Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 6, 2007


To live for some future goal is shallow.
It's the sides of the mountain that sustain
life, not the top.

- Robert Persig, writer, born on
this day, 1928


Robert Persig wrote a book called “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. In the 70’s, I think. I loved it - though I knew nothing about motorcycles, and equally little about Zen, then. The book was, by Robert’s own sub-titling, “an inquiry into values”. I’ve been reading that sort of stuff for years. “Values” is a fascinating subject. Especially in America. There’s a book we may do a study on, about Jesus’ “family values”. I can’t imagine that, in America, given the dominant politics, there could possibly be any correlation.

I agree with Persig. It is the sides of the mountain that sustain Life. The “top” of the mountain is about the ultimate goal or purpose. But you can’t get there apart from the sides. As I have said before, you can’t get to “Heaven” without the fully authentic living of this Earthly Life.

The point is: the “future goal” and “the living of this Earthly Life” are inextricably intertwined. As the song says, “You can’t have one without the other”. But, I completely disagree with Persig that “to live for some future goal is shallow”. Perhaps he was just making his point. The reality is, living daily mundane Life (the sides of the mountain) and living “for some future goal” (the top) are the very same thing. This is an example of the Christian truth that, once one has “died with Christ and been raised with Him”, there is no break between what we do here and what we hope for beyond this Earthly Life. They merge, become part of the same Reality.

What I do today has both its own integrity, and is woven into the great tapestry of building the community of Compassion. If you should get to the place where you can’t distinguish between today and forever, you have become whole. You have become One with all Creation.

Brian+