Lacking understanding in our practice,

we’re just going through the motions.

One evening, a man was watching his wife prepare an eggplant for their dinner. Watching her cut off the end of the eggplant and then throw it away, he asked her why she did so. She replied it was the way her mother had always fixed eggplant.

His curiosity growing, he suggested that they call her mother to find out the reason. When they called her mother, she replied that it was the way her mother had always fixed eggplant.

Growing increasingly perplexed, the husband suggested that they call Grandma in an attempt to figure out the reason behind what has apparently become a family tradition. When they asked, Grandma replied that the reason was simple—not having a large enough pan, she cut off the end of the eggplant to make it fit.

If we want to truly benefit from our practice, we need to understand the principles—and reasons—behind what we do. Otherwise, we might just be going through the motions.

The situation isn’t bad or good . . .

We don’t wake up in the morning thinking that

we’re going to be selfish and inconsiderate today.

And yet, throughout the day, we act selfishly in so many ways. We don’t answer a coworker’s email, although we know he’s waiting for our response. We postpone a trip to the library to return a best seller, a popular book with readers. We go shopping with one friend forgetting that we had told another we’d go with her.

Here’s another thought we don’t wake up with: I’m going to make someone suffer today.

And yet, that’s what we often do. We turn up the air conditioning to stay comfortable. But cooling ourselves this way contributes to global warming. This causes soil erosion on the other side of the world. Worried farmers are told that global warming is the culprit, but they have no means to stop it.

We tend busily to our affairs and forget our friend in the nursing home who enjoys such visits.

We get trapped by our habits, our personal inertia, our wish for personal comfort. We don’t mean to be selfish or unkind. But too often, we end up being so.