Hand and heart

We, certainly I, give very little daily thought about our hands or the metaphorical heart – not just the actual blood pump thing guarded by our ribcage. 

 

Lets first take our hands – not necessarily both – just one, the whole hand, will do for explanatory purposes. Our hands, in some respects, may be considered as the “reason” for our rise to preeminence in the animal kingdom. And, of course, our opposable thumb – no other animal has this feature.

 

A hand can beckon; a hand can rebuff; it can direct; a hand can caress; it can chastise. A hand can reward; it can greet; it can grip; an upraised hand – palm outward may be used to stop someone. A hand can “talk” to those who are deaf. And a hand can kill!

 

The fingers of the hand are not only astonishingly sensitive but very manipulative as well. Fingers can sense rough from smooth; sharp from blunt and can point; the forefinger and thumb that can delicately hold or fiercely grip are a uniquely human feature.

 

The heart – metaphorically – is often thought of as the seat of emotions. Vital though the physical heart is to life it is the emotional “heart” we mostly refer to. 

 

We all know what is meant when someone refers to another as broken hearted. Then the terms, heart felt; hand on heart; warm hearted; hard hearted; soft hearted; he or she has a heart of stone; she (or he) has a place in my heart; the derogatory term “blackard”, derived, I understand, from “black heart” meaning someone with little empathy, who is only out for their own gain, are all well known figures of speech. 

 

So, as may be seen, these two – hand and heart – hold pre-eminent positions in our collective lives as human beings.   

 

 

The tale of the Cracked Pot

From an E-mail – author unknown.

I found this little story – well known I’m sure - but I think it is worth repeating.

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on an end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house. Of course the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.” 

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because of this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.” Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure. 

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Great Spirit uses our flaws to grace the Universe. In the Cosmos nothing goes to waste. Don’t be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weaknesses we find our strengths.

Why dance to someone else's tune?

This is an interesting question which needs an answer particularly when considering the increasing influence of social media. As my one loyal reader has asked for my comments on this question I thought it would be a good idea to explore the subject.

Just spend a moment to think about it. Life is a process but we are pushed and pulled, manipulated and categorized by all organizations, both commercial and governmental, and by some individuals who want us human individuals to behave in a certain regular, rational, manner such that this behaviour may be more easily statistically analysed or somehow meet with their approval.

The problem is that we humans are neither always regular in our activities nor are we always rational in our behaviour. We are not clones. The reliance on statistics to analyse behaviour reduces individuals to a collective; to a deviation from the mean; to a statistical probability. But I am not a statistical probability. I am me; unique. My thumb print tells me so, as does the pattern of my iris. Similarly the way I walk; my mannerisms; my height; the span of my fingers; the shape of my toenails – are all unique to me as are my thoughts and my life experience that shapes my behaviour.

As the American scientist Lewis Thomas said, “The social scientists have a long way to go to catch up, but they may be up to the most important scientific business of all, if and when they finally get to the right questions. Our behaviour towards each other is the strangest, most unpredictable, and almost entirely unaccountable of the phenomena with which we are obliged to live.”

Marketers and advertisers obviously do what they can to gather information about our “habits” to try and improve “market penetration” because it pays. We are subjected to hours of advertising on TV and on radio; magazines and the media generally are saturated with advertising exhorting us to buy this or that product because we “deserve it”. We are “channelled” into the aisles in supermarkets; our purchases are tracked by loyalty cards; we are asked to complete surveys and given the prospect of a “reward”; our personal details are “shopped” to any organization that may want to pay for them.

However, there is nothing in life that is certain except for the fact that if this is being read a birth took place. If a birth took place, a person was born, and the fact that a person was born means that someday there will be a death (and the payment of taxes in the by-going!). We may be unwilling to dwell on this but it is true. Apart from those two facts nothing is certain. Not the economy; not relationships; not possessions; not one’s job. Nothing!

This overall uncertainty seems to inspire us all to strive for some certainty in life that leads many to seek some assurance, for something to ‘hang our hat on’. Hence the desire for plans, budgets, for exactitude in anything and everything. But a process (which is what life is) can never have certain results. In a process there are variables and reliance on anything or anyone (even oneself) is a gamble – sometime it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t.

To get round the problem of life’s inability to provide any certainty many of us give up and simply conform to society’s ‘norms’. We ignore, or most likely forget, that life is, actually, a process. This presents a paradox. To conform means to follow others. But to do what others do or want us to do, means losing our identity. By conforming to what others consider normal behaviour we gives up a great deal, and risk becoming a dumbed down version of who we really are. It means approval by others to be part of the ‘team’. It means being led by others; to do what the majority do; to think the way the majority think, whether or not this is a comfortable situation. We adjust our behaviour to meet the accepted “norms” or expectations of society, the community, a group, or some other person.

Is this really a natural choice? We are each an individual, with our own hopes and aspirations and, to be quite frank doing what others suggest or direct, is not going to help anyone develop as a human being or to lead a fulfilling life. Trying to do so is stressful. It may be ok for a while, but deep down there will always be that question, ‘what if ...?’

The answer is in establishing our individual values; that set of core beliefs that form our character and cannot be transgressed without long term angst and discomfort. This not always easily done, because of the desire, or requirement to conform. To stand out from the crowd takes courage and possible vilification; certainly some hard words will be said and heard. It is, however, absolutely necessary for our long term mental harmony.

Very few of the judgements we make on a daily basis, about what is “right” or “wrong” are made by us, based on our true understanding of the situation as presented. It often seems that the more important the decision, the less likely we are to use our own thoughts and ideas, based on our own experiences. In most cases we have chosen to accept someone else’s decisions. Someone who came before and who, presumably, must know better. Otherwise why accept their decision?

Everything we do is as a result of a thought; this is fundamental to the process that is called life, which is dynamic. To move (mentally) is to grow. To stay still is to stagnate, to risk the death of ideas, thought processes and initiative. Living in the past was never possible. The present moment, now, is the only time that Life is actually present. The past is but a memory and the future still a dream. Thus the process of life can only take place with full recognition of what is happening at this precise moment. Here, now.  

When all is said and done we are all Human Beings not just Human Doers. Just doing what others tell us to do has not got us very far – in fact it has got us into a great deal of trouble! If only we could learn to be what we choose to be, and then strive to become that.

No one can solve our problems in the way we can; no one can react the same way that we will, to life’s trials and tribulations so, as I said at the beginning of this post, “Why dance to someone else’s tune?”