[FairfieldLife] Re: Peter Coyote on Robin Williams

[j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Peter Coyote’s Wisdom Regarding Robin Williams’ Suicide 
http://theaposition.com/robertfagan/golf/personalities/12077/peter-coyotes-wisdom-regarding-robin-williams-suicide
 
 
 
http://theaposition.com/robertfagan/golf/personalities/12077/peter-coyotes-wisdom-regarding-robin-williams-suicide
 
 
 Peter Coyote’s Wisdom Regarding Robin Williams’ ... 
http://theaposition.com/robertfagan/golf/personalities/12077/peter-coyotes-wisdom-regarding-robin-williams-suicide
 I am still trying to get my arms around ROBIN WILLIAMS taking his own life. 
 
 
 
 View on theaposition.com 
http://theaposition.com/robertfagan/golf/personalities/12077/peter-coyotes-wisdom-regarding-robin-williams-suicide
 
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 ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote : Rick, 
where did you find this?---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <rick@...> wrote : 
Robin William’s Last GiftRobin and I were friends. Not intimate, because he was 
very shy when he was not performing. Still, I spent many birthdays and holidays 
at his home with Marsha and the children, and he showed up at my 70th birthday 
to say “Hello” and wound up mesmerizing my relatives with a fifteen minute set 
that pulverized the audience.When I heard that he had died, I put my own sorrow 
aside for a later time. I’m a Zen Buddhist priest and my vows instruct me to 
try to help others. So this little letter is meant in that spirit.Normally when 
you are gifted with a huge talent of some kind, it’s like having a magnificent 
bicep. People will say, “Wow, that’s fantastic” and they tell you, truthfully, 
that it can change your life, take you to unimaginable realms. It can and often 
does. The Zen perspective is a little different. We might say, “Well, that’s a 
great bicep, you don’t have to do anything to it. Let’s work at bringing the 
rest of your body up to that level.”Robin’s gift could be likened to fastest 
thoroughbred race-horse on earth. It had unbeatable endurance, nimbleness, and 
a huge heart. However, it had never been fully trained. Sometimes Robin would 
ride it like a kayaker tearing down white-water, skimming on the edge of 
control. We would marvel at his courage, his daring, and his brilliance. But at 
other times, the horse went where he wanted, and Robin could only hang on for 
dear life.In the final analysis, what failed Robin was his greatest gift---his 
imagination. Clutching the horse he could no longer think of a single thing to 
do to change his life or make himself feel better, and he stepped off the edge 
of the saddle. Had the horse been trained, it might have reminded him that 
there is always something we can do. We can take a walk until the feeling 
passes. We can find someone else suffering and help them, taking the attention 
off our own. Or, finally, we can learn to muster our courage and simply sit 
still with what we are thinking are insoluble problems, becoming as intimate 
with them as we can, facing them until we get over our fear. They may even be 
insoluble, but that does not mean that there is nothing we can do.Our 
great-hearted friend will be back as the rain, as the cry of a Raven as the 
wind. He, you and I have never for one moment not been a part of all it. But we 
would be doing his life and memory a dis-service if we did not extract some 
wisdom from his choice, which, if we ponder deeply enough, will turn out to be 
his last gift. He would beg us to pay attention if he could