It is good to bless each day when it comes,
unless we prefer no day to come.
It is good to bless our togetherness,
unless we wish to be alone on earth.
It is good to express our love,
unless we prefer to have no love.
It is good to share love
when we long for love -
for in giving we receive.
It is good to extend our care to others
when we desire togetherness -
then we comprehend ourselves as one.
It is good to welcome each day
- when we desire life,
- when we desire to grow,
- when we desire to prosper,
It is good to hold around us
- our love for those we treasure
- our togetherness with all people
- our union with all creation!
We know only who we are
In community with others.
Together we are whole -
Our consciousness is one.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wisdom in Flow and Ebb
Waves push you toward your goal and then pull back again. So you make movement forward and then seem to stop or even pull back before going on again. That's the way it is. It isn't always a straight forward, linear process. It may be so for a very short time, but not for the long term.
The important thing is to know where the big tide is and to ride it and trust it to take you where you want to go.
This is one thing I gained today from listening to David Cameron, author of "A Happy Pocket Full of Money" in an interview with Bob Doyle.
It's important not to become discouraged by seeming set backs but simply to take them into account in terms of the total picture. Ebbs in the flow may indicate we need a change of approach. They may indicate we simply need to take a pause before another surge of universal energy. They give us opportunities for reflection and self assessment in either case.
Ebbs in the flow also give us opportunity to appreciate our journey and to realize our journey and our presence here as part of a much larger picture.
Trees store up their energy and rest in winter to burst forth in renewed growth each spring. They never try to force things and try to grow when cold would damage new growth. Sometimes unexpected cold strikes anyway and then they simply start again. We can learn much from observing and feeling these patterns.
Unlike trees, we can take direct action rather than being simply responsive to seasons. We can make calculated initiatives even in the face of seeming adversity because we can become wise in how to use apparently adversity to advantage. Still, we can learn to sense the great universal currents and joyously ride the big waves when we tune ourselves to these great patterns.
We are unique in creation as all things are unique. Part of our uniqueness is our ability to learn from observation of and feeling for the universe and all things around us. We are wise when we use our propensity for action combined with a sense of natural rhythm imparted to us by the world around us and all our brother and sister creatures.
We're always fine if we just keep moving, espcially when we have fun moving.
The important thing is to know where the big tide is and to ride it and trust it to take you where you want to go.
This is one thing I gained today from listening to David Cameron, author of "A Happy Pocket Full of Money" in an interview with Bob Doyle.
It's important not to become discouraged by seeming set backs but simply to take them into account in terms of the total picture. Ebbs in the flow may indicate we need a change of approach. They may indicate we simply need to take a pause before another surge of universal energy. They give us opportunities for reflection and self assessment in either case.
Ebbs in the flow also give us opportunity to appreciate our journey and to realize our journey and our presence here as part of a much larger picture.
Trees store up their energy and rest in winter to burst forth in renewed growth each spring. They never try to force things and try to grow when cold would damage new growth. Sometimes unexpected cold strikes anyway and then they simply start again. We can learn much from observing and feeling these patterns.
Unlike trees, we can take direct action rather than being simply responsive to seasons. We can make calculated initiatives even in the face of seeming adversity because we can become wise in how to use apparently adversity to advantage. Still, we can learn to sense the great universal currents and joyously ride the big waves when we tune ourselves to these great patterns.
We are unique in creation as all things are unique. Part of our uniqueness is our ability to learn from observation of and feeling for the universe and all things around us. We are wise when we use our propensity for action combined with a sense of natural rhythm imparted to us by the world around us and all our brother and sister creatures.
We're always fine if we just keep moving, espcially when we have fun moving.
Trees Let Energy FLow
Trees attract energy when they are ready to grow. Sap flows within each tree and roots draw energy from the earth. Leaves then sprout and draw energy from the sun each day.
The tree devotes itself entirely to its treeness. It is fully committed to personal growth. It spends no time fretting over unworthiness or a previously misspent life.
