Now That’s Interesting 2 – The Arc of a Life.

Each of us are somewhere on this Arc or Curve of life. I don’t know which of the last two I am, but to give you a sense of where I started do you remember Spike Jones and the City Slickers or Sid Ceasar and Imogene Coca?

Here’s Spike Jones and the City Slickers with Billy Barty doing the full version of “That Old Black Magic.”  Billy Barty impersonates both James Cagney and Jimmy Durante – my generation would know both Jimmy’s (See below).

Sid and Imogene give you their take on Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture (It’s the French National Anthem they keep standing up for).

I had a major Epiphany (A great Word – a Aha moment) the other day. I realized that when I think of my Dad or study my Grandfathers I see them through my eyes as a child, but I’m not a child anymore. My Dad lived to be 74, Grandpa Thomas 71 and Grandpa Grundy was 82. I’m 73, when I meet them again they will be my peers – all of us will have finished our own unique 70 + life. The thought of sitting down and asking all the questions I have about them excites me.

My Dad, My Grandpa Richard C. Thomas and Grandma and Grandpa Grundy

Hinduism has a unique way of assessing our life’s arc. Some say that the essence of Hinduism can be summed up in three words – Varna, Ashrama and Dharma. I’m not sure about that, but these are useful words.

Varna is your caste, nature or current life station (Hindusism has a Hindi name for each, but if you describe what the nature of the status is you will see a commonality with our Western World) –

1. (Brahmin) Rulers, Warriors, Presidents and Administrators – The Rich and Powerful – Ivy League School.
2. (Kshatriya) Cattle herders, Agriculturists, Artisans, Teachers and Merchants – The Essential second level services, white shirt and Tie dress up for work – Vanilla Schools.
3. (Vaishya) Laborers and Service Providers – Blue Collar, you get dirty, but again essential jobs.
4. (Shudra) Untouchables or Disenfranchised – Homeless or insignificant, Ghandi called them the Harijans the children of God.

These stations, as you see, are in western society and the concept is useful. If you remove the racial overtones this concept does describe a reality “Where we are in a pecking order of life.” We can define our place in the forrest, but be careful – we are all pretty severe with ourselves. 

Ashrama is the term for the stage of life, the Arc, you are in. These Stages are:

1. Student
2. Householder
3. Retired
4. Life Renouncer

Some of these stages overlap – you can go to school and be married at the same time and the last two have some unique Hindu aspects. Stage 3 has a sense of life evaluation, we might call it a mid-life crisis, where we compare our ambitions to what we have achieved. Some call this 3rd stage Forrest Dweller as we withdraw for awhile and assess our navel, our center. Once our life is assessed we reengage our life and tweak it to the right place. When we have achieved our imagined life we withdraw to get our Karma right (Another good word – the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.) The Life Renouncer looks like this.

One withdraws to get the Chi right to tweak the Dao to the right place. I call it Winnebago  time. We start emptying our Bucket List. In India A True Life Renouncer would leave home and family and withdraw from his former life and try to tweak his current Kharma. The fellow above may have been a successful businessman and would have left his family safe. Where are you in the Arc?

And finally Dharma has several meanings In Hinduism, dharma is that which is considered to be in accord with the order that makes life and universe possible, and includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and ‘‘right way of living’’. In Buddhism dharma means “cosmic law and order” – I look at Dhrama as Destiny – The you you could be. By the way, my studies lead me to believe that a lot of the world doesn’t think you can get there in one life. That’s why some believe in Reincarnation – multiple do overs till you get it right.

Martha Graham, the choreographer tagged it – the urge to grow, engage, “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others” 1.  Sounds a lot like Tikkun Olam (See the Introduction). Believers carefully assess their Varna – there current condition, identify where they currently are in Ashrama – Life Stage and then fine tune or even stumble into their uniqueness as they achieve Dharma.  They leap elegantly, or face plant, maybe more than once, but recover and then in faith, hope, and love fall into the pool of their possibilities.   

But we must begin by believing that there is a pool of possibilities, we must trust our worthy promptings, our internal music or voice to leads us through a less than functional environment and turn disadvantages into advantages and transformed lack into opportunities.

That’s why I get excited about my future – There still much to do, but when the final whistle blows I get to compare notes with my Dad and Grandpa’s and I’m sure Mom and my Grandma’s will be there too. We can compare notes on how did we all do? Fun!

Soul Music

There are sources of sweet music

And they sing a song of you;

They harmonize with potential,                                    

And they tell ya what to do.

If we could learn to listen,

And hear this whisper speak;

Then both of us could find ourselves

And be the us we seek.

But it takes an ear that listens,

And an eye that truly sees;

It takes some focused questions.

And some time upon your knees.

Now we’ve all received an invite,

To ask and seek and find,

But you must locate your work,

And I must pin down mine.

So let’s both open up our ears,

And focus eyes to view;

So a kind and loving whisper

Can tell us what to do.

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1. The Martha Graham quote is all over the internet.

2.   Do you know who  Jimmy Cagney or Jimmy Durante are?

Here’s Jimmy Cagney dancing with Bob Hope, you do remember Bob Hope, right?

Some Jimmy Durante

Does Jimmy sound familiar? They used two of his songs in Sleepless in Seattle and this very song in City Slickers with Billy Crystal. All of these videos are VHS or Kinescopes quality, rough and blurry, but that’s all I could find. Praise the Lord for YouTube! But you need to know I watched the black and white videos on our television and the movies I watch in a movie theater. Yes, I’m that old, but I want you to experience snippets, pieces of my life. Please watch – you might be surprised at how good they are.