So here are some skeletal conclusions I take from the last conversation:

·        Nothing is perfectly clean – no movement, no institution, no set of relationships.  This is true of spicy and boring lives.  Why not choose spicy?

·        Process matters.  How we work for change is important, and has a lot to do with the kind of change that gets accomplished…and how long-lasting the change turns out to be.  But process isn’t all that matters.  Sometimes messy processes – ones that leave hands and hearts a little dirty for a while – are worth it.  Dark and light are sometimes inextricably mixed.

·        There are instances where a person needs to distance him/herself from a particular group or movement.  Distance can be an important part of a person’s personal growth or healing, but can also be necessary for broader goals to have any chance of getting met.  Gaining trust with a group of disgruntled teens, for example, may necessitate distancing relations with teachers, parents, or police…even when said relations might further some other kind of good.

·        Sometimes, as in the example above, reputation really matters.  It isn’t a gimme that it’s better, as a rule, to care not a lick for how we’re perceived.  Sometimes, though, reputation needs to matter little.  If everyone involved in civil or women’s or gay rights movements cared what society thought of them, important strides forward or up or out would never get made.  I’m guessing smaller-scale, personal examples could be found of this being true as well…maybe cases where no one would know if you chose your reputation over kindness or forgiveness.  Or over getting dirty, but in so doing, participating in something really worthwhile.

·        Life is complicated.  For me right now, what all of this boils down to is being mindful and thoughtful and as awake as I can be in specific instances, rather than abstracting like this forever.  My question to myself becomes:  Is there some specific action I want to take in my life right now where I’m concerned about my own or others’ “cleanliness” – in terms of reputation?  process?  otherwise?  This is a question I need to sit with today.  Or more realistically, this week (can anyone say, “I don’t get very much done in a day – intellectually or otherwise – while caring for an infant”?).

What do you all think of these things?  I’d love to hear examples, like the one Chandra gave, of stuff like this in action – times when it seems worth staying clean or protecting one’s principles or reputation, and times when messiness seems far more worth it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2005 at 10:02 am and is filed under Philosophy, Psychology, Current Affairs, Mindfulness, Bridge-building. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.