Priorities
I have a list of priorities. On occasion, I review my list and remind myself to get back on track. Here are a couple of entries: (1) People are more important than programs. (2) Institutions are tools not gods. They overlap a bit. In modern life, these are the top of the list of spiritual issues.
A program that is a success at the expense of the feelings or soul of another is ultimately a failure. “Success” is just as much an ego-stroking of a group as it is of an individual. Personally, I do not believe in success for its own sake. The measures of success are imaginary and have to do with compensating for some inner soul-gap that invites me to feel bad about myself.
If at mid-life you are still trying to feel successful, you need to stop a minute and re-evaluate your approach to life. Self-worth is the result of grasping Divine grace, not the result of proving something to yourself. If you are still performing for an imaginary audience, you are merely playing games with your own mind. God alone is the audience, and is applauding before you even enter the stage.
When I buy something, I ask myself if doing so enhances or impoverishes the life of another. I also question what it costs to live at my current lifestyle. Who are these people that hasten the death of the elderly or eliminate the lives of millions of the innocent so we can live in bigger houses and drive better cars? If that question does not haunt you, you have little or no conscience.
People are more important than the planet. They have eternal souls. The planet merely has a temporary existence. That priority also plays in my soul. It is not an excuse for wasteful living — far from it. It is the point that counterpoints some of the most popular political myths.
People are it. They come first. The needs of the many do not outweigh the needs of the few or the one. “Programs” and “institutions” are the making of group egos. People are forever, the rest - dust in the wind.
