The Direction of Intention

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When Brother Joseph was a young man he saw a woman die. She was a wealthy woman, dressed in a fine dress, hair impeccable, her fingers encrusted with diamonds and gold. He watched the life leave her body. He watched all of her investments in her status and image and story slip away. He imagined that when she started her day that morning she had a full list of very important things to achieve and plans for the next day, too. She closed her eyes and none of it mattered. He said that her jewelry seemed so empty as to be silly. Her death had a profound impact on his life.

He was no longer confused by what matters and what does not matter. He chose a life of service.

I was young when he told me the story of the woman dying. I was too young to fully grasp that I would die someday. That is no longer true. On days that I am angry, dark, drowning in self-pity or otherwise invested in the Drama of my story, I think about this woman dying and I wonder if my heart stopped beating would this storm inside of me matter? Is this how I want to spend even a single moment of my life?

There are cultures on earth (now mostly disappearing) that know the importance of looking at your own death. The ritual passage from adolescence to adulthood is meant to make young people journey into their source place and face their mortality so that they can be of service to the community and not consumed by self-interest. One is not considered an adult until initiated into the greater story.

The idea that empowered people empower others is not so strange in traditions that understand the need for initiation, in the mind that recognizes service to others not as self-denial but as life’s fulfillment. The idea that empowered people empower others is not so strange when you are clear on what matters and what is merely passing.

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