Each tree is simply fully itself. No tree worries if another grows faster. The only point is to be fully itself and to fulfill its own being.
The tree's real beauty is its unbroken connection with universal being and energy. There is no break, no boundary to water and nutrients as they flow through deep roots and up the trunk to finally burst forth in flowers and leaves. It is all one through and through with earth and sky - so many beautiful manifestations reflecting changing temperature and season.
The tree does not think of itself as separate from God. The great energy bursting forth in Big Bang now flows through its veins toward bark leaf and flower. The tree knows of its connection with all things, reflected in its joining of earth and heaven.
The tree is as mindful as trees can be that it does not manifest itself, its leaves or its flowers. It is instead the conduit through which universal energy flows to manifest itself in treeness of all imaginable types.
Thinking of this I now comprehend that my difficulties and disappointments come from frustrated ego: "why can't I fulfill my dream right now?"
If I open myself fully to universal energy is there any limit to what beauty might manifest itself through me? All I need do is put ego aside and allow universal energy to flower through my life in whatever way it will, knowing that can be only good beyond my comprehension.
The tree devotes itself entirely to its treeness. It is fully committed to personal growth. It spends no time fretting over unworthiness or a previously misspent life.
Each tree is simply fully itself. No tree worries if another grows faster. The only point is to be fully itself and to fulfill its own being.
The tree's real beauty is its unbroken connection with universal being and energy. There is no break, no boundary to water and nutrients as they flow through deep roots and up the trunk to finally burst forth in flowers and leaves. It is all one through and through with earth and sky - so many beautiful manifestations reflecting changing temperature and season.
The tree does not think of itself as separate from God. The great energy bursting forth in Big Bang now flows through its veins toward bark leaf and flower. The tree knows of its connection with all things, reflected in its joining of earth and heaven.
The tree is as mindful as trees can be that it does not manifest itself, its leaves or its flowers. It is instead the conduit through which universal energy flows to manifest itself in treeness of all imaginable types.
Thinking of this I now comprehend that my difficulties and disappointments come from frustrated ego: "why can't I fulfill my dream right now?"
If I open myself fully to universal energy is there any limit to what beauty might manifest itself through me? All I need do is put ego aside and allow universal energy to flower through my life in whatever way it will, knowing that can be only good beyond my comprehension.
Monday, May 25, 2009
I Am Grateful
My message today is about gratitude, not just any gratitude, though that would be enough, but about my gratitude. I am grateful first of all on this Memorial Day for all those who served our country and the world so that we could all be free to feel gratitude for their service. The other things would make a list so long it would make you ungrateful to read it, so I will keep those things understood between us.
I am involved in three courses all designed to help me become more responsive to positive energy radiating around me - and indeed around us all - that will allow me to realize my potential once I attune myself fully with it. I realized this afternoon that negative energy can so easily pull my vibration down to a lower level than I would otherwise maintain. I realized also that keeping positive energy is my responsibility, it only makes things worse if I blame outside elements for any negative energy I take on. Of course many of you already understand this far more thoroughly than I, but perhaps it helps to keep reaffirming this point.
I was trying to struggle through all this, addressing the negative while not taking it on, when I suddenly felt the gratitude I hold for so much in my life, starting with my gratitude I feel for the dear one closest to me in all things. From there the list blossomed out into a quickly expanding one that would be far too long to ever complete here but which I will repeat in my heart every day.
As I begin to feel this list pour out from me I felt a higher energy come over me than I could have ever imagined otherwise. This wonderful sensation reminded me of all the wisdom I have heard and read recently concerning the restorative power of gratitude, some of it expressed by those of you reading this right now.
