Tuesday, April 15, 2008

THE LAST LECTURE

My attention has been called recently and repeatedly to a wonderful former Carnegie Mellon Science professor named Randy Pausch. Randy is a man in his late forties, married with three small children. He is an extremely popular professor known for his unwavering dedication to positivity, and to encouraging students to dare to be all that they can be. He has a contagious philosophy of life that is steeped in the belief in the goodness of life, and the power of risk and choice as elements of transcending what we think is limiting us.
There is a tradition at Carnegie Mellon of professors giving what is known as the “last lecture.” This is an opportunity for teachers to share their overall personal philosophy of life, independent of whatever subject they are normally presenting to students. Pausch was asked, and agreed, to give his “last lecture” in 2007. As he was preparing for this talk, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His “last lecture” turned out to be his literal last lecture. Randy is still living, beyond the medical odds, but did not choose to return to his position with the university. He chooses instead to spend his time making beautiful memories for his wife and children, and in very consciously courting a living legacy for those he will soon leave behind. If you are interested, you can join millions who have already watched Randy Pausch’s last lecture on You Tube.
As I soon will add another digit to this incarnation, I watch the stunning example of this courageous man with particular interest and admiration. While I have mostly moved beyond a place in life of having specific goals or aspirations, I am cognizant of the desire to leave a conscious legacy for those who will be left when I make my human transition. Witnessing the qualities, attributes, lessons, and legacy that Pausch finds most important invites me to revisit that same type of inquiry. If I were to give a “last lecture,” what is it that I would say? What is most essential to my Soul, and to what am I most committed to expressing while on this human journey here on earth? More importantly than perhaps giving a last lecture, am I living that legacy today? Is the sphere that I have inhabited a better place vibrationally because I have been here? How consciously am I contributing to the whole on a daily basis, and how much is my own heartfulness uplifting the race consciousness? What may I be withholding, and what would it take for me to give open through that contraction?
I have never particularly longed for longevity itself, yet I am vitally interested in squeezing every drop of juice out of the time that I spend here in this body and upon this earth. That has at times proven to be a challenge for me. Overcoming that challenge, transcending my own darkness is integral to the legacy that I am speaking of here. The way in which I love through my challenges uplifts the human whole. I have been blessed with multiple way-showers, and I return that favor by blazing a trail of transformation and transcendence for others to follow at will. Just as I have been blessed by the lessons of Randy Pausch, I give of my talents and creativity with the prayer that my service will bless those who are meant to receive my gifts.
I choose to live this day as though I too had received a diagnosis calling for a more conscious way of being. I choose to live this day full out, loving open all the places that tend to remain closed from the wounds of the past. We never know when our last word will be our last word, and so I will to speak consciously, wakefully, and with love. And that truly is the essence of what I want my legacy to be: LOVE. I know that the purpose of my incarnation is to open into and to give passionately of the Love that is my Source and is my gift. It is in giving Love that my legacy is fulfilled. That is ultimately the only lesson to be learned.
And what dear friends would you say in the giving of your last lecture?





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