Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, July n30, 2008




The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote
your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every
minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most
important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.

- Henry Moore, sculptor, born on this day, 1898


I slightly disagree with Moore. There is something that comes before the “task”. There has to be first an “everything” that you bring to your Life. And that “everything” is Yourself.

It’s indeed impossible to Be Yourself on your own. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Ultimately, no one can usurp the “task” (task?) of becoming who you are. Each of us bears responsibility for at least determining to make this Journey to Selfhood. But the Journey requires, demands, many companions. Teachers, lovers, mentors, friends, soul mates, “God”. We all have to learn the Goal. We may have an inkling deep within, but it takes others to guide us into the Mystery of being Human.

The more you know who you are, the more you have committed yourself to the Discovery, the more passion you can bring to your “task”. What is your task? Mine is to help usher in “the Domain of Goodness”, which is what Harry Cook+ calls what we used to call “The Kingdom of God”.

I’ll be honest. When I hear what Robert Mugabe has done to those he governs (by vicious, perhaps senile, dictatorship), the desire that someone will kill him rises into my gorge. But then I move on, and I hope that somehow Divine Compassion will find a way to change his heart. Or, that others of the African community will “assist” his removal.

Moore is correct, I think. We have to have something that is at the centre of our heart, a “task” that defines the meaning of our Life.

May you know yours. May you know You.

Brian+