No Cosmic Conspiracy
A hawk took a mouse in our front yard. The mouse dined in the cornfield. On its way home, the hawk dined on the mouse.
There’s no cosmic conspiracy. No malice. No mercy. It’s beautiful carnage. Everything is as it should be.
Nature is amoral. Humans are responsible.
No Cosmic Conspiracy
Some say, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
The Universe is heartless. The laws of nature disregard your desires.
The universe doesn’t help anyone.
Don’t wait for the cosmic conspiracy. Commit to contribute.
Half Want
Half want leads nowhere.
Half-hearted doesn’t commit. It seeks…
- Comfort.
- Approval.
- Certainty.
- Safety.
Seductive Desire
Society dilutes you by teaching you what to want.
You don’t create desire; you learn it from others. (Read Wanting by Luke Burgess)
The hawk’s carnage is natural. Your soul’s carnage is avoidable. Living to fulfill another’s desire suffocates your genius. You lose yourself and waste your gift.
Desire turns neutrality into meaning.
Leadership Desire
Listen to your desire to contribute.
Self-centered desires make you small. You turn inward. Leadership-desire expands outward.
- What value can you add?
- How can you contribute?
Ego shouts, “Serve yourself.” Heart whispers, “Serve others?”
The universe doesn’t care what you do.
When your desire leads to commitment…
- You risk instead of wait.
- You solve instead of give up.
- You act instead of hesitate.
- You persist instead of quit.
- You grow instead of stagnate.
- You rise instead of relax.
- You learn instead of know.
The harder you work the more it feels like the universe conspires to help. But you’re the one who changes. Own it.
What desire have you stifled? What can you do to rekindle it?
The Race to Insignificance or Issues of Greatness
Sometimes it does feel like there is a grand conspiracy. That is how life is at times, however, balance is key. It is ok to desire some things, it is ok to desire the affection of another or a community feeling of togetherness, but you have hit the nail on the head. Desire is wanting, doing is what makes it happen. The universe is not going walk up to your porch and invite you to make a change you have to have the motivation to move forward. This is a nice reminder of how we can direct our own paths.
Writing this I thought about the saying, “the harder I work the luckier I get.” Thanks for jumping in, Lisa.
What a great article. This is “nuts and bolts, blocking and tackling” level inspiration. Whether I was leading my engineering firm or coaching youth sports, I routinely told my team ” we manufacture our own luck!”
Thanks Gegory. The alternative seems too passive. However, when good fortune shows up, make the most of it. Just don’t wait around for it. Cheers
Thanks Dan … this is gold!
I wonder how many, like myself, identify with the instinct to retreat into the perceived safe-havens of comfort, approval and safety?
This much I know, there is a powerful gravitational pool toward mediocrity, and stasis has powerful ‘nomentum’.
What’s the saying? ‘Even a dead fish can swim with the current!’
Thanks for the nudge to re-examine my values, and what it is that I desire in my various leadership spheres
(Desire is definitely ‘caught’!)
Thanks for a powerful reflection, David. The status quo is comfortable until it fails. While it’s working, it feels great to me. Don’t mess with it.
I find your thoughts encouraging.