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Remember the Future

· Self Reflection

I’m life coach and counselor Peter Winslow. Today I ask you to meditate on a mystery of self-mastery, a spiritual sage's riddle for the ages: “We only keep what we have given away.”

Do you get it? It means that when we depart this world through the death experience, we don't take our material possessions with us. The monuments we've built to ourselves—including our homes, our careers and our worldly property—will be separated from us at that juncture.

What’s the point of dedicating your life to the acquisition of all that stuff if you can't take it with you?

Well, the Buddhists say that when we make the transition out of this life there are two things that do go with us. These of course don't include our personal belongings, our portfolios, family members, or even our bodies.

The two transcendent qualities they say go with us are our karma and our wisdom.

Karma can be loosely translated to correspond with the Golden Rule of Western religions: what goes around, comes around; do unto others as you’d have them do to you. It all relates to the impact we've made in the lives of the people we've touched.

What did you do for—or against—humankind? What contributions did you make? How will you be remembered? This is what you have given away.

What you have “given away” goes with you, meaning your karma follows you whether you are pleased with it or not. Meditate on this notion for a while and you'll find that your awareness and the actions that follow from it lead you to deeper wisdom—the other virtue said to go with you.

 

–Peter Winslow