“The rose has a gift that you lack; it is perfectly content to be itself. It has not been programmed from birth, as you have been, to be dissatisfied with itself, so it has not the slightest urge to be anything other than what it is. That is why it possesses the artless grace and absence of inner conflict that among humans is only found in little children and mystics.” The Way to Love – Anthony DeMello
As humans, or course, we try to improve the rose. We create hybrids, thornless roses, roses of different colors, shapes, heights, and tolerances. Despite all that, the rose simply does what it was meant to do, and becomes what it was meant to become. It occurs to me that perhaps that is one reason we like roses so much. A stem sits there, color, form, scent — beautiful, yes, but also thorny (and anyone who has grown roses knows, needy and moody). Still, with all that, the rose is what it is and through that maintains the “artless grace” and “absence of inner conflict” we strive for by relentless effort and “self-improvement.” There’s a lesson in here somewhere.
It occurs to me... 