Life is meant to be lived deeply, with passion.

A shallow life or a passionless life are not great to be around.

We’re not meant to be pushing the barriers of deep all the time – we all need time to chill – and it’s not healthy to live with adrenaline-pumping passion every moment, but I guess we’ve all met people who never get excited about anything, or the conversation which never dives beneath the surface of whatever is being talked about.

A little bit of detail to what I’m thinking about when I use the word deep.  I mean an increasingly open mind, heart, and will – an open heart is deeper than an open mind because it’s inviting change at a deep personal level, and an open will is deeper than an open heart, because it’s actually living out what is happening to us, and practice fees us stuff even more than feeling it.

It’s no wonder Otto Scharmer identifies the battle between self and Self – who we are now and who we might become – as the primary battle of our century (individually and collectively).  It is a battle for increasing openness, and where we lose the battle the voices of doubt, cynicism, and fear grow stronger.  Think about the people you know who are not prepared to explore more, to be changed, and to act upon (or the organisation) and see if you don’t find doubt, cynicism, and fear being voiced.

As I was pondering all of this, I happened to listen to a report on BBC Radio 5 looking at the growth of cyber bullying of children.  I listened to children speaking of their own experiences and it’s hard to deny what they were on the receiving end of was closed minds, hearts, and wills, which, in the most extreme cases are extremely destructive of all concerned.

I do not want to see people as a problem to be solved but as a mystery expressed in beauty (for me, creativity, enjoyment, and generosity).  We give ourselves opportunities as we go beyond how we see and understand in this moment, to seeing through the eyes of others (Donald Miller shares how he didn’t like jazz until he saw how much someone else loved it), and we act out this greater world.

Everyday becomes a gift towards this destination of deep and passionate.