So, are we really not our brother’s keeper?  Is he really on his own?  Survival of the fittest...dog eat dog…your loss is my gain...win – lose!   Is this the way we live?   The evidence is prevalent on the freeways of our society and its ultimate climax, road rage, is merely a symptom of a greater ill, that of separation.  My brother IS on his own and because of that, I too, am on my own as well. 

    As we block off our minds and hearts to those others, whether it be that other in the car competing for the same spot in line, or our raging boss, an incompetent colleague or defensive subordinate, we further separate ourselves from the world we live in.  We shut off our own ability to feel, to sense, to participate – one person at a time.   Envision a mummy.  Each wrapping builds on the previous, until the entire body is covered, blocked from the light and penetration of life – the wrapping when complete protects the dead.   Protects the dead…perhaps, in this example, instead, it deadens the living.  

    We have deadened ourselves to life, and we wonder why we feel so much pain.   Because the pain hurts, we look outside of ourselves for release.  The mythical veil drops with the first wrap and the already complete begins to search for completion in more – more money, more status, more things, more friendships, more sex, more of anything, just more.  It is obvious that THIS is not enough, it does not satisfy.   Yet, as we block off ourselves to others, we are creating less – less compassion, less opportunity for learning, less diversity, less chance of change, less freedom to feel, to participate. 

    We use the justification that they are not like us, they are dumb, they just don’t get it, they don’t deserve our consideration. The result is the same, nonetheless – separation.  Money, status, things, friendships, sex – all attempts at gaining security, ensuring safety, and creating a sense of belonging.  There is never enough.

     Through our life experiences many of us learn to play the game, thinking that if we just close our hearts to just this one – the truly non-deserving, then we will still be all right, then we will not feel the pain of separation.  We just need to find the right combination, get one more promotion, buy that bigger house, release our anger, or any combination of right solutions.  If we don’t make it – well then we just aren’t trying hard enough.  That’s the reason the non-deserving are non-deserving, isn’t it? The game adds shades of subtlety as we progress in our endeavor to become fully human, teasing us with the belief that we can win by playing. 

    Soon, if we are blessed, we see that as we choose this over that, we further separate ourselves from what is.  Regardless of how hard we try, we still can’t make “what is” something different.   “What is”, is “what is.”   As we choose, we further the myth of our superiority and widen the chasm of our separation.  Every time we dare to allow ourselves to see it, “what is” is there, like a slap in the face with ice-cold water.   “What is”, is there, even when we don’t allow it into awareness. Our realization of it, is not required for it to be real.   Our playing the game doesn’t change it or alter it at all.  

     All our lives we have been taught to play the game and punished when we didn’t excel, ostracized when we chose not to play.  Now we play it without second thought, it has become second nature – perhaps first, perhaps it has become our nature.   Has it worked?  Are you just this close to getting it?   Ahhh…the game in play.

    Many of the mystics talk about being in the now.  In fact, it is becoming a popular, almost faddish comment. You hear it on the street; you hear it at work.  It comes in many disguises like…being in the flow, being present, or being in the zone.  It is the reason many of us love sports.  While we are immersed, we are there – in the now – completely.  We aren’t choosing between this or that, we aren’t separating ourselves from others, even when we are completely alone on the golf course with only our bag of clubs.  The mind is silent.  The choosing is gone.  Even when the minds chatter returns to assault our peace, berating this drive or that chip, we return to the course again and again, to find that complete absorption we know exists, because we have been there.    

     We have been there and believe that we did something to get there. So, we must do “it” again.  We return to our choice of games – the golf course, our seventy-hour work weeks, sitting in front of the television, or our recreational drug of choice, to find that zone again.  All the while, creating expectations of what this zone will look like when we reach it.  In the creating of expectation, we have chosen this over that, beginning the cycle again, unable to find what we are looking for until we slip, unwittingly into acceptance of what is, and magically we are there.    

     So, should we be our brother’s keeper?   Can we not choose this over that?   Can we, instead, be with what is?   Every move we make away from “this” takes us further into separation and creates the game – the game without end, without winners.   Perhaps to truly be there, there is even no choice as to whether to play or not. There is “just this.”