Friday, February 24, 2012

Character

Standing builds backbone. While it's great to have energy, and cosmic experiences, and internal power, in the end I am a believer in the fundamental importance of character. I believe in the practice that becomes discipline. I believe that energy and power should be going towards making people's lives more vital and meaningful.

Standing helps me to build character by helping me to resist the cult of personality that exists in our society. Obviously at some point character was a cult too. Maybe the worship of character in the 19th century made some people rigid and judgmental. That's not what I want. What I want character to bring to my life is stability and security. To my life and to others.

Standing never ceases to be a challenge to me. You'd think at some point I would get up and feel some huge reservoir of power that will never need more replenishing. Maybe it works that way from some people. But it's not that way for me.

Life is demanding. My mother is ill and depressed. The economy is changing and the career I chose for myself, writing, seems less and less feasible every day. My son is sad because he doesn't seem to be cultivating meaningful friendships at his elementary school, and his father doesn't make much effort to keep in touch.

I'm trying to cultivate a saying in our family. With responsibility comes power. But with responsibility comes challenge and this needs the power that you have to give.