Equanimity Will See You Through Tougher Times than Passion or Balance

U Thant was secretary general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971. “He was a great and spiritual man. Dag Hammarskjold had just been killed. There was a possibility of nuclear conflagration over a surrogate war being fought in the Congo, in which the West and the East were actually at war. U Thant was locked in a last-ditch meeting to avert disaster when he was handed a piece of paper, which he read, and he stayed in that meeting until the parties had reached a truce. Someone then asked him what was on that slip of paper. He said, ‘My son was just killed in a car accident.’

“The newspapers wrote about a cold-hearted Buddhist. But in that act was someone whose love of humanity allowed him to transcend his own narrow definition of family and to expand it into a greater definition. U Thant’s act was an act of a great, loving human being. That is equanimity, and it will probably see you through tougher times than passion or balance will.

“If you live a rich life of the spirit, you are not distracted,” says Larry Brilliant. “You carry out your duty, your dharma, no matter what.”

Source: Dr. Brilliant Vs. the Devil of Ambition | Harriet Rubin | Fast Company

Like this content? Why not share it?
Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInBuffer this pagePin on PinterestShare on Redditshare on TumblrShare on StumbleUpon
There Are No Comments
Click to Add the First »