To Thine Own Bucket List Be True

People want to make the most out of their lives. Duh. What I find fascinating is the underlying assumption that, in order to make the most out of our lives, we must attempt daring and bold feats of power and passion.

Here's the point: What if that isn't true? What if "making the most out of our lives" isn't about amassing more experiences that glorify the body and fan the flame of ego and self-satisfaction?

What if our spirit, our consciousness, our soul, is immortal, invulnerable and eternal? And that our only purpose for being here is to understand that we are all one, we are all connected, that we must "love ye one another?" That there is nothing else to do, nothing else to amass or nothing else to accomplish? If that's the case, are we really making the best use of our remaining time here by doing more rather than being more?

Point being: A bucket list is nice. Perhaps a spiritual bucket list is better.

I suggest that for every bucket list entry we make of something physical we wish to accomplish, we also include one entry of something spiritual we wish to achieve. So now the question becomes, "What might we put on that list?"

We might choose to engage in behaviors that could awaken us to truths that have been hidden from our consciousness by our drive for material and physical mastery and control. Perhaps:

• A six month program of daily meditation and/or yoga.

We might choose to engage in behaviors that unite us rather than divide us by finding:

• Ways to see the good in people despite the negative things they've done.

Perhaps it would behoove us to put on the list:

• Ways to be more of a role model of right action.

Perhaps each of us, as we compile our bucket list prior to heading off to that great big google in the sky, should remind ourselves of what Horace Mann once said: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."