Inside Out

One of may favorite parables is about Martin Luther and his tree.

In case you haven't heard this one...

One day, shortly after posting his complaints against the Catholic Church on a church door, Martin Luther was working in his garden. A small group of priests came up to him, hoping to catch him off-guard with an existential question that would lead to his recanting. One of them asked, "Brother Martin, if you knew for certain that you were going to die tomorrow and meet our Lord, what would you do?" Martin Luther was quiet for a moment as he continued to carefully fit a fruit tree sapling into the earth. As the priests waited, Martin sat back from his work and glanced up at them. In a calm, quiet voice, he said: "I would finish planting this tree."

This is a parable that is retold more for its truth than its facts. It reminds listeners to live each day fully, to live your entire being in each moment. It also reminds us that we will all die, regardless of what we do or do not.

But what if we turned this question inside out? What if I were to come up to you right now and demand, "If you knew for certain that you were going to live for two hundred more years, what would you do?"

This really turns our awareness and responsibility around. We would actually be around to experience, first hand, the world we are creating today. Also, no longer responsible for only our own, individual "salvation" we are met with the prospect of - as beautifully put by Sean Penn during his Oscar speech - potentially facing our grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren with burning shame for our short-sighted carelessness. This makes the adage about seven generations real and immediate. With the prospect of living out the consequences of today's actions, would we continue with what we are doing today?

I have kept Martin's answer to that existential question in mind for many years. Now, with my growing awareness, participation, and investment (thank you, President Obama, for reclaiming this word and sentiment), I find that doing only what I think is right/sustainable/good for me is a primer for what we are truly called to do.

Yes, keyword: We. We are in this together. There is no "away" to which we can escape the consequences of our collectively unconscious acts. If we are to live, it is we who must wake up.

And it is time to wake up; the alarm is getting louder and the snooze button will not make it stop. Wake up crabby, wake up refreshed, wake up confused, wake up ready to go - however you do it, it is time to wake up and get moving away from the distraction, sleep-walking, and "zoning out." As our president has extolled - it is time to put aside childish things; i.e., time to take responsibility for our actions beyond immediate gratification and power plays. It is time to look deeply and far into how we want to live, not just what we do to acquire phantom wealth/money.

So, how would you answer the question: If you knew you would live for two hundred more years, what would you do right now?

Martin Luther would likely give the same answer.