Peter
Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy
Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted
philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and
touring his “Concert & Conversation” series in support of his bookLife Is What You Make It.
“There is no coming to consciousness without pain.
People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their
own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by
making the darkness conscious.” – Carl Jung
One of the reasons we keep
repeating the same stories is because it’s so difficult to look at our role in
perpetuating the disconnection–and pain that accompanies it–that keep the
old stories alive.
Whether it’s on a macro or
micro level, looking in the mirror can be difficult. Take a trip to the Pine
Ridge Reservation (or any nearby prison) and then talk about American exceptionalism. Go through a difficult divorce or failed business relationship
and talk about your role and responsibility in the breakup. It’s hard. And your
friends and allies will rarely tell you anything other than what they think you
want to hear. Of course, they’re trying to make you feel better–but are they
helping?
You can guess my answer to
that question … no.
So where do we turn if we
want to make the next step in our journey a little more fulfilling, a little
more true, and ultimately, a lot more joyful?
Well, it’s going to start
with vulnerability. That quality in ourselves that we started to cover up the
minute things started to hurt. Little humiliations, big failures. They all
played a role in how we built walls around the things we didn’t want to look at or thought we wouldn’t have to think about.
“Ignore it and it will go
away” may have worked with an annoying bully in school, or a mosquito bite, but
in life the words ignore and ignorance are just too closely related. We can no
longer afford to turn a blind eye towards our role in the world we create. We
must open our hearts to the pain that accompanies the first steps into vulnerability with the willingness to see ourselves as the creators of the story we inhabit–all of it.
Visitwww.peterbuffett.comand Change Our Storyto learn more.
Image courtesy ofPaul Keller, licensed underCreative Commons.