I am grateful for all of you dear friends who share this journey. I am grateful for all the wondrous opportunities opening before me to fulfill my life mission of helping others to fully realize their potential while fully realizing my own as well and enjoying all possible ways of expressing this dream with unlimited creative imagination. I am grateful for the feeling of being completely open and at one with universal energy as this new mission manifests itself around me and as I fully realize my true potential in becoming my full self. I am grateful for the location in which I live for its helping me to have perspective on the way opening before me, and I am grateful for all those who help to guide my way, not least of all my dear partner and my excellent guide dog both of whom are with me every step of the way.
I wish for you all this beautiful awareness of all these blessings that surround each of us in our own special and wonderful ways. We all walk a road of many blessings together and what can be more wonderful than this very thing so long as we each allow ourselves to feel it with every fiber of our being.
May you feel the road rise up always to meet you and may you sense the great universal wind ever at your back!
I am involved in three courses all designed to help me become more responsive to positive energy radiating around me - and indeed around us all - that will allow me to realize my potential once I attune myself fully with it. I realized this afternoon that negative energy can so easily pull my vibration down to a lower level than I would otherwise maintain. I realized also that keeping positive energy is my responsibility, it only makes things worse if I blame outside elements for any negative energy I take on. Of course many of you already understand this far more thoroughly than I, but perhaps it helps to keep reaffirming this point.
I was trying to struggle through all this, addressing the negative while not taking it on, when I suddenly felt the gratitude I hold for so much in my life, starting with my gratitude I feel for the dear one closest to me in all things. From there the list blossomed out into a quickly expanding one that would be far too long to ever complete here but which I will repeat in my heart every day.
As I begin to feel this list pour out from me I felt a higher energy come over me than I could have ever imagined otherwise. This wonderful sensation reminded me of all the wisdom I have heard and read recently concerning the restorative power of gratitude, some of it expressed by those of you reading this right now.
I am grateful for all of you dear friends who share this journey. I am grateful for all the wondrous opportunities opening before me to fulfill my life mission of helping others to fully realize their potential while fully realizing my own as well and enjoying all possible ways of expressing this dream with unlimited creative imagination. I am grateful for the feeling of being completely open and at one with universal energy as this new mission manifests itself around me and as I fully realize my true potential in becoming my full self. I am grateful for the location in which I live for its helping me to have perspective on the way opening before me, and I am grateful for all those who help to guide my way, not least of all my dear partner and my excellent guide dog both of whom are with me every step of the way.
I wish for you all this beautiful awareness of all these blessings that surround each of us in our own special and wonderful ways. We all walk a road of many blessings together and what can be more wonderful than this very thing so long as we each allow ourselves to feel it with every fiber of our being.
May you feel the road rise up always to meet you and may you sense the great universal wind ever at your back!
Monday, May 18, 2009
WIsdom from Mother Maya
The author of the following quotations is a remarkable woman. Mother Maya was formerly a highly successful New York fashion designer who became a renowned spiritual healer and teacher following cancer survival at age twenty-three. Her pen name is Maya Tiwari. She is now more properly Her Holiness Sri Swamini Mayatitananda.
These quotations are from an article by Catherine Elliott Escobedo that appeared in the Winter issue of Shift Magazine, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences. www.shiftinaction.com.
"There's only one thing we can control in the human life, and that one thing is not our mind. It's not a thought, it's not our breath, it's not our responses, it's not our actions. It is the cultivation of personal awareness, the moment to moment awareness of who we are - in charge of our life, in charge of our purpose, in charge of our path."
"In recognizing our ultimate connection to the Divine, we also recognize the ancient truths that we must live by, as well as the unique role each of us is destined to fulfill."
"When we are in touch with the divinity within us we become free. We have a sense of freedom in expression, of lightness within, freedom of not being compelled to live the goal-oriented stress-driven lives that we all contribute to. Health begins to become more center-poised, and we are then quickly able to separate what serves us from that which does not. The main thing in life is no longer the accomplishment of specific goals at any cost."
"One of the things that women in particular endure today is a total inundation of stress, even with the holistic work they are doing. Everything seems to get fit into an already overdriven life."
