What would you do if you had infinite resources? The new acquaintance wasn’t really putting the question to me, just explaining that it is one he often asks. To me, it sounded like a re-working of the poet Mary Oliver’s question about what we would do with our wild and precious life. And my answer was still the same.
This! Precisely: this.
The first time I wrote that answer, it was all about a beach and the wind and the water and the wide, open skies. On this particular day my precisely this, is different.
On this day, a day later, a reflecting day, it is sitting in the garden and reading.
It is sitting in the garden and writing.
It is sitting in the garden drinking cider and feeling the warmth of late April sun on my skin and watching the shadows of hoverflies as they do whatever it is they are doing over my decking.
It is sitting in the garden and scarcely noticing the cockerel crow or the traffic on the ring-road and very much noticing the insect hum and the song-bird calls. Sitting in the garden and not being irritated by the banging of next door’s gate, rather noticing my own gate, and the bright yellow bucket newly emptied of dead tree roots, and the solar lights charging that will sparkle come dusk.
This. Precisely this, is what I would do if I had infinite resources. I know this because when I found myself with finite resources that were far in excess of what I had ever imagined, this is what I did, this is what I do, and I find it makes me happy.
Being able to welcome friends and occasional strangers into my space, even (especially?) in these strained times. That makes me happy.
Making plans and wishes and sending them out into a moonlit sky in hope of manifestation. That makes me happy.
Weaving words into reality to please or inspire or challenge. That makes me happy.
Capturing the amazing momentary beauty of a fragile wing, or a translucent petal, or a shadow play upon the fence. These things make me happy.
Having time to laze under the sun. Having the urge to pick up my pen. Being able to cook for myself and others, and having others who seemingly want to cook for me. These moments make me happy.
Flowing with the rope. Moving through tai chi forms and transitions. Dancing in the dark. However inexpertly, these movements make me happy.
The delight on a friend’s face and the smile on that of a stranger, friendly words on the door-step, over the phone, in the street. These connections make me happy.
What would I do with infinite resources? Exactly the same as I do with finite resources, because in my perception we need to understand that the earth is finite…beautiful and resilient but not infinitely regenerating. Gaia may one day soon feel the need to choose between her children and, right now, if I were her I would not prioritise humanity.
But I’m not her, so I do. Not first & foremost. Not even first among equals. I think many of the belief systems we see today are founded on the arrogance of mankind believing our species to be different, special, above all the other sentient / maybe-sentient / non-sentient beings we share our space with. I think we are not special or different. I think we are simply an integral part of the whole. And that both uplifts me and grounds me. So it matters to me that we work to better humanity purely because we are the ones best placed to help the healing the whole system needs. After all, we are most responsible for its need of healing.
Until we understand that we are integral to that system, I fear we may not do so.
Have I wandered off on a tangent here, from all those simple things that make me happy into the rabbit warren of how to save the world? I don’t think so. I think that if we all take the time to answer that question what would I do if I had infinite resources, most of us, not all by any long stretch, but most of us and most should be enough of us will decide that ~ you know what? ~ it is the really little things, the really simple things, that make us happy and we don’t NEED those infinite resources to get them.
Once we grasp that little notion, we can forget about infinite resources, we can think about the finite, and then the question becomes two questions:
- What will you do with the necessarily finite resources at your disposal?
And
- What will you do with the resources you already have, that you’ve just discovered you don’t need?
I’ve answered the first question. I’m working on the second one!What
