Great Minds

During the summer, beaches and swimming pools are crowded. Many people just stay lounging on the beach chairs, occasionally dipping their feet in the water. Some parents with young children splash around in the shallow end of the pool. There are very few people swimming. Most are there to stay cool, to have fun, to admire and be admired. Most of us know how to swim. We get dressed in swimsuits and show up at the beach or swimming pool. Yet we choose not to swim. We are too image-conscious to mess up our hair or makeup; we came to have a good time, to chill—not to exert ourselves.

When you get together with friends and family, what do you discuss? Do you talk about food, the day’s events, the weather, other people, politics, current events, accomplishments, or acquisitions? Do these conversations lead to a deeper understanding of higher truths? Or are you content to splash around in the shallow end of the pool?

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. (Eleanor Roosevelt) 

Most of us are capable of thinking, discussing, and learning. Enlightenment involves a bit more exertion than lounging on the shore or merely dipping your toes in the ocean of truth. It requires a certain detachment from the distractions and diversions all around you. Great minds are not content to stay on the shallow end. They wade in—deeper and deeper—until their feet leave the familiar ground—and they can do nothing else but swim.