Yesterdays' Yielding

The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
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Yo.
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Hurry and get your note....
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Can our moon change its orbit? Can it leave Earth entirely and orbit around Mars? Can a planet leave its accustomed system and find another star to embrace? Some Astronomers say it has happened. Considering the vastness of the universe, it has probably happened numerous times.

While it is surely a noble thing to dedicate one's life to a worthy enterprise and thus gain knowledge, wisdom and self-respect, I wonder what sort of karma it is that maneuvers someone into making a major life change. I've known it to happen to people. I've written before about two men I knew, one who sold his business to become an opera singer and the other who left the corporate world to become an obstetrician. In both cases it was an act of sacrificing position and security, but it was also a process of discovery. Each man, after having lived for many years a life they thought they wanted, suddenly discovered who they really were and set about to become that person.

I retired as an actor in the summer of 2001. I would joke that my career had become as busy as a rock in a Buddhist temple garden. It wasn't quite true but so it seemed at the time. I had a temporary job as a proofreader for a firm at the most southern point in Manhattan. I worked all night and finished at about 8 a.m. I would take the subway from the South Ferry station uptown to where I lived. The 8:30 train was always crowded because it met the people coming from Staten Island on the ferry. At 8:40 there was another train with fewer people on it. I always waited for that one.

During the middle of August I decided to leave New York and move down to where I live now. I gave my notice and left the job on the Labor Day Weekend. During the next week I packed up and got ready to leave. A friend moved me down here on Sunday September 9th. I spent Monday the 10th unpacking and on Tuesday I went down the street to buy a pack of cigarettes, The TV was on when I walked into the tobacco shop. There were great clouds of smoke being shown and the announcer was saying "What you're seeing is where the World Trade Center used to be."

I was stunned, as were most people. But I was also amazed to realize that if I had still been working at that job I would have been in the subway train right underneath that building when it started coming down. I don't know what the injuries were to those subway riders but I know the train was stalled for hours.

When I told the tobacconist about that, she said it was because there are things I still have to do, that I'm still needed to the world.

That was 8 years ago and I'm still wondering why, how and in what way my life is changing. I don't know what my future is. Every day is a big question mark. My present isn't so good, but maybe that question mark is the star I orbit around now.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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May you find joy in hidden places.
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A stove top domicile. (4, 2, 3, 5)
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SUMMER QUIZ

This is not a contest.



A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.



Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?



You have all summer to answer if you wish.

19 responses so far.



DB