A Joyful Practice

More of What We Need… To Live Well (a Monday post practice note) January 17, 2022

“When you’re good to others, you are best to yourself.”

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– #630 quoted from Poor Richard’s Almanack (1748) by “Richard Saunders” and “Bridget Saunders” (a. k. a. Benjamin Franklin)

“I want to use as the subject from which to preach: “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life.” (All right) You know, they used to tell us in Hollywood that in order for a movie to be complete, it had to be three-dimensional. Well, this morning I want to seek to get over to each of us that if life itself is to be complete, (Yes) it must be three-dimensional.”

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“Now the length of life as we shall use it here is the inward concern for one’s own welfare. (Yes) In other words, it is that inward concern that causes one to push forward, to achieve his own goals and ambitions. (All right) The breadth of life as we shall use it here is the outward concern for the welfare of others. (All right) And the height of life is the upward reach for God. (All right) Now you got to have all three of these to have a complete life.”

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– quoted from “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” sermon at New Covenant Baptist Church (in Chicago, Illinois) by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (04/09/1967)

This is just a quick note related to the practice associated with Common Ground Meditation Center on Monday, January 17, 2022 – Martin Luther King Day for many in the USA. MLK Day is a “floating” federal holiday in that it happens on the third January of the year, but that is not always the same date. This year it happened to fall on the anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706) and Sebastian Junger (b. 1962). A lot of times, this third day in Monday is a day when I just share one of Rev. Martin Luther King’s sermons, but I took a slightly different approach to the same message.  We don’t have to go that deep to see that all three men – and the words of all three men – are related. The men, their work, and their words are all related to how we live and how we can live better lives together.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to take anything away from Dr. King – and I am, in no way, comparing their contributions to society – but, as I mentioned on Saturday, sometimes I think that despite all the quoting of Dr. King that people do (especially this time of year), we’re forgetting the message.

How we treat each other matters.

Click here for the 2021 MLK Day post with links to two of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermons.

Click here for the 2021 post about Benjamin Franklin and Sebastian Junger.

“The findings are in keeping with something called self-determination theory, which holds that human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others. These values are considered “intrinsic” to human happiness and far outweigh “extrinsic” values such as beauty, money and status.”

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– quoted from Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

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