Progress Comes In Its Own Time
I am beginning to appreciate that progress comes in its own
time. It seems, any result arises naturally, but only by following the effort
that aspires for those results. The painting as a finished picture ripens
through the efforts of brushstrokes and mixing, but the product is shaped and
perfected as a fruition of time, blinking into completion. The good qualities
we aspire to cultivate – knowledge, insight, perspicuity, eloquence – arise out
of the not-so-easy-bake ovens of our efforts and patience. We are good to
aspire and wish for fruition in the moments we want them most, but wanting and
receiving rarely come in parallel time or provide us with the gratification of
sought after reward without, first, the ache of waiting.
“May you bless us with the courage to study and learn.”
To Manjushri, archetype of innate wisdom, we ask each class
to be blessed with courage of all
things. So that we may not be shy or feeble in the face of reality’s jarring
truths, to have the guts to ask and ask and ask, and the audacity to give even
that up. We are asking to be students and philosophers of a radical sort, who
from the beginning are lured by the song of peace and encouraged by a community
that is not afraid to admit, “We are
lost and suffering.” We ask for courage to look into the seemingly obvious,
struggling for familiar air in a world alien to conventional thinking, nonetheless
desperate for a respite from the momentum of life’s cynicism and polarity.
Courage to challenge everything we believe in is the hallmark of a scholar,
forged through unrelenting analysis and quenched in times of silence and
hair-raising ah-ha’s.
We are lucky in that we have this opportunity as aspiring
students of courage. The more we understand why
we need courage and patience, rather than a fake smile to charm or a resume to
outshine others, the more we understand the nature of success and what it means
to investigate.
I enjoy all of this very much and I feel very lucky. May I
stick around long enough to see our efforts take shape and inspire others.
~Kaleb from USA
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