Archive for the ‘emptiness’ Category
The Touch of the Master’s Hand
It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good people”, he cried,
“Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?”
“Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,”
But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said “What now am I bid for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its’ bow.
“One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?”
“Two thousand, Who makes it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone”, said he.
The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
“We just don’t understand.”
“What changed its’ worth?”
Swift came the reply.
“The Touch of the Masters Hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune
All battered with bourbon and gin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters’ Hand.
Myra Brooks Welch
What is our Worth – Part III
In a previous post, I mentioned the analogy of the teacup, which is made of porcelain (fact), and which I think is very beautiful (opinion). You may think it is ugly. Porcelain is an attribute of the teacup, but beauty is not. It is an attribute of my, and your, evaluative thinking. So it is with self-worth. You are worth what you decide you are worth.
It should be noted too that other’s evaluations of us are usually connected with what they want from us. As such, evaluations of our worth are used to manipulate us. Sometimes, this is to our benefit, and sometimes not, but it is usually for the benefit of the manipulator.
If self-actualization is the highest good of mental health, then it is critical that we observe and follow the path that our core self desires. We cannot do that by chasing the approval of others. We must instead, be quiet and listen to the voice within us that is truly our own. By doing so, concepts of “worth” disappear, as they are just an illusory measure from the outside world. I believe that this describes the reason that clients often describe feeling empty, worthless, and also not knowing who they are. We have been programmed to be what others want us to be and have lost touch with our self.
Another way of viewing the concept of worth is as the wrong measure for humans. Our society is so obsessed with attaching a value or other measure to everything that we do not stop to consider that it does not apply to humans. If you have a pet, what are they worth? Often clients will answer “priceless” to that question, while feeling “worthless” themselves. Perhaps it is like asking “how many quarts is that couch?” or “what sound is that beam of light making?” – we are trying to apply the wrong measure for the context.
At the end of the day, of course, all of these intellectualizations are for naught. That is because the problem is not a logical one, but a feeling one. As such, allowing the feeling in, exploring it in depth for its origins, describing its qualities, focusing on its position in the body, understanding what it is trying to motivate us to do – - may well do more good than logical discussion.
