I awoke this morning with a litany of good on my mind… perhaps influenced by a three-hour hike into a nearby canyon yesterday. The litany went like this: Good person, good friend. Good wife, good husband, good marriage, good life, good food, good time, good vacation, good works, good citizen, good job, good benefits, good leader, good boss, good carpenter, good mechanic, good woodsman, good nurse, good weather, good… What emerged from this is how much, perhaps most if not all, of the “then” is organized around good. A goodness that is externally defined through culture and the various “authoritative” institutions, etc.; all of which act to create images of what goodness looks like, and to provide the words we use to convey that we too have goodness, know good, are good, etc. Now, at this time of now, intent, being intentional, is that which is to organize us. Transcending “then” goodness to take up a path of intent is a tall order. Yet that is what is clearly before us. And now the notion of lack of esteem, self-esteem of the women, has appeared – being given to us through the called work of a friend and partner in the work of now. An aspect of her understanding is that self-esteem seemed to be developing, and now it is disappearing; perhaps mistakenly being present before. It feels to me that “then” goodness is at work here. And as women are becoming awake to intended unfolding, the thirst for self-esteem is being experienced. Not the esteem of the “then,” but that of the unfolding now, the esteem of instrumentality and intent… the esteem that has no status in today’s culture… the esteem that in a real sort of way, creates a bit of conflict – innerly and outerly – and a frustration among the women when that which they did before no longer is effective. My sense is that perhaps a bit of what is being experienced is the ineffectiveness of intuition/women’s intuition (not to be confused with the intuition of wholeness) in bringing about processes that shift things in desired/needed directions. And so the time of now “asks” that we transcend “then” goodness for intent, and transcend ordinary women’s intuition to develop and access the intuition of wholeness, to develop the advancing humanness mind of potential… all of which, at first glance seems like a tall order. But we have evidence and experience of this very thing happening! Finally, as I emerged from the canyon yesterday, I was reflecting on the true newness of what is unfolding – newness in that it has not been before. And that we are part of it, yet cannot fully embrace it. We have history and what we are being given to aid our participation, but not the concreteness of experience, the experience one gets from walking an increasingly familiar path. And this morning I could see that Mary had before her the good/goodness of “then,” and yet she willfully said “Yes” to intent, to the intended unfolding of her time, an unfolding that is yet to be realized.
A Final Note Regarding Good…
A long time ago, while reading Christ’s declaration regarding “You call me good, only He is good,” I experienced a feeling of frustration, angry frustration within him. I could see him pointing upward, shaking his fist at the people… admonishing them, in a pleading sort of way, not to call him good. This inner sense continues to be present whenever I read or think about his declaration. Now, that I clearly understand the gravitational pull of being good/being thought of as good; and its power to interfere with – disenable – serious intent, the taking up of the path of intent, I understand the truth of what I experienced. It is all quite ironic, given that we are not the source of good, or of truth and love. Amen.
Terry P. Anderson, Philosopher of Potential
