I Love Humanity . . .
I remember a Peanuts cartoon years ago, where Lucy accused Linus of not caring enough about humanity. Surprised and indignant, he responded, “I love humanity! It’s people I can’t stand!”
I don’t exactly bring this up because there are a bunch of people who are getting in the way of my love for humanity. But life and work would sure be a lot easier sometimes if other people didn’t have to be involved, is all I’m saying.
But let’s get metaphysical for a second. If, on the deepest level, there’s really only one of us here, and it’s all an inside job — as the Course in Miracles and Oprah and Eckhart and maybe even Brangelina would all say — then if I’m getting all huffy because other people are making things less smooth in my life . . . cop out, huh?
A wise and benevolent person brought to my attention recently that perhaps my self-love-o-meter isn’t operating at full throttle these days. In fact, with the self-judgment I’ve been practicing lately, the only full throttle has been the one around my own neck.
I love a classic diva ballad as much as the next guy, but I’ve got Whitney Houston in my head right now, singing that “learning to love yourself, i-is the greatest love of all.” (That’s my sardonic way of distancing myself from the work at hand.) It’s much easier to be worldly wise and cynical than to be gentle and open-hearted. At least, that’s what I learned. I don’t think I’m planning to lose the edge in my writing anytime soon . . . but it would be useful to smooth out some of the corners in the ol’ internal monologue. Know what I’m sayin’?