But what if...

I was talking to one of my fifth graders yesterday about the theory from Criss Cross, and she was very interested in it. So we were talking about how all of these pieces of ourselves are kind of all there, somewhere in us, just waiting to be snapped together. And then she said, "But, do you think that maybe all of our pieces started out all together? Like when we were born?" Wow! She is clearly a genius. I love this idea. Maybe we are our Buddha selves when we are born, and when we are very old, and the rest of the time, we are striving to become what we were and what we hope to someday be again.

And then I started thinking about the idea of Tikkun Olam, how at one time the world was perfect, like a vase of light, I think is the midrash. But then it somehow got broken, and it is our job as Jews (and as beings of this planet) to find all of the scattered pieces of wholeness, and repair the world. And I love the saying that I associate with it: You are not obligated to complete the task; nor, are you free to abandon it. And then I also think about my favorite saying of all time, which is, God has no hands on Earth but our hands, which is the most inspiring and awe-producing thing I can even really think about, ever. Because it is probably most certainly true. (It makes me just want to run out and just, you know, get shit done, because God is counting on me! Quick! Animals aren't going to stop being endangered on their own, you know?)

So when I connect those two ideas, I came up with this theory: I think that the only people who really reach their whole selves, their Buddha selves, are people who spent their lives working to make the world whole again, in whatever way that is. I think of my friend, Yoko, who is in her seventies, and who spent her life helping the world in countless large and small ways, and I can't think of anyone else I know that seems as close to wholeness or goodness, who shows as much love and respect for all people. So, that is what I think. I think that it is only in working to restore the world that we can ever hope to restore our lost selves.