Live & Help Live
The sky is lit up by constellations, not single stars
I am reading a fascinating book called “The Way of the Dreamcatcher” about the thoughts of an amazing poet, mystic, and philosopher, Robert Lax. This book jumped off the shelf in a used bookstore recently, as the good ones like to do. 😉 It wasn’t until I began reading the forward that I found out that he was one of Thomas Merton’s best friends
Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who wrote over 50 books about connecting to God, solitude, world religions, and so much more. Over the last 20 years, he has been an incredible influence in my life… So to find out that this book was about a close friend of his absolutely thrills me!
The Point of Life
I would like to share a bit of the dialogue between the author, Steve Giorgiou, and Robert Lax. But first, it’s important to know a bit of context. Robert Lax is a very joyful man who has always loved his solitude. He has also always had a real wanderlust that has taken him all over the world doing various jobs, but always writing beautiful poetry.
He eventually landed on the Greek island of Patmos and enjoyed a wonderful life in a tiny, simple home just close enough to the village to get food and see people, but far enough away to have true peace and solitude for him to think, pray, and write. (I’m writing in the past tense because he lived from 1915 until 2000).
In many ways, he was much more of a recluse than a social person. He accepted visitors when they came… but certainly didn’t go looking for them.
Here is the conversation that I would like to share.
Steve (the author) asked Robert about whether he fears death.
Robert: “Frankly, I’m too busy thinking about life to be meditating on death. I mean, when the time comes, we’ll pick up our duds and return to where we came from. We’re all brought into this life because heaven loves us, and back to that love we go. Now I know that death is certainly hard for those left behind. But tears are also part of the flow. Let them well up because they come as a blessing. It’s the angels’ way of helping to quiet the spirit so that prayer of love and hope may follow.
Steve: So what matters most is life. Live and let live.
Robert: No cousin, it’s more like live and help live. It’s more like helping things to grow, even by a happy glance. It’s about putting into practice every good thing you know. In doing this, you help out everyone, everything. And people are doing this all the time all over the world. "I mean, if it wasn’t for the help I’ve received from others, in many different places and situations, I may not have been here talking with you.
Live and Help Live
I love this. I love that this comes from a man who is considered to be a self-exiled hermit. At one point he said that we are not single stars in the sky. To light up the night sky, we must become constellations.
What we do know is that, in no way, did he mean to meddle in people’s lives. He wasn’t “helping” those whom he thought were on the wrong path or “needed his advice”. No, he deeply believed that every person was on their own path and to even ask his advice seemed very strange to him.
Instead, we simply make connections with folks everywhere. We smile at people in the grocery store. We open doors. We help where we see a need.
We let everyone know that we are connected… that we are part of a great constellation… that they are not alone.
I believe that this is where humanity is going - from divergence to convergence. We are learning how to truly connect with each other.
And connections build upon other connections…
Just imagine this wonderful world that we are creating!
And in the beginning was love. Love made a sphere:
all things grew within it; the sphere then encompassed
beginnings and endings, beginning and end. Love
had a compass whose whirling dance traced out a
sphere of love in the void: in the center thereof
rose a fountain.
Robert Lax
Mastery Classes with Katrina
I am just launching a series of 12 Mastery Classes that will happen from October 2024 - June 2025. These are live Zoom classes where we will discuss our Journey into Mastery… including a talk called “From a World of Divergence to Convergence”. Click HERE to find out more.