Higher and Higher (and wider and wider, and deeper and deeper, and taller and taller too . . . ) Resolutions for 2009

As 2009 started, I have been turning my attention to resolutions – new things I would like to do in the New Year. New ways of thinking.

Perhaps it is because I have finally gotten infected with the voices of Emerson and Thoreau, or perhaps it is because I am thinking in new ways. But whatever the cause, I am exploding with the possibility of the new.

I would never recommend that you do things that I am proposing or that you should think the way I do. After all, the point of Transcendental thinking is to define your own life and your own authorities. But let me just tell you what I intend to do in the coming year. People tell me that when you tell other people about your resolutions, those people will help you hold to them.

So here is what I intend to do . . .

I will expand the categories of my thinking. I will start out thinking like a Transcendentalist, because that is the baseline for me. But I will try to become a Transcendentalist who is also a Christian – who internalizes the moral teachings of Jesus. Then I will strive to become a Transcendentalist who is also a Shinto – who recognizes the divine presence in every single thing he finds through the day, from the smallest pebble to the biggest cloud. Then I will become a Transcendentalist who is also a Muslim – who seeks that daily, passionate relationship with the divine. Then I will become a Transcendentalist who is also a Jew – who renews a commitment to good acts and just living. Then I will become a Transcendentalist who is also an atheist – who subjects every belief to doubt and questioning, never blind acceptance. I will strive to become someone whose beliefs start out like a bubble of oil floating atop a glass of water, attracting other bubbles and merging with them. Bigger and bigger! Wider and wider! The bigger I can become, the more I can encompass, the greater my understanding will become. Beyond all categories! This is the way I hope to live my life. (I will also become a conservative, a liberal, a capitalist and a communist. I will devour everything that lies in my path and grow and grow and grow.)

I will set aside opinions – one day at a time. I will stop thinking in sentences that start with the words, "They should not . . ." because that is flawed thinking. Instead of thinking, "Those people should not hold that kind of faith" or, "Those people should not raise their children in that way" or, "Those people should not drive that kind of car or act in that way," I will turn my opinions inward on myself. I will say instead, "I should not," and see where that leads me. Opinions about others are false leaders that cut off both my growth and my true understanding of the world. It is childish thinking that I will teach myself to set aside. When I was a child I thought as a child . . . etcetera!

I will recommit myself to living a Transcendental life. As Emerson and Thoreau taught me, a higher spiritual life is always with me – when I wake in the morning, when I walk out the door and look at the sky, when I prepare meals, when I exercise, when I encounter other people. There is a spirit in everything, as near as my experience. And when I lose sight of that, I will try to turn myself back onto the right way.

Comments

[Ina Matijevic]

What a powerful post!!!
This should be written all over America on walls, schools, shopping malls.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoeeq-BH4w

by,e bye, ina

[hayley rowley]

I am an 18 year old who is searching for something more. For years I have been indoctrinated by the confines of Christian spirituality. I absolutly believe in God and Jesus Christ, but I feel that there is more in the world to see and experience than what is right in my face. I will follow your blog to try to better understand transcendentalism and its place in the world and my life.