Insignificance

We live in a celebrity culture here in America. Bombarded by media indoctrination that big and famous are good. Money is good. Power is good. War is good. Yet celebrity, like power and money, corrupts. In contrast to the feel-good philosophies of the 80s and 90s, Buddha suggests that the individual seek insignificance in his own self-esteem. That is to say that the individual seeking the path to enlightenment offers all to others and sees his own needs as insignificant in the vastness of the Universe. This is not false humility or masochist's self-denial. This is the awakening of the mind and spirit to the individual's true insignificance in space, time and timelessness of infinity. Truth. I seek this mindfulness of my own insignificance in my daily practice to ward off feelings of entitlement, superiority and desire. Focusing on my own insignificance helps me to choose a focus upon the needs of those around me. It is not easy. After all, I am indeed an insignificant and very temporal creature in a vast Universe.