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The Shadow and Its Reflection
Category:
Cultures
Publisher: self
ISBN-10: 1519298854
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 28
Copyright: Nov 14 2015
ISBN-13: 9781519298850
Price: $5.49 (eBook)
In a complex world, we are often tempted to choose 'shiny objects'--solutions to problems that make us look good, but don't really resolve anything. Often this is due to the faulty understanding that people embrace. This essay discusses a few examples of this type of confusion and offers some suggestions for doing the right thing for the right reason
The Shadow and Its Reflection: An Essay on Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reason discusses ways in which people choose the 'wrong tool' and follow 'shiny objects' when dealing with situations and making choices. The Essay gives a few examples of this habit, and offers the reader an opportunity for self-examination and change of approach.
Excerpt
In the lives of us all, many threads run. We like the idea of threads: they are continuous, and suggest permanence, longevity, and connectivity. People talk about bloodlines as a way of linking the past to the present, establishing status or quality by showing from whom they are descended, and in humans, establishing hereditary rights. In fiction, we follow a thread of clues from mystery to revelation. Even our lives are a continuous thread of moments, beginning with birth and never ending. Many are familiar with this from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time. Continuity is important to the survival of our species, and brings order to our thoughts.
These threads are metaphoric, of course. The Classics tell about the Fates who hold the threads of our lives in their hands, deciding when a particular thread will be cut and a life ended. The String Theory of Quantum Physics says the Universe is made up entirely of strings of energy called quarks. Lord Chancellor Sankey (1935) gave a famous speech about The Golden Thread:
Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner’s guilt....
Legal systems in every democracy depend on this ‘golden thread’. Even the public attitude of ‘innocent until accused’ crumbles before it in a well-ordered society.
Everywhere, and in everything, there are strings and threads, connexions from one thing to another and one time to another.
Threads are constant. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They bridge a gap of some kind, if only between the two points. They may behave differently under different conditions, but they’re always present in time and place. Their impact may be significant or subtle. The fabric of your life is woven from such threads. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow has led you from Birth to Now. All your travels, no matter how complex or erratic, have connected you from place to place. Your daily life has been made up of people (threads of relationships) that have given you life, defined you, defied you, troubled you, inspired you, and provided you a sense of purpose. These make up the substance, or fabric, of your life.
Your friends and family are certainly part of that fabric, and so is the stranger with the kind smile and gentle greeting that revives your waning spirit in moments of darkness. There are times when the gesture of a stranger may have greater meaning than the gesture of a friend. The thread may appear for only an instant, but it is critical.
You are a thread—your character, wisdom, spirit, and compassion are individual fibres that create you, and are part of the lives of other people. Your role in Life is sometimes seemingly unimportant, but has tremendous impact on others. Are you the person who listens to the songs and stories of a child when no one else will? Are you the member of the public who makes it worthwhile for the pianist to perform, the author to write, or the painter to paint? You may not remember, but others always will. Try to imagine the significance of small gestures, or how much the other person appreciates what you do.
At other times, your participation is of obvious importance. You are a parent, a teacher, a lover, a friend, a listener. You may offer the signal thought, word, or deed, which changes someone’s life. As a thread, you are a vital part of the ‘tapestry’ and happiness of others’ lives. Because the Universal fabric is made from threads, because every thread is at times hard to see, and at others very obvious, every thread—every person—is vital to the integrity of Creation. Just as literal threads can create masterfully quilted works of art, the quilting of individuals and experiences creates and nurtures a magnificent, beautiful Tapestry. Ultimately, no one is not necessary.
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