Back at it

I'm back and motivated. Why? Because a friend and colleague died suddenly last month and his death motivated me to think some more about the relationship between doing and meaning. His name was Gary Kielhofner, and he was a creative and intelligent thinker in occupational therapy. During his relatively short life, he wrote 20 books, published over 140 research papers, and mentored hundreds of students. He also developed a worldwide model of practice, and published many assessments to support the work of the practice model.

He was a strong advocate for more holistic approaches to understanding health and disease. He had an unusual background that included a classical education, theology, psychology, public health and occupational therapy. That grounded him in his appreciation for how people experience the world and create meaning from it. We are, after all, spiritual beings in a spiritual world.

In my next post, I will describe my current journey provoked by the wonderful book, Einstein's God. Stay tuned!

A Post on Karma as "Doing"

This post is different than recent offerings. For one thing, it is (slightly) shorter. Another difference is that it pertains not to traditional "Western" ways of living, but the culture of Asia. A third difference concerns its topic area, which pertains to spirituality.

Note that on this blogsite, being spiritual does not necessarily equate with being religious. When we are spiritual, we contemplate ideas that are beyond this world, such as "Why do I exist?" or "What happens when people die?" Often, we contemplate these ideas within the context of formal religions. A religion can be described as a formal, organized way for thinking about spiritual matters. But many spiritual people don't adopt or govern their lives according to the "rules" of organized religions. In other words, according to this view, it is possible to be spiritual without being religious.

Karma, a word from Sanscrit associated with Buddhism, can be translated into English as "doing." In Buddhism, and Hinduism, there is a belief that the sum total of one's "doings" in the physical life (or previous lives) determines their destiny, or what happens to them in future lives.

Without getting into a discussion about religion, the notion of how our acts today determine our fate or destiny tomorrow (or in the future) seems common to many formal religions in cultures around the world. The late Joseph Campbell observed this in his writings on myth contained in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."

But when you think about it, there is another point of view that deserves mention here. That is, we can create the lives we want (and thereby influence our futures) by acting in certain ways now that may not have anything to do with spiritual or religious teachings. Some people "seize the day" and create their opportunities. They believe they can influence what happens to them by organizing and directing their actions in purposeful ways. To me, there seems to be a certain logic to this. Perhaps this is what the sports apparel maker Nike suggests when it uses the advertising slogan "Just do it!"

So, the fact that the word Karma translates into "doing" invites many interesting thoughts from this blogger. I'd be interested in reading yours also!