IF THE DALAI LAMA HAS TIME TO TINKER...

I recently watched a film about the Dalai Lama. (The film itself isn't terribly good, which is why I'm not linking to it here. At left is an unrelated image of him discussing the cosmos with the late Carl Sagan, courtesy of Cornell University's Chronicle Online, just because it seemed apt for this post.)

The film had lots of information about the Chinese takeover of Tibet and other dramatic issues. But what caught me most was its mention of this: the Dalai Lama reads extensively in books on physics, neurobiology, and other sciences, and likes to putter around taking things like watches and cars apart and then putting them back together.

In other words: This is a monk who spends several hours a day in spiritual practice. Who makes himself available to questioners, not always of any particular rank or importance, from around the world. Who consults and speaks and travels constantly. Who is a leading international advocate for peace. Who authors many books. Who leads the Tibetan people in exile. Among, I'm sure, many other things.

But.

He takes time from meeting government leaders and working for peace to have fun taking stuff apart, just because he enjoys it.

He takes time to read stuff that has no direct practical application to his job.

There's no evidence that he feels guilty doing these things. The images in the film display the same contentment his pictures almost always reflect. (You rarely if ever see the Dalai Lama look stressed. Indeed, an impish grin is the expression you see most often in images of him.)

Are you traveling around the planet counseling kings and presidents about peace?

I'm certainly not. When it comes to saving the planet or getting warring nations to make nice, ain't no one counting on me.

If someone as important and productive as the Dalai Lama can do it, why don't we give ourselves permission for just a little restorative guilt-free puttering now and then?