Some of you remember the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man – gangly fellow with enlarged lower arms who became one of the first super heroes upon eating a can of spinach often through his pipe. He even had his own song, which went something like this:
1
I'm Popeye the sailor man I'm Popeye the sailor man 2I'm Popeye the sailor man
I'm Popeye the sailor man I'm Popeye the sailor man I live in a garbage can
I'm strong to the finish I'm one tough gazookus I likes to go swimmin'
'Cause I eats me spinach Which hates all Palookas With bow legged women
I'm Popeye the sailor man. I'm Popeye the sailor man. I'm Popeye the sailor man.
Popeye was gaga over Olive Oil, his ditzy girl friend who could be sweet-talked into getting trouble by Bluto, a bad bruiser. Bluto and Popeye usually came to blows with Bluto initially overcoming Popeye until Popeye ate his spinach.
How could all of us be Popeye? What a strange identification! Few of us are sailors, fewer still gangly with enlarged lower arms, and fewer even still can eat a can of spinach through a pipe.
But it’s true. Popeye espoused “I am, what I am, what I am.” And so it is true for us. We just are. Doing neither necessarily good nor bad. Clearly, we have destructive and constructive behaviors, attitudes, and philosophies. The great masters advise us to seek knowledge and give up on grasping and attachment but we most often do just the opposite settling for easy answers and pushing our own agenda regardless.
But would that we could return to the child-like, uncluttered wholeness that exists within each of us, accept what is and
has always been present, take care of ourselves with simple enjoyment, and only intervene to change a situation in defense of others
and for the protection of their welfare. And where does spinach come in? Why it is the metaphor for meditation, reflection and contemplation.
More often than not, we seek our spinach only when we are in trouble. Well it works then. Why not use it more often? Hang in there Popeye.