Blood & Ink: Saturday

I was moved by this video…

(Again, religious overtones aside, listen to the intent.)

It spoke to something I couldn’t put into words before:

You can use things to justify your life, or you can use them to amplify it.

• The gym can justify your life: “I’ve earned this chocolate cake!” 
  Or the gym can catalyze your life: “I’m working hard so I’m not going to sabotage myself.”

You see this everywhere in spiritual practice: 

• “The universe will bring me what I need, so I don’t need to do anything.” vs. “The universe will bring me what I need, so I’ll relentlessly pursue my path until then.”
• “There’s no ‘self’ doing anything anyways, so all effort is ignorant.” vs. “There’s no ‘self’ doing anything anyways, so there’s nothing blocking effort from flowing out of me.”
• “Everything is permissible under God, so I will tolerate this evil in the world.” vs. “Everything is permissible under God, so I will honour my feelings and fight against evil.”

Those who truly change their lives allow their practices and faith to catalyze their lives.

The choice—as always—is yours,
Eric Brown.