The "eye" factor

I am not feeling to go to work today.

I am not in the mood to talk to you about your problems.
I want to go to sleep now.
I am hungry.
I am tired.
I did not do that.
I am not responsible for the failure of that child.

I, I, I.

If you decided to list all the times that you started a sentence with “I” or if you were to list the number of times you put yourself before others,you may realize for the first time that you are a selfish person.

It's funny how the only thing we don't see with our eyes is ourselves. We can't see “I” with our eyes.

But what "I" is doing to others is what we can see with our eyes. This morning as I read my meditation I was again reminded of how selfish human beings can be. We think of ourselves, our profit and our benefit and rarely do we think of others. Even when we think of others, sometimes it is not to think about their needs and concerns but how they view us. “What is Jane's opinion of me?” “Will Tom like this shirt that I am wearing?” “I am not going to go to that club because I don't want Mary to think I'm a party person.” Our thoughts of others are always centered on ourselves.


So what's the big deal you ask? Have you ever realized that people who only think about themselves rarely go anywhere in life? It's as if being selfish makes you turn round and round in circles. Like a dog trying to catch his tail. When we are fixated on ourselves that is exactly what we start doing - we start trying to catch our own tail. I have never EVER seen a dog actually catch his tail. So why do it?!?!?!?


Selfishness never gets you anywhere. I have watched people who give of themselves and things just always seem to fall into place for them. I'm not saying that selfless people don't have trials and struggles, but they seem to be able to bear their trials much easier than someone who has never beared the trials of others.

These people are concerned with what the eyes CAN see. They give of themselves where they can see. You can't see yourself unless you stand in front of a mirror. If you stand in front of a mirror all you're doing is looking at yourself and you're doing nothing else. When you lend a hand to someone, when you listen to another person's problems, when you finish the assignment given to you by your boss, you are doing things that you can see. Your eyes are beholding something that you can see the result, the outcome. And then something in you starts to blossom, you start to change.

I know some people really want to be better people but they focus on FIXING themselves, without realizing that sometimes you have to take YOU out of the equation in order to fix you! It's like trying to solve a math problem - if you stare at it long enough you may or may not find the answer, but if you take a step back and look at the circumstances around the problem then the solution reveals itself.

Something similar applies to human character improvement - you have to look away from what you perceive the problem to be to look outside of yourself.