My Rule of Life

This is Saturday morning, November 10, 2018.  Our SN11 class has been gently tasked with developing a Rule of Life.  This process started yesterday evening with discussions about the Early Christian Church and the Rules of Life developed by St. Augustine and St. Benedict.  

These "Rules" are sets of guidelines/principles -- either for an individual or a communal group -- that describe one's current desired direction and activity.  It can be a short document allowing lots of leeway inside some basic ideals or excruciatingly detailed (how to dress, eat, etc.).  St. Augustine did the first type and St. Benedict did the second one.  The document, as I understand it, is a living one -- meant to be adjusted to make it more accurate and/or pertinent with experience and to be adjusted as one's life changes.  New items can be added and old ones discarded.  

So now it's my job to begin such a document.  And I'm stalling, waiting for inspiration...  okay, here goes.  Here's who I think I am:  

 -- I'm smart, or at least intelligent.  This seems always to be a primary facet of my self description.  It has been a wonderful resource all my life -- but, it would seem, occasionally an impediment to my personal growth and perhaps my happiness and fulfillment as a human being.

  -- I'm an introvert.  I'm not necessarily shy, which is different.  

  -- I'm articulate.  

  -- I have some musical ability.  I'd rather not describe it as "talent."

  -- I have a yearning for something.  A sense of fulfillment.  A sense of purpose.

  -- I like to help people.

  -- I spent a lot more time with my Mom than Dad -- mainly because he was the working partner in the marriage for most of the time.  But nowadays, I think a lot more about my Dad. 

  -- I easily slip into feeling like an outsider.  I don't fit.  Maybe even I'm not welcome, only tolerated.  

  -- I know I make a lot of snap judgments about people.  The session we had on Projection really hit home.  I think that applies to a lot of other people but so what?   

  -- I'm reluctant to "give in" to religion.  I keep telling myself that Occam's Razor doesn't require it.  That it can all be explained other ways.  That our tendencies to Gestalt thinking are responsible for much of what folks consider interactions with God.  We're human -- we love stories.


  -- That I'm not at all sure I know what Love is.  Fondness I get.  Commitment I get.  Getting pleasure from interacting with I get.  Am I missing something?  Fascination with him/her I get.  Loyalty I get.  Trust I get.