I have called people I help clients; if they have a medical background some like to be called a patient. But I usually just call them by their name. My goal is to see people as people; if I’m teaching I suppose there are students but the most exciting exchanges come from people who are at the top of their field and enjoy arguments and discussions to get at the main point. The main goal is to shift from being one up to one down to being equal. Our attitudes can be conveyed by so many things other than the words themselves; we have to watch the tendency to be superior because we know something they don’t or think we do. Respect is essential.
David, thanks for your thoughtful perspective. "My goal is to see people as people... Respect is essential." I agree. This is key. And this is where I and others often track wonder deliberately. I recently invited a project manager to periodically pause while on site and see a coworker with wonder - and see if doing so shifted their own work experience. The "hero" frame has helped groups from retail sales teams to city planning departments resee "people as people."
A human practice. Let's continue the conversation. I'll consider other related Shots of Wonder.
At times in the pre-COVID past, while waiting in a long checkout line, I’d look around and imagine what would happen if we were abruptly swept away together. I hoped that my good heart and not my fear-heart would rise up to imagine and share goodness vs. fear-anger. Even those of us raised lovingly and thoughtfully in the West are not likely to have the mastery over thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and actions that Buddhists can achieve. Buddhism is 2,500 years old, and the core meaning of Budh means to awaken, to feel & assess with fresh experience. This wisdom is being challenged today because it is fashionable to be afraid and suspicious. Otherwise, you are left to lead with eyes wide shut and hope none of the bumper cars have any nitroglycerin—a unique form of Russian Roulette.
Or, we can simply be who we actually are, palms up and extended, no heroes and no villains, just many who feel incomplete and confused; no winners or losers, just a great many who don’t feel accepted, and the most insecure who are the meanest able to do real damage to many sides of America’s graciousness to our citizens and those around the world. We know all the weak spots now. Time to kick out the current tenants and to go work clearing the ground and starting from basement up to the tippy top.
The key that Buddhism gives us is that we have to see ourselves with wonder as well as others. When we do that, we are seeing ourselves as a reflection of the goodness of the universe. It will not spare us from struggle, in fact, it will guarantee struggle in today’s world. When we shifted from small band Hunter gathering to farming we shifted to violence as opposed to peaceful relationships. My words of wonder which I have as a post might be something you would want to check out.
I have called people I help clients; if they have a medical background some like to be called a patient. But I usually just call them by their name. My goal is to see people as people; if I’m teaching I suppose there are students but the most exciting exchanges come from people who are at the top of their field and enjoy arguments and discussions to get at the main point. The main goal is to shift from being one up to one down to being equal. Our attitudes can be conveyed by so many things other than the words themselves; we have to watch the tendency to be superior because we know something they don’t or think we do. Respect is essential.
David, thanks for your thoughtful perspective. "My goal is to see people as people... Respect is essential." I agree. This is key. And this is where I and others often track wonder deliberately. I recently invited a project manager to periodically pause while on site and see a coworker with wonder - and see if doing so shifted their own work experience. The "hero" frame has helped groups from retail sales teams to city planning departments resee "people as people."
A human practice. Let's continue the conversation. I'll consider other related Shots of Wonder.
At times in the pre-COVID past, while waiting in a long checkout line, I’d look around and imagine what would happen if we were abruptly swept away together. I hoped that my good heart and not my fear-heart would rise up to imagine and share goodness vs. fear-anger. Even those of us raised lovingly and thoughtfully in the West are not likely to have the mastery over thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and actions that Buddhists can achieve. Buddhism is 2,500 years old, and the core meaning of Budh means to awaken, to feel & assess with fresh experience. This wisdom is being challenged today because it is fashionable to be afraid and suspicious. Otherwise, you are left to lead with eyes wide shut and hope none of the bumper cars have any nitroglycerin—a unique form of Russian Roulette.
Or, we can simply be who we actually are, palms up and extended, no heroes and no villains, just many who feel incomplete and confused; no winners or losers, just a great many who don’t feel accepted, and the most insecure who are the meanest able to do real damage to many sides of America’s graciousness to our citizens and those around the world. We know all the weak spots now. Time to kick out the current tenants and to go work clearing the ground and starting from basement up to the tippy top.
The key that Buddhism gives us is that we have to see ourselves with wonder as well as others. When we do that, we are seeing ourselves as a reflection of the goodness of the universe. It will not spare us from struggle, in fact, it will guarantee struggle in today’s world. When we shifted from small band Hunter gathering to farming we shifted to violence as opposed to peaceful relationships. My words of wonder which I have as a post might be something you would want to check out.