Rude and Taking Drugs

I can’t remember who I was talking with when these two ideas fell into the conversation:

Rude people are trying to make a difference. People on drugs are looking for God.

The protective parts of ourselves are trying to make a difference. Rudeness is one of them. Rudeness says, “what matters to me right now matters more than being kind to you.”

Rudeness is an attack of a sort. It can certainly feel that way to both the giver and receiver. But why would a person attack unless there was something they think they need to protect?

Rude people are trying to make a difference. Like the self-righteous, judgmental, and arrogant parts of us, they’re playing a role for an intended outcome, whether protective or aggressive.

What happens, though, when we stop seeking something beyond the gift of what’s right here, right now? What happens to how we show up when we begin to value each person we come across?

In the car on the way to school today, my son played the song Sweet Dreams, and there’s this line in it: “I travel the world and the seven seas / Everybody’s looking for something.”

That’s kind of the key undistinguished driver behind humanity’s (at least the West's) relentless materialism and technological development, isn’t? We’re looking for something, something else, something that isn’t right here, right now. But that advertised product will give it to me! That substance or drug will give it to me! …At least for a little while maybe.

And what are we ultimately looking for? What is that inner itch stirring us to grasp?

We’re all always seeking a feeling, an experience, and it’s probably one or all of these: peace, well-being, security, enjoyment, love, ease. 

Sometimes we poison the body and we poison our relationships in our seeking these feelings. 

We’re like the driver who dropped his car keys in a parking lot at night. He's searching under the parking lot’s lamp post for them, even though he dropped them over by his car. “There’s more light to see by over here,” he says. We’re looking in all the obvious, conditioned, and default places for God, but the full Presence is found somewhere else.

So each morning and throughout each day, I remind myself of these truths that I’d otherwise forget: I am safe; my life is a prayer of gratitude and love; and the person I am with is beautiful, valuable, and important, and worthy of my respect, compassion, and understanding - including all parts of myself.

Much Love. ❤️