Being Ordinary

Lately, I’ve been thinking about being ordinary, and the great value in ordinariness – not from the societal viewpoint, though of course it is valuable to have ordinary people, but to the self.  As an ordinary person, I am not using great energy to set my self apart – and aside from the famous and the wealthy, trying to set oneself apart is futile.  You work very hard, expend lots of energy and money, and at best you are the pinnacle of some counterculture group.  You are still a dues-paying member of the group.  You look like them, you think like them.  You might feel different, but mainly in contrast to your parents, or to strangers you assume you know all about.

If you push yourself to an ultimate extreme you can become a mountain hermit, or a psychopath.

However, in pursuit of no glory, living an ordinary life, pursing only personal integrity, happiness in the old sense, connection to friends, family and neighbors, authenticity – then you may find that you really are an individual.

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise.

Seek what they sought.

-Basho

The Is

Thinking about Rumi:  “Drink all your passion and be a disgrace.”  Difficult – it  sounds like letting go to the point of irresponsibility.  I can’t believe that.  But – thinking about passion:  Rumi’s passion for Shams, for God.  Passionate exuberance.  My passions for creating, making, gardening – and into my mind came, exuberantly, “Be! Be! Be! Be!”  I discounted it – it sounds so passive.  But again, I heard it, “Be! Be! Be! Be!”  like the voice of an excited, happy, demanding child.  I thought, is creating (my passion) Being (which seems passive)?  Perhaps Being, ardent, exuberant Being, is the foundation of creating.  The name of God is, “I AM.”  Is.  Being.

From the Is comes everything – ourselves, stars, galaxies, neutrons, life.  That is creative in exemplariness.  If I “Be!” with exuberance, what might I accomplish creatively.  Then there is no need to worry about irresponsibility.  I will not suddenly forget my children in a creative fit.  My children are a part of my being, part of what I create, part of what I have created.  I am exuberant with them, about them, because of them.

So where is the disgrace?  Is it the disgrace not of bad behavior, but of unconventional personalness?  Being, I am wholly myself – not a follower of advertising, not a flawed attempt at conformity.  I sing with my less than perfect voice, my house is a mess, my nails are bitten.  I have hairs growing on my chin.  Following my Being, I am opened up to social embarrassment.  I am sure Rumi saw that as positive, an aid to stripping away worldliness and finding what truly matters.

SAMENESS

Over all hilltops

is peace

in all the treetops

you feel

barely a breeze;

The birds in the forest have 

stopped their song

Wait, before long

you too will be still.