Ancient wisdom makes the claim that the meek shall inherit the earth. In my mind the word meek always seemed synonymous with weak, mousy, apathetic, defenseless, low energy, wimpy. Maybe it’s just my ignorance, but these words seemed to characterize the word meek. Anyway, I could never quite get on board with adopting meekness, even if it meant it would put me in the running for “inheriting the earth.”
Recently, I learned that I was completely wrong – about the definition of meek. Turns out, in ancient times it meant something like “those who have swords and know how to use them, but choose peace over war,” or something close to this. OMG, this makes so much more sense! Think about the best people you know. I’ll bet they are very nice and kind, AND they have the capacity to be absolutely devastating, yet they choose not to wield that power carelessly, but they have it. And, they temper it with an allegiance to a higher ethic. But, without a doubt, they have the ability to wield deadly power of one sort or another.
The truth is, if you are nice, but weak, you will find yourself under the tank tracks of another person’s agenda in short order. So, if you have not yet developed the ability to be dangerous, to be formidable, then this may be an area you should consider working on. The 365 commitment provides a framework for working on it daily, for a whole year. Imagine if you focused on this concept, for your particular circumstance for a year, what would result?
You are not going to become formidable or dangerous overnight. It takes time and discipline and a conscious commitment. Maybe it’s physical, martial arts for example. Maybe it’s verbal – ability to articulate and express ideas, to lay out a cogent and persuasive argument. I have always admired great debaters and speakers, or writers. It’s powerful. So, perhaps joining and committing to Toastmasters or a debate team is in order. Maybe it’s academic and you need to assimilate more knowledge in a field you care about, so you can contribute and push truth forward into the next generation. There are many paths.
The point is, become formidable in an arena that is meaningful to you, and then temper that with an ethic that tempers your ability to devastate. Temper it with respect for other sovereign individuals and a commitment to kindness and peace; and do not allow malevolent people to grind you into dust with their tank tracks. And then, perhaps (unless I’m wrong, again), you will be in the running for “inheriting the earth.” Or should be in my estimation. All the people I admire seem to have incorporated their “shadow” as Carl Jung described it. Does this resonate with you?
Ben Wagner (66)
Member The 365 Commitment