"Times of illness force us to stop in our tracks and begin to see the most important things in our lives. No matter what challenges or conflicts we are facing, what dreams we are giving up or goals we are not accomplishing - or accomplishing way too much of - it boils down to the simple understanding that 'I do not want to hurt.' It is the compelling understanding we must face so that we can begin to reconcile what we have to do and begin to live in a very different realm of reality - a more heightened form of awareness. And if we can capture that understanding, we can reconcile our journey out of life or back to life."
Talking about her healing: "We are guiding folks to heal themselves with their own energy. I do not see myself as a healer or those I train as healers. We help guide people to shift their understanding, their awareness. The premise of Inner Medicine is that no doctor, medicine or external activity can heal for us, although they can contribute to our healing once we are aware of the choices we make. We need continually to ask this most fundamental question: Will this choice work for me? Is it part of the destiny or path I am to travel in accomplishment of my life's purpose."
Her system of healing is called: Ayurveda - "Knowledge of life and longevity. a system of holistic medicine developed over 7,000 years ago by the rishis, India's great physicians, physicists and theologians, authors of the Vedas. They have "given us this tome of understanding of the cosmic anatomy behind the physiological and psychological anatomy of the human person."
Ayurveda focuses on the following core principles:
> Wholeness: Realizing the true self to be one with nature.
> Simplicity: Practicing humility through surrender to nature's intelligence.
> Harmony: Connecting to harmony within and without.
> Memory: Restoring cosmic, cognitive, and ancestral memories.
> Rhythm: Honoring nature's nourishment in food, breath and sound.
> Sacred Practice: Aligning every activity in accord with nature's rhythms.
> Consciousness: Cultivating inner awareness.
"Each of us has an immutable spirit that can transcend every challenge - once we learn to invoke our pure spirit and human awareness."
For healing: "Begin to take pause from everything that you know, everything that has become your daily operation. Start by taking an hour a day, start by taking one day a week off, start by taking a weekend away from your norm."
"It's vital that we remain aware of our true and highest purpose by periodically asking ourselves the difficult questions: What has led to my unhappiness, and which dreams are not being realized? Do these dreams come from the desire to fulfill a worldly goal, or are they coming from a longing to accomplish the path and purpose of who I really am?"
"There is a significant difference between doing what we feel obligated to do and doing what our inner self is truly calling us to do. And that clarity comes from awareness."
"Good health is not our greatest purpose in life - the greatest purpose in life is to experience complete awareness."
The purpose of inner medicine is: " to help us understand that we have the greatest medicine within our body, within our mind, within our constitution. Once we can learn to harness it, we can remain within the flow of health and healing."
"Healing is a reality that is happening in every moment of our lives if we are aware of it. It is the ongoing flow of life - we heal at all times. We heal at birth. We heal into life. We heal into death - and ultimately into pure consciousness."
"I don't see healing as extraordinary. I see misery as extraordinary. I see dying unfulfilled as extraordinary. I see the onslaughts and violence of our communities as extraordinary. But I do not see healing or the quantum leaps that the spirit can make as extraordinary at all. It's quite the norm for us as humans."
Like Mother Maya I would from this point live a life true to my spirit - and this I encourage us all to do.
Mother Maya founded an Ayurveda school in the United States, located in Ashville NC. She will be present for a conference at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in Petaluma CA in September 2009.
For more information on the Institute of Noetic Sciences please visit:
http://noetic.org
These quotations are from an article by Catherine Elliott Escobedo that appeared in the Winter issue of Shift Magazine, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences. www.shiftinaction.com.
"There's only one thing we can control in the human life, and that one thing is not our mind. It's not a thought, it's not our breath, it's not our responses, it's not our actions. It is the cultivation of personal awareness, the moment to moment awareness of who we are - in charge of our life, in charge of our purpose, in charge of our path."
"In recognizing our ultimate connection to the Divine, we also recognize the ancient truths that we must live by, as well as the unique role each of us is destined to fulfill."
