Originally published at Apollo Lemmon. Please leave any comments there.
Where did your name come from?
As much as I’d rather be associated with the Greek god Apollo, god of truth, light and the arts, the story behind my name is a bit less luminous.
I was born to two teachers and they came to the conviction that they would not name their children the same name as any child they had taught or could possibly teach in the future. They also happened to be a strange mix, being at once Sci-Fi geeks and athletes.
I was born without having a name selected, so I was initially given my middle name, Isaac, until a proper name could be decided. My father was reading the novelization of Battlestar Galactica at home after my birth and it was decided that I should be named after Captain Apollo.
What would you tell someone who felt alone?
I don’t know if there are any exact words I could offer, but I would try to create intimacy with that person in an attempt to ease loneliness. A depth of relationship and engagement in genuine friendship can be hard to come by, and I imagine that is a root of a lot of loneliness, so I would try to create that.
Who do you love?
My family, my friends, my lover and, in my best moments, everyone. This is one of the great adventures of life, to explore and defy the boundaries of our love, to include in that love each soul we can. I strive daily to take part in this exploration.
Love is at once an absolute and a gradient. An enlightened saint may love everyone as an expression of divinity, someone entirely caught up in ego may only love herself and there are some who can not manage even that. I imagine each of us are somewhere in the midst of that spectrum between not loving and boundlessly loving. Part of the grand movement of evolution is toward greater and greater love, blossoming out toward an ultimate Love. Our very trajectory is aimed at this expansion, but cultivating love is still necessary for us to take part in.
Pick a word of the day. Tell us about it.
Bodhisattva
n. Buddhism
An enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others.
[Sanskrit bodhisattva?, one whose essence is enlightenment : bodhi?, perfect knowledge; see bheudh- in Indo-European roots + sattvam, essence, being (from sat-, existing; see es- in Indo-European roots).]
– Dictionary.com
The Bodhisattva ideal means a tremendous amount to me, and is a guiding template for how I wish to live. A bodhisattva is in some sense embodying the Christian ideal of being “in the world but not of it,” in that a bodhisattva is liberated by enlightenment (not of the world) but remains fully engaged in the world and works to help others attain that freedom. In an evolutionary context, this ideal can be expanded to include a sense of stewardship to development, something I feel is essential to unleashing the potential our future holds.