By Desrae Saacks, Editor Cape Jewish Chronicle
I don’t know about you, but I tend to think metaphorically.
For example, when making my breakfast smoothie the other day, I was surprised to find that despite the vigorously spinning and murderous blades at the bottom of my blender, a couple of frozen berries somehow manage to survive this extremely hostile environment and emerge annoyingly unscathed. How did they do it? I guess they were lucky enough to find a small corner of safety in which to shelter, and emerge as unwanted lumps in my otherwise delicious breakfast drink.
But we know this is not an intentional move on their part — after all, berries don’t have the consciousness or agency to think, plan and take action. Therefore, this apparent anomalie can only be understood as a matter of luck. But then, is it lucky to emerge untouched by the communal experience? Is it not the berry’s fate and purpose to integrate through shared experience into one unboundaried and delicious smoothie? My solution is to pause the action and give the blender a shake or two. Now the berry has been dislodged from its place of safety and relative comfort, and is re-positioned into a situation in which it can fulfil its purpose, and contribute to the optimum outcome of a smooth smoothie!
So with our time in this incarnation on this planet. We may rejoice in the good fortune of finding ourselves in a privileged place of comfort and safety, from which we can watch from the sidelines as those less fortunate are tossed about and marked by the vicissitudes of life as a human being on planet earth. But where does this ultimately leave us? The same as that berry — untouched and unchanged from when we entered the fray.
Is that what we’re here for? While we don’t have to go charging at the blades, I do believe that we are here to engage, to risk, to feel, to experience and to be transformed by the challenges that life throws at us. Sometimes we need a good shake to dislodge us from our place of comfort and to be forced to deal with the injury, uncertainty, challenge and danger of what it means to be human; so that we can fulfil our purpose and generously share our unique qualities and attributes with the wider community, contributing to and taking our place in the ongoing human story.
That’s what I was thinking about this morning whilst making breakfast.
• Published in the October 2022 Digital Edition – Click here to read it.
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