Many skills, on their own, seem to be temporary. They don’t last forever. They come and go as situations demand. They often get built, and get dropped.
This applies to work skills we might have honed, knowledge we might have built, social graces we might have picked up, relationship skills we might have refined.
I’ve found various abilities within me get developed and then get lost, with the underlying discontent untouched. In other words, their value was impermanent.
However, in some cases, something essential remained.
Baffling yes, but illuminating, as to what skill development really is for.
The realization is it’s not about the skills, nor is it about the tangible results they seem to bring. It’s about the underlying wisdom cultivated in the process.
It’s about the gradual shedding of our separation, from Source, from others, and from our own fears and desires.
To the degree our skills are about achieving a tangible status, reward or visible mark, is the degree they haven’t met their true purpose.
To the degree they do reflect shedding of our separation from Source, and from others, is the degree they have met their purpose.
Skills must necessarily cultivate wisdom (i.e. love), if they are to have demonstrated their true value.
Thus important, when cultivating new skills, to realize the underlying subtext of cultivating wisdom. Otherwise, what we develop will never truly uplift us, or others, and will fade away into pointless squandering of our time
Ranjeeth Thunga
Student of Meditation