"When we are in touch with the divinity within us we become free. We have a sense of freedom in expression, of lightness within, freedom of not being compelled to live the goal-oriented stress-driven lives that we all contribute to. Health begins to become more center-poised, and we are then quickly able to separate what serves us from that which does not. The main thing in life is no longer the accomplishment of specific goals at any cost."
"One of the things that women in particular endure today is a total inundation of stress, even with the holistic work they are doing. Everything seems to get fit into an already overdriven life."
"Times of illness force us to stop in our tracks and begin to see the most important things in our lives. No matter what challenges or conflicts we are facing, what dreams we are giving up or goals we are not accomplishing - or accomplishing way too much of - it boils down to the simple understanding that 'I do not want to hurt.' It is the compelling understanding we must face so that we can begin to reconcile what we have to do and begin to live in a very different realm of reality - a more heightened form of awareness. And if we can capture that understanding, we can reconcile our journey out of life or back to life."
Talking about her healing: "We are guiding folks to heal themselves with their own energy. I do not see myself as a healer or those I train as healers. We help guide people to shift their understanding, their awareness. The premise of Inner Medicine is that no doctor, medicine or external activity can heal for us, although they can contribute to our healing once we are aware of the choices we make. We need continually to ask this most fundamental question: Will this choice work for me? Is it part of the destiny or path I am to travel in accomplishment of my life's purpose."
Her system of healing is called: Ayurveda - "Knowledge of life and longevity. a system of holistic medicine developed over 7,000 years ago by the rishis, India's great physicians, physicists and theologians, authors of the Vedas. They have "given us this tome of understanding of the cosmic anatomy behind the physiological and psychological anatomy of the human person."
Ayurveda focuses on the following core principles:
> Wholeness: Realizing the true self to be one with nature.
> Simplicity: Practicing humility through surrender to nature's intelligence.
> Harmony: Connecting to harmony within and without.
> Memory: Restoring cosmic, cognitive, and ancestral memories.
> Rhythm: Honoring nature's nourishment in food, breath and sound.
> Sacred Practice: Aligning every activity in accord with nature's rhythms.
> Consciousness: Cultivating inner awareness.
"Each of us has an immutable spirit that can transcend every challenge - once we learn to invoke our pure spirit and human awareness."
For healing: "Begin to take pause from everything that you know, everything that has become your daily operation. Start by taking an hour a day, start by taking one day a week off, start by taking a weekend away from your norm."
"It's vital that we remain aware of our true and highest purpose by periodically asking ourselves the difficult questions: What has led to my unhappiness, and which dreams are not being realized? Do these dreams come from the desire to fulfill a worldly goal, or are they coming from a longing to accomplish the path and purpose of who I really am?"
"There is a significant difference between doing what we feel obligated to do and doing what our inner self is truly calling us to do. And that clarity comes from awareness."
"Good health is not our greatest purpose in life - the greatest purpose in life is to experience complete awareness."
The purpose of inner medicine is: " to help us understand that we have the greatest medicine within our body, within our mind, within our constitution. Once we can learn to harness it, we can remain within the flow of health and healing."
"Healing is a reality that is happening in every moment of our lives if we are aware of it. It is the ongoing flow of life - we heal at all times. We heal at birth. We heal into life. We heal into death - and ultimately into pure consciousness."
"I don't see healing as extraordinary. I see misery as extraordinary. I see dying unfulfilled as extraordinary. I see the onslaughts and violence of our communities as extraordinary. But I do not see healing or the quantum leaps that the spirit can make as extraordinary at all. It's quite the norm for us as humans."
Like Mother Maya I would from this point live a life true to my spirit - and this I encourage us all to do.
Mother Maya founded an Ayurveda school in the United States, located in Ashville NC. She will be present for a conference at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in Petaluma CA in September 2009.
