is personal. It’s not somebody at the top’s problem. It’s not our boss’s problem.
It’s not our coworker’s problem. It is our problem, yours and mine… And our solution. Every day the decisions we make, however big or small, impact the operations of our business and thereby the larger community as a whole.
Thinking deeply on the world in this context, therefore, means at minimum being certain to treat one’s suppliers, customers, and employees right. This is not only the ethical thing to do but also a strategy that can pay off over the long
run. Studies consistently demonstrate that consumers would rather spend their hard earned money at establishments that act in a socially responsible way as opposed to buying from ones that do not. This includes companies that won’t work with foreign suppliers who violate child labor laws, those that embrace “green” manufacturing, those that acquire Fair Trade certifications, and those that only source sustainable products or buy local ingredients, among other factors... In fact, putting their money where their morals are, many folks are willing to pay a premium for products or services that are produced in an ethical and responsible way.[9]
By taking the larger view we not only do the right things we also grow our businesses in the process. That’s all goodness, but the concepts of right and wrong in business oftentimes get muddled through ignorance, politics, or short-term thinking. For example, consider the issue of
“outsourcing,” something that has come up in the last few national elections in the United States. Politicians and pundits assume that the term outsourcing means sending US jobs overseas, but they are incorrect. Outsourcing simply means buying products or services that we cannot or will not make ourselves from somebody else. The supplier could be anywhere. Since nobody can do everything, businesses buy stuff all the time, things like office supplies, computers, software, building maintenance, vehicles, tools, equipment, cafeteria services, raw materials, precious metals, and the like. Offshoring is actually the term they’re thinking of; it means acquiring work from another country.
More important than terminology, however, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Is hiring somebody in another country to provide products or services for us inherently a bad thing? Are we entitled to certain jobs simply because we were born in the United States (or wherever we happen to live), even if