A new favorite pastime of mine is to admire dharma in action.
Ever since I read Stephen Cope's book The Great Work of Your Life, I have been noticing more and more occasions of catching my breath as I glimpse the sheer elegant beauty of a human being enacting and embodying their vocation, calling or dharma- it is truly the definition of breath-taking.
It reminds me of the 13th Century poet Jalaluddin Rumi's poem, “Each Note” that goes like this:
Advice doesn't help lovers!
They're not the kind of mountain stream
you can build a dam across.
An intellectual doesn't know what the drunk is feeling!
Don't try to figure what those lost inside love will do next!
Someone in charge would give up all his power,
if he caught one whiff of the wine-musk
from the room where lovers are doing who-knows- what!
One of them tries to dig a hole through a mountain.
One flees from academic honors.
One laughs at famous mustaches!
Life freezes if it doesn't get a taste
of this almond cake.
The stars come up spinning
every night, bewildered in love.
They'd grow tired with that revolving, if they weren't.
They'd say, "How long do we have to Do this!"
God picks up the reed-flute world and blows.
Each note is a need coming through one of us,
a passion, a longing-pain.
Remember the lips
where the wind-breath originated,
and let your note be clear.
Don't try to end it .
BE Your Note.
I'll show you how it's enough.
Go up on the roof at night
in the city of the soul.
Let Everyone climb on their roofs
and sing their notes!
Sing loud!
The interesting and surprising piece of this new joyful activity though, is it shows up at times when I would not necessarily expect it, or, at least, I’m not looking for it.
In the past, I think I associated the embodiment of dharma with individuals like Mr. Cope writes about in his book. Notable figures who are The Greats of our history like Harriet Tubman, Mahatma Ghandi, Robert Frost, and Henry David Thoreau. People who have had books written about them because they continue to inspire generation after generation.
But also in Mr. Cope’s book are stories about us regular, everyday people. People about whom there is likely no book written and whom nobody knows other than our own small, personal tribe. Lately, these are the people I’ve been noticing in my day-to-day life. And it has been a joy.
Two recent examples.
I have been driving the same way to work at roughly the same time for the past six years, and as my fellow commuters will know, when you travel the same route each day you become familiar with the other travelers (be it in a car, bus, train, bike or by foot) whose morning commute seems to parallel your own.
Part of my commute includes crossing a wide, busy intersection in a city that is one block from an elementary school, and this intersection has a crossing guard.
This crossing guard is amazing.
Not only does she burst forth immediately when the light turns red into the middle of the intersection (knowing as well as I do that many people do not always respect the red light) with little but her hand-held stop sign to protect her, but she does it with a smile. A smile.
And not just a couple of days out of the week.
I have driven by her Monday through Friday from September to June each year for the past 6 years, and she is consistently smiling.
I first knew how special this person was when I began to notice that most of the children who pass through this intersection consistently look over their shoulder to say one last “goodbye” or “have a nice day” to the crossing guard as their parent is walking them quickly down the street to be on time to school.
And it makes sense because she appears to know the name of each and every pedestrian who passes through her intersection, makes a point to talk individually to each child, and does not leave the middle of intersection until every last man, woman and child has made it across the intersection safely even if the light has already turned green.
In the 30-60 seconds that my path crosses with this person 5 days a week, I truly look forward to seeing someone who appears to joyfully embody her dharma. It inspires me as I go on in my day walking my own path.
Another recent example of witnessing dharma in action has been with my son’s Little League coach.
Now, I am not a huge sports person, and with all the horror stories about coaches and parents who take the whole sports thing a little too far (i.e. a coach only focusing on winning the game and the kids are just 1st graders or a parent going ballistic because the best player was not covering 1st base), I can be a little apprehensive about team sports these days. But this year is pure magic.
My son’s coach seems to have a love of teaching baseball like I’ve never seen before. Of course he has a day job, as we all do, but this coach’s passion for instilling a genuine love for baseball, sportsmanship, and teaching the very concept of practice (of any new craft) as a means of development and growth in a child is awe-inspiring.
Since starting this Little League season I’ve now grown accustomed to this coach’s motivational videos he sends to each player during the week, the game balls he passes out at the end of each game to the player who demonstrated whatever skill he coach wanted to highlight that week, and the head-to-toe sheer enthusiasm he has from beginning to end of each baseball practice and every game.
What’s more, like the crossing guard, I notice the children’s positive responses to the coach, and I stand by the truth that children are excellent detectors of authenticity (aka bull-shit detectors).
And for me, seeing this individual every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday embody his dharma as a Little League coach, is a joy that fills me up too because genuine joyfulness is contagious.
As actor and Parkinson’s Activist Michael J. Fox noted in his 2009 documentary, Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist, there may be key elements that contribute to what one might call “happiness,” and I think Mr. Cope’s book and my recent observations would be evidence that some of those elements may have to do with embodying one’s own dharma, vocation or calling.
Of course we know this is neither new information nor rocket science, and yet it is oh-so-easy to forget. Have you ever noticed that?
What will help me to remember to remember to embody my dharma will be my daily mindful observations of other spiritual warriors in action- look out for them, they are everywhere!
And maybe, like Rumi says, I will also try to “BE Your Note. I'll show you how it's enough.”
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