Insight and Action by Bettie J. Spruill (written in 1986)

I write this not as an article, but as a small portion of my life. I am not concerned, neither do I welcome my evaluations or assessments of my words— that for me is hollow. However, I do appreciate all which carves out possibilities for the future. As an adolescent and as an adult, I have often asked myself;

How can I be so arrogant as to think that I could shift the direction of one person’s life when I have had difficulty in transforming my own?
How can l be open when there is so much l refuse to see out of my fears of incompetency and inadequacy?
How do l accept responsibility for sustaining and increasing beauty and care in the world, or, give meaning to I the words Humanity, Liberty, and Happiness when the power they once possessed has been worn out?

Today, there are more questions than answers, and I have no desire to live my life seeking answers that give no velocity to the reconstitution of human life. However, the type of questions that spark deep insight ultimately fuels the fire of my action.

So, these are some of my insights, and I write them so that you may in reading them, uncover for yourself what has been forgotten and recover what already is. I tend to agree with D.T. Suzuki a Japanese writer and philosopher, “It is not a question of developing what has already been developed but of recovering what has been left behind, though this has been with us, in us, all the time and has never been lost or distorted except for our misguided manipulation of it.”

My insights:

Instead of being nailed to the past, we are free for the future.
We are most ourselves when we are taking care of things, nurturing others and being open to our own needs.
A fundamental need that we have is to constantly invent ourselves anew in our work, relationships, finances, and the world.
We are natural phenomena that already knows how to think and to take action on our choices.

Insight and action are one and the same for me. My actions give me my measure, and they engrave me upon the memory of the living.

My call for action:

To integrate myself in a world that challenges me to apply rigor and discipline in my life so that l can be on the leading edge of innovation in the practice of living as a whole and ecological human being.

Instead of showing why one should be, do or have anything, be committed to generating and living in the conditions necessary for Humanity, Liberty and Happiness to be manifest. Reflecting on the past and its questions and living from the insights which come anew each moment, gives my action gusto and appropriateness so that the vibrancy of life is today. My questions and insights have been triggered by a context of meaningful interactions and interdependence, which is my experience of Lifespring and the world. For that, I thank and acknowledge YOU, who are all a part of the action that I am and am becoming as the experience continues…

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