John Lennon wrote one of his most famous lines, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” in a song for his son Sean: Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy). Although he wasn’t the first to have that thought (for earlier versions, look here), the Lennon version has become the most quoted, perhaps because the music is so memorable. Much earlier, the Scottish poet Robert Burns, had a similar thought when his plough destroyed a mouse’s nest, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. (For the original and a modern translation see To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough). In Lennon’s case, the outcome was good; for the mouse, the outcome was perhaps fatal.
The main rule is, of course, that Life doesn’t always go as planned. Most of us encounter both surprises and disappointments along the way. Frank Sinatra was the one who said, “That’s life. That’s what people say.
You’re riding high in April; Shot down in May. But I know I’m gonna change that tune, when I’m back on top, back on top in June.
You may have noticed that Debra tends to quote Abraham-Hicks and other spiritual sources whereas I quote John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, and a variety of poets. I’m not sure what that says about the differences between us, but I’m pretty certain is says something. Debra also tends to be relentlessly optimistic, while I lean toward pessimism. I would call myself a realist rather than pessimist, but my experience suggests that if you fail to plan for what can go wrong, something usually will. One of the songs about this that resonates with me is, “Doctor My Eyes,” by Jackson Browne:
Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understandI have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you canDoctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long‘Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I’ve been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where they will
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it’s later than it seemsDoctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it’s too late for meDoctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry
As I was working on my article for July, the mass shooting in Orlando became breaking news. Debra would wish peace and an end to suffering for those affected, but otherwise she dismisses “politics” as “outside the vortex.” I agree that politics are outside the vortex, but I also think/believe that the political choices we make influence the evolution of the planet and those living on it. In 1572, a poet named John Donne, said
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
I, for one, do not find it easy to “uninvolve” myself from humankind—or from mammaliankind or aviankind for that matter. It seems to me that in addition to wishing and holding energy for peace and an end of suffering, life is asking us to take appropriate action when and how we can, even if that means voting for the “lesser of two evils.” It also means paying attention to the degree that’s possible. We are, I think, too easily persuaded by media stories, many of which are planted by those with financial interests in what we (consumers) think and believe. It is very hard to sort through the plethora of information about the political parties and candidates for office, just as it is very hard to make good decisions about healthy eating and medical options and practices. That does not, however, absolve us from making an effort to do the best we can.
In terms of where we are as a nation and individuals, I think that Stevie Wonder said it best: “Love’s in Need of Love Today.”