As I read Kolp & Rea this week, I could not help but reflect on the element of faith that it takes to be temperate. Faith in the Good. I wonder, then, if lack of attention or awareness is also connected to a lack of faith. Maybe faith itself is about presence – now, in the right time.
I also noted that awareness and attention are cultivated in quiet still moments. And without this, life becomes frenetic and lacks the attention to create choice. There is a line on p. 195 about balance vs. juggling that powerfully demonstrates this idea, “balance is different from multi-tasking, which is a kind of juggling. … For the juggler, there can be no rest; to stop is to lose it. Juggling is constant motion. But nothing changes and no difference happens….”
And so, then looking for the virtues – the faithful way of living behind them, it is curious to not that the meaning of Tempus, the Latin root of temperance, has a meditative pulse: time, season, right time. It harkens to the words of Ecclesiastes – all things come to fruition in the right time and season. And according to Kolp & Rea (2006), one must simply be aware and pay attention to how we are using our time, or spending our lives, so that at the right moment we can shift and let the next thing bloom.
I found myself humming the Byrds "Turn Turn Turn" (based on Ecclesistes) while I read these chapters. For indeed we must turn inward and ask ourselves the questions as to our purpose - or intent, as I am currently paying attention to in my life. "For every purpose under heaven." Temperance as bringing peace and harmony .... so true. The self-control needed to fulfill intent ... and believing and embracing the faith of the good. Servant leadership is awe-inspiring. I have been trying to remember to have faith in myself - my intentions - for the greater good. What a huge responsibility!
Posted by: Heidi Marmen | April 27, 2010 at 12:14 PM