The Power of Commitment

Café-Salon Philosophique #6

January 17, 1998

No. of Participants: 20

The evening's Topic: The power of commitment. What does passion and dedication have to do with commitment?

Samuel began the evening's discussion by reading a short tale called, "A Fish Story" from his "Mime Workbook" that was published in the Zen Mountain Monastery publication in 1992. The essence of the story was about a fish who was wasting time, energy and effort in "chasing his own tail" (pursuing his own means) instead of exploring the depths and expanse of the great ocean. So What is commitment? In the late 1800's the great Philosopher, Goethe expressed his view on commitment as follows:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy,
the chance to draw back - always ineffective.
The moment one definitely commits oneself,
then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would
never otherwise have occurred.
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!"

Commitment was defined by the group as "decisions that we make every moment," "total energy focused in a certain direction," "the process of executing a decision." Alot of times there is a lack of commitment related to unconscious and insensitive decisions made. This creates a gap between thinking and doing. Café goer, Deb expressed that commitment "needs to come from the heart and being true to the self." Marta stated that commitment can be, "a long-term thing, such as in marriage, raising children, working in a job or at a project." Ivan believed that, "a person has to make the decision to commit to something specifically." So in essence, one must stop and consider what they really want out of life.

Development of commitment requires passion for what one is doing. Antoinette stated that, "one must know it's good, keep working towards it and not let anyone deter you from your dreams and goals." Values must be established. There are several characteristics necessary for sustaining commitment - courage, determination, dedication, strong will, perserverance, and above all else, the ability to be able to use time and space productively alone.

Café goers agreed that Americans use the excuses "we are too busy," "I don't have time," and "I'm already doing the best that I can." Antonio spoke about how "we, the western world lives superficially and artificially. No one takes the time to honestly explore the true nature of the self." Robert stated that, "we need to look for honest endeavors and enjoy the journey towards achievement" through conscious effort.

The discussion then moved to sharing personal examples of commitment to kids, family, groups, organizations, etc. Park described the commitment to his children as, "agreeing to do the job, giving love and responding to their needs." He also believed that "commitment is setting goals and striving towards achieving the goals."

Vineeta believed that the best way to share commitment with her daughter was "to be strong, unshakable and honest." She felt that if she was "true to her self and could reflect that to her daughter, then that was the fullest way for her to share the commitment of love and responsibility with her."

Samuel then posed the question, What about commitment to the self? Café participants believed that one needs to stop living dishonestly, for example, ("being in a bad marriage for the sake of the children," "staying in a job just for the money," or "living to fit other people's images") in order to commit to new ways of self learning.

Café goers also believed that one must learn to undo fears, emotional blocks, and perceived barriers in order to begin the journey towards committing to self learning. In order for one to do this, one must also distinguish between egoism (self centeredness, selfishness and greed) and the true self (the honest, dedicated explorer). People present agreed that there is a very small majority of people who really work towards committing to discovering the true self. People learn and choose to put everything else in life before themselves.

Café discussion then got lively by group members trying to explain and rationalize why they were committed to everything else in life but themselves. Samuel then shared the following proverb by Hillel,

"If I am not for my self, who will be for me?
And if I am only for my self what am I?
And if not now, when?" and added his interpretation saying
"If not now there is no when".

Antonio, then shared how "We are like a crystal ball with many facets. Within each facet, is our own expression and motion to commitments every day." "We are temporary beings in motion every moment. We create every minute. We can't be still long enough to even contemplate truly who we are and what is true commitment. It's a dance between permanency and the constant state of change that we live in."

That lead others to think, "Do we really see ourselves for who we truly are or do we get locked into images and live through them? The general consensus was, no, we do not see our true selves. We shape shift and mold to conform to family, friends, groups, relationships, organizations, etc. We create the conditions. We choose who, what, when, and where we spend our time and share our space with.

The conclusion of this evening's topic was, that change is not going to occur by trying to influence "the corporation, the group, friends, and/or family, etc." Effective change towards the betterment of all (humanity) lies in individual commitment towards betterment of the self.

So how do we do that? What does one do besides talk? Café goers believed that, "one must have the heart (passion), motivation and predisposition for wanting to change." "One must take the time, give the space and make the effort towards learning the meaning of true self." One must stop the self destructive process of letting "what ifs and fears" interfere. One must make a vow as Samuel put it "to let the words, business, images, objects, whatever is bothering us, rot away." One needs to quit making war with the self and come to a peaceful understanding with the self.

One must learn to do more than talk. There's a very small percentage of people in the world who know what to do besides talk. We only learn to communicate with words. People don't realize that 90% of the messages one receives is through body language, or nonverbal communication. Only 10% of the message is received from words. One needs to learn to communicate through body movement. One can discover to express "what's inside" through movement. One can get in touch with the "real spirit" of themselves through learning about moving the mind and body.

Would you like to do more than just talk? If you really want to change, have the drive, ambition and courage to do so, then I invite you to be guided by Samuel in learning about your physical body through studying BodySpeak. I guarantee you, that if you faithfully listen and practice what he teaches you, your life will be more peaceful, ordered, satisfying and productive.

So did we COMMIT to discovering the power of commitment or define the drive of passion and dedication to commitment? No. The group shared once again where they were at the moment and were still trying to figure out where we as humans fit into the scheme of things!

The next meeting will be held February 7, 1998. That evening's topic will be:

"Is egoism the end of freedom and liberty? what is the most powerful possibility given to us that we take for granted ?"

Ponder on this topic and come with your friends again to a meaningful evening to be with people of like minds and hearts.

Reported by Alessandra