A Heart's Desire

After months of neglect, I have taken to my keys again to mull over some of the issues and concerns of the world that I see and experience.

I left off after introducing this concept of a base for our lives. The one that all we are and all we do arises from. That person who was introduced to the imperfection of Nature by a sharp rap on his or her newly exposed rump so that breath, and life could begin.

But from there, it is all about change. Life is change. We first learned from our closest guardians about the parental priorities of life. Next came the learning of the tools needed to form a life of our own. Little by little we were exposed to tests of our mettle, that then increased in both frequency and intensity to reach a peak when we became one of the guardians ourselves. Now in spite of the changes in ourselves that continue, we must nurture the changes to come in our next generation.

The single component under review today is why we do this. What is it that we seek? We are comprised of four levels of existence each with its own place, setting, and priorities. What do these components seek? For if we can describe each on its own that might help us understand the whole.

The Soul seeks fulfillment - attaining all that is possible from our potential, and then, perhaps a little beyond what's possible. The Mind seeks understanding - so much so that it will resist expanding its focus into the corners of Nature not comfortably understood. The Body seeks ideals - such as beauty, strength, and longevity.

But what does the heart seek?

The heart, the passion of our lives invigorates our search for the ideals, the understanding, and the fulfillment. But what of itself? Acceptance, yes, we all want to belong to some community. But if life is growth then the heart must push us to greater heights. To grow beyond who and what we are now. To partake in competition and prevail. The heart also seeks conquest. It is this seeming contradiction in passions, the Need to Belong versus the Need to Conquer, that complicates every aspect of our lives (our growth.)

The answer to the dilemma is Communities of Excellence - or conquest through belonging. Joining together with others whose strengths can help each of us overcome our individual weaknesses and whose weaknesses can be dismissed with our help. For if we are to grow those weaknesses must be overcome and if left to ourselves we will find the capability to grow beyond our limitations. Some ONE cannot become more than that one if left with just his/her single components.

Now matter the level of genius possessed by the juvenile Leonardo da Vinci, he might have been sent to the fields and never receive the training that allowed that genius to express itself.