But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. — 1 John 3:17-18
I’ve been wondering how we could each and collectively wake the f*ck up to the basics of Love. You too? So, I have a little story about a monk and a sandwich to share. But first, I’m going to unpack the definition of Common Sense and rant for a minute.
Common is… common ground. Human Family. All from the same source.
“Common” means all sentient beings.
Sense is… Wisdom. And Wisdom is a root virtue, a Soul Quality that naturally considers everyone in the problem and the solution. The best way to tell if an idea is wise or not is to see if it takes all of the players into consideration. How might this proposed solution, policy, practice harm or benefit the different parties involved? Benefit, good. Harm, bad.
Like, when you’re a farmer you want happy chickens, but you also need happy coyotes. They each have a role to play in the ecosystem.
Sense = benefit.
Common Sense = the benefit of all sentient beings. Not just “some.”
Duh.
Humanity’s Common Sense tank is running on empty. Our mad shadow is surfacing. OUR shadow. Not “THEIRS.” There is only ONE COLLECTIVE SHADOW—and we all scoop from it.
If we think the madness is spewing from just the faction that’s in opposition to our beliefs—the crazed Conservatives, or the hypnotized woke, or the kill-ALL-the-animals! carnivores, or the delusional vegans… Or the New Christians or the New Agers, or the ignorant v*ax’d or the freedom fighters, the foolish trad wives or the angry feminists… then we’ve already missed the Common in Common Sense.
(BTW, in the cacophony of social input that is my DMs and Facebook comments, I’ve been “accused” of being all of the above in one way or another. No one can seem to figure out which side I’m on. I can clear that up fast: I play for Team Love.)
Most every individual on this planet right now, on the fringe or in the mainstream, is grappling with fierce shadow and judgment surfacing. If it’s not self-hatred and judgment, it’s fear of the future.
The collective ego is fighting for its life—and it tries to stay alive by picking sides and ignoring the fundamental needs of humanity. Divide to conquer.
Rant complete. My little monk n’ sandwich story doesn’t match the size of my heartbreak—or Faith, in humanity. But I hope we’ll buy more sandwiches for each other.
I was on a flight seated next to a Buddhist monk in crimson robes. Mr. Flight Attendant goes by with the food cart. Monk says, “Sandwich please.” Flight attendant tells him, “That’ll be $8.” Monk is very confused.
“But I am hungry,” says the monk.
Now the flight attendant is confused. “Well, okay. It’s $8.”
“I don’t have money,” the monk asserts—not seeing how this could be a problem. He puts his hand out for the sandwich. “I am hungry.”
Mr. Flight Attendant is flustered. He asks the monk if he has a credit card. Inside, part of me is laughing, part of me is enraged. The monk gets a bit indignant and repeats himself, “I am hungry.”
I catch the flight attendant’s eye and (unnecessarily) translate, in a whisper, “He doesn’t have money,” intonating that, like, the monk ACTUALLY doesn’t have money—vow of poverty ‘n all—and like, what can we do about this? We connected. It was warm.
“You know what?” the flustered attendant exhales to the monk, “it’s my birthday today and I’m going to buy you a sandwich!” He swiped his own credit card and handed the monk a ham ‘n cheese.
(Side note: are flight attendants not empowered to give free food when it’s obviously the right thing to do? I mean…)
The monk didn’t really understand that there’d been a payment transaction. He just nodded with appreciation and peeled off that sandwich wrap like he hadn’t eaten in days. Maybe he hadn’t.
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” — Matthew 25:35
Common Sense may appear to be counterculture, but it’s not counterintuitive.
Follow your heart,
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