For more information on the Institute of Noetic Sciences please visit:
http://noetic.org
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Manifestations
I make no claim for originality or profound wisdom in what I write here. Still, I offer these thoughts in hopes that others may share these perceptions, that still others may use my thoughts to go deeper, and that still others will take issue with all I say here if they so choose. My thoughts will go from puppies to tulips and then to human beings, hopefully weaving a thread of meaning for all. I can only tell you with certainty that my journey into self-awareness continues, and I hope yours does as well. The following writing recounts some of my journey.
Our neighbor’s six month old puppy, Koda, is spending several days with us and providing much joy and sometimes less than delightful trouble. This morning I watched our dog, Reggie, and Koda play together in our living and dining area. They had already spent a good time running and playing outside, but apparently that was not enough for these two. Reggie had a big squeaky toy in his mouth and was aging Koda on to chase him and try to get it away from him. Reggie seemingly had no concept of allowing Koda to win occasionally, however, and the usually imperturbable Koda soon gave up the attempt.
Later, they were once again chasing with Koda now taking the lead, possessing yet another toy, and with Reggie in hot pursuit – flying up and down stairs and from room to room at top speed. Some undeniable shift in balance had taken place within the intervening minutes.
Now I weave another incident into this story. Before going out to dinner together last night, my partne, Ruth and I marveled at the beauty of gold, white and flaming red tulips in the common garden for our nine member condominium community. Ruth planted these with loving care a year ago and was now especially enjoying both their beautiful blooming and their tenacity in surviving the occasional cold weather and snow during late April and early May.
We arrived home from the restaurant to find every tulip trampled and broken. Our dogs were indoors, so they were not the culprits. Besides, they had always been careful to avoid these flowers. I asked a neighbor who was sunning herself on her patio whether she had noticed a disturbance, and she said: “Well, there was a kid here not too long ago!”
I felt anger well up in me at her apparent unconcern for the flowers and for her ease at suggesting the child might automatically be held responsible. I wondered why she had taken no effort to control the situation if she had noticed any disturbance. Perhaps it all happened in utter silence without her notice. This would have been surprising considering the devastation that greeted our return.
I realized quickly though that I had to get beyond this state of mind. Both Ruth and I knew full well that our neighbor was resentful of community spending for flowers and therefore cared nothing for the tulips at all. I also found it impossible to hold anger against a child. Breaking down tulips might be a joyous experience for any boy on a bike, and if I did think about a neighborhood kid riding through on a bicycle and crushing the tulips I would have to view the situation with compassion.
We live in the midst of poverty here and the children living around us have little concept of being cared for and loved judging from what I hear and feel from the surrounding environment. Crushing flowers would only reflect a local child’s sense of being so crushed by parents, older siblings and the environment in general.
“Beauty is ephemeral!” we both thought. But then I thought, “no, it’s not!” Beauty is eternal so long as there is consciousness of beauty, only particular manifestations are ephemeral – and this is true of all manifestations whether or not we call them beautiful. All manifestations shift and endure here only for an interval: no manifestation is eternal. Beauty is a quality we sense permeating all we call beauti-ful. The quality exists independently of all its perceived manifestations.
This brings me back to the two dogs playing. They are so particularly beautiful as they are now. No other two dogs could be as they were on this particular day. They will remain wonderful in my memory and in the consciousness of all those who love them for as long as any of us are here to maintain that particular awareness. Still, they will never be exactly like this again, not even tomorrow. Tomorrow they will be new beings in a sense, new manifestations of their inimitable selves. The same is true for you and for me.
Reggie and Koda will continue to mature and age. One day they will no longer want to play together. Such lively movements as they displayed today may no longer be possible for them in even a few short years. They will manifest themselves differently every day of their lives, in fact every moment of their lives, as long as they appear on this plane.
I know also that the likelihood of my continuing to manifest myself in anything like my present form becomes increasingly less likely as my years go by. This is not morbidity, it is simply a fact. From where I am now, my presence here in this form has a much higher possibility of ending before theirs than it would have had even a year or so ago.
