"Start a huge, foolish project like Noah.
It makes absolutely no difference what people think of
you."
Rumi,
(12th century Sufi poet)
It is possible that my current life could best be described
as a series of huge foolish projects. After all, I left behind a tenured
professorship with status, money, and job security to wander the hills and
deserts of the Southwest in pursuit of poetry, spiritual revelations, and gigs.
There are, no doubt, more than a few people out there who see such my
choice as foolish....but I think I am
gonna take Rumi's advice where those people are concerned....
Because many people working at stable secure jobs are
unhappy. How many people are pursuing their dreams? How many people are willing
to pursue huge foolish projects despite the risk? How much are you willing to
risk?
Ultimately, I am risking so much because I believe in my
projects. I think that writing my poems and my books, getting them published,
performing and speaking for righteous causes throughout the country, and creating performance pieces, workshops,
radio shows, and TV programs, among other as yet unimagined huge and foolish
projects, are important and worthwhile endeavors. And I really cannot afford to
care too much anymore what people think about my decisions. Not if I want to
stay on course.
Because to do the impossible you must remove from your life
all persons, places, and beliefs that would limit you to what heretofore you
had defined as possible. To do the impossible is to be willing to have
countless people laugh at your goals and discourage your dreams...because you
know that ultimately thousands more will support them and benefit from them in
the long run.
Pursuing the impossible after all is absurd. Accepting
absurdity as an integral element of your life is par for the "huge foolish
project" course.
Now, because of my early indoctrination into the scientific
method (Bachelor's degree in Physics- what cha gonna do?) and my lifelong
tendency to rely quite heavily, if not exclusively, on logic and empirical
evidence to guide much of my life, this whole letting-go-of-the
rational-in-favor-of-the-absurd path has not been an easy one for me to
embrace.
I find myself falling back into fear, doubt, and worry when I begin calculating
expenditure/income ratios, or considering the probability of my becoming successful
in certain fields, given existing stats available on the subject. I have to
continually remind myself to have faith in my huge foolish projects, despite
the apparent facts. I have to forcefully shift my focus to my successes and not
allow myself to focus on my failures. I have to stay true to my vision and
surround myself with people who have their own visions.
People who have their own visions will not be as ready to
shoot down yours. They may give you constructive criticism and advice based on
their own experiences, but they will never try to divest you of your vision. No
one who has ever lived their life according to a vision would ever wish a
vision-less life upon anyone.
People, on the other hand, who have abandoned all their
dreams often resent the carefree dreamer. How dare I wander about the country
writing poetry and meditating when you have to get up every morning at 6 AM to
feed the kids, drive in rush hour traffic, and go to a job you hate? Misery
really does love company unfortunately.
But visions also love company and the bigger a vision is and
the more people share it the greater chance exists that it will be realized.
My vision is for the world. Through my writing and speaking,
I am bringing people together to dialogue across difference. I am helping
people to shift their individual lives into a higher vibration in order to
assist in the planetary shift to a higher consciousness.
What is your vision?
