no-self the sum of our experiences

Read this in the midst of a favorite environmentalist blog. It struck me.

Quote:

Anyway, I'm sitting drinking coffee out of my jar, and Gala is laughing at me and good-naturedly telling me I'm weird and she asks me, "So what is your practice these days?" By practice, she means what part of the No Impact lifestyle have I kept. I'm struck by her turn of phrase.

Normally, one might ask, "What is your meditation practice?" or "What is your spiritual practice?" To hear sustainable lifestyle measures referred to as "practice" made me really realize that it really is, for me, just that--a practice. If I've forgotten my jar and the only coffee available is in a throwaway cup, I forgo the coffee. Does that save the planet? Probably not, but on some level, it may save me.

This gets me thinking. I am just the sum of the experiences that have fashioned my personality into the type of person who has to make a big deal about being sustainable. A stockbroker is just the sum of the experiences that fashion his or her personality into the type of person who digs playing the market. There's no better or worse. No Impact just becomes the practice that works for me. Playing the market is the practice that works for someone else.

No self: just foot meeting the pavement, drinking coffee from the jar, selling the stock.