We must appreciate each other here while we can, simply for the joy of sharing being in this form. No matter what we are otherwise, this form and our togetherness in this way is not present forever. Carry me in memory if I go from you first and I will carry you in turn and await you wherever we go from here, though I know not how or in what form that will be! Love surrounds us, embraces us – eventually subsumes us from this particular form of contrary nature once again into itself.
We view ourselves here as a continuum: we are not so, not in this form. In this form we are ever new. We are ever momentary projections of a way we choose to manifest within this plane of life. You are different from moment to moment as am I. Your moods and thus your entire self can change in a flash, and this is true for me as well.
The same is true for every being we encounter here. We find our real continuity only when we touch and become aware of ourselves as we are beyond this plane – ourselves who observe us here and participate from there through our experiences, learning and also teaching our physical selves as they commune with us on this plane.
We are not bound to what we are here. We are not bound to our attitudes, our reactions, our thoughts, our whims, our feelings or anything else at all. We do not have to be hateful, we do not have to be loving. We do, however, have to choose what we are – how we manifest – in any moment, and that choice we can always change again. Not knowing ourselves beyond projection, we often do manifest differently and in contradiction, sometimes from one moment to the next. Not knowing the center we are often unaware of the significance of our choices and this often brings sorrow in the end.
We must therefore seek constancy in our true selves as our ultimate awareness comes only from the true selves within us. These true selves see beyond temporary concern for our manifested world and our myriad feelings that so often collide within us as we play our parts here without a centered view of who we are beyond each momentary role.
I often played alone as a child. I would imagine myself a soldier fighting an overpowering enemy, facing down opposing forces on all sides. Quickly though I could change the game and become a detective, taking no more than an instant to alter the entire scene. Friends and I could also do this, though negotiation for roles usually took longer than an instant, becoming thereby perhaps an even more significant lesson for how we adjust roles in adult life.
All this is reminiscent of the book “The Games People Play,” but here I am considering purely our games as demonstrating our actual shifting projection of self in everyday interaction. We fool ourselves if we think the physical self who acts or feels one way is the same as the self that acts or feels another way. Our continuing selves are behind our momentary feelings and actions and an inner voice will always try to inform our physical selves as to whether or not our present feelings and actions remain attuned to our true selves.
Even for a lengthy portion of adult life I felt as though I were only playing a role here and that I could not find my real self. My occupation as a singer – a performer – helped to enhance that feeling. I have since sought my true self behind the projection I had manufactured for myself both to block myself from the pain of childhood and to provide myself with a sense of worth. Gradually I have found myself over time. I cannot say that it came in one moment of sudden revelation, nor can I say that the connection is yet complete. I can say though that my seeming failures have provided me with more insight than any supposed success. I am at least sufficiently in touch with my real self to know now that what I experience here as self and world is in no way the main show.
To quiet the mind, to meditate, to center oneself is to re-establish communion with our true self who remains in communion with the heart of being itself.
Love is the heart of all being, for love promotes all things and destroys nothing. Within love all things grow and develop and nothing can pass away without becoming yet another manifestation of being. We know this at our core when in touch with our true selves. We often forget it in the games we play. Let us not now forget once again to remember!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Reggie Ethics
Reggie Ethics
I am considering a reworking of my theories of why we are here. Previously I considered physical life to be a school where we come to learn so as to become enlightened. Recently I came to know that we are enlightened already; we just don't remember that we are. In other words, we forget why we are here and what we wanted to do here. Very simply, the reason we are here is to experience the dynamics of awareness on this plane.
You may ask how this relates to my dog guide Reggie? Well, Reggie is not so different from us in essence, and like us he already knows everything. He is universal awareness experiencing the dynamics of existence as a dog - particularly as a working dog in an American home with two reasonably functional humans.
Reggie seems to know exactly why he is here: He's here to eat. Eating is his chief goal in everything. Reggie lives for the next meal, and he gulps it down with gusto when it comes. Extend this pattern to its most universal application and we might say Reggie lives for self-preservation and self-gratification, in that order. Reggie seeks what preserves him, namely food. Now, after that he is also gratified by loving care and shelter, and you might be tempted to say these are actually more important. Well, they are not the things Reggie has on his mind most hours of the day, though I feel sure he would find life harder without them.
Reggie is centered on food because without food he would be extremely miserable. Perhaps he never considers death, but he knows he needs food for survival. He is sensitive to the gnawing discomfort of an empty stomach, and, believe me, he wants to avoid that feeling at all costs. Unlike most humans in developed countries, he does not eat for the pleasure of taste or the joy of companionship around a meal. He would fight for his food if pressed and he eats whatever appears.
So, what is Reggie's ethic? His ethic is self-preservation. Instructors at Guide Dogs for the Blind were the first to point this out to me. They say quite strongly that when a guide dog makes an emergency stop or scoot to avoid danger it isn't to protect the handler but to protect self. Reggie will refuse to step out into moving traffic as if saying: "I'm not stupid enough to go out there! You go by yourself if you want to go there!"
Reggie's chief way of proving this self-preservation ethic is that even on harness he is immediately behind my legs if we approach a cat. He will gladly face down any dog without losing his cool, but he immediately seeks protection from any cat that doesn't run.
How does our ethic compare to Reggie's? Well, I wonder! Is our ethic different from Reggie's or have we simply done a better job of forgetting than Reggie has? I'm asking this question only to those of us humans in an economically prosperous western world: I would never ask it of someone living where food is scarce. Do you get my point already?
Look for instance at the things that seem to capture our interest. Of course we are interested in food, but most of us in prosperous countries have no consciousness of what it is like to be really hungry. Our stomachs will complain if we find ourselves late for a meal, but that is nothing like the gnawing anguish and physical wastage of real hunger. Avoiding hunger is no longer our major concern when we believe food to be abundant. Our chief concerns regarding food are taste, abundance and sociability: Accessibility is almost never an issue to us.
So, the real question is: In a world of plenty, is self-preservation replaced by self-gratification as our prime concern? Admittedly, self-preservation may immediately spring back into first place when we sense a real threat to physical life: but threat to physical life may generally seem less compelling to us amidst plenty and security.
We have made books like "The Secret" into best sellers, together with their attendant films, and we flock to self-help groups devoted to engendering personal prosperity. "Find this secret," or "Follow this technique," they all say, "and gain all the wealth you can imagine!" All you have to do is believe and wealth will be attracted to you like a magnet - or - you follow these specific steps and inevitably wealth will be in your hands.
Our ethic, then, seems to be the reverse of Reggie's. We seem motivated first of all by self-gratification and secondly by self-preservation. After all, which of the two is most consistently on our minds? We no longer eat primarily for survival: we eat for pleasure. We also enrich our diets for a sense of increased youthfulness and vitality - improved self-image. We want to live longer and have more pleasure. We live for gratification.
There is one thing in common between Reggie's dog ethic and our human ethic in a prosperous world however: both represent an ethic of self-interest. Reggie is not concerned about the welfare of other dogs, to the best of my knowledge. We, on the other hand, allow ourselves awareness of the needs of others to the extent that it fosters our sense of relative fortune. After all, we have so much, we can afford to give some away without missing it - and that is exactly how much we give, individually and as a society. Most of us give to the extent that our sense of generosity enhances our sense of self-gratification and no more.
So, what do we really know that we have forgotten? I suggest that most of us have forgotten the reality that we are all one: we have forgotten that the needs of those in deprivation are really the needs of us all. We have forgotten that well-being is only an illusion if not experienced by all. Reggie experiences his dog life as part of universal consciousness's continued exploration of what it means to be physical in all forms. His concern hardly extends beyond himself and his pack. We also have self and family concern, but our concern is tempered by an added store of forgotten understanding that we as humans must remember if we are to comprehend why we are here.
That forgotten understanding, an understanding denied by those promoting self-gratification above all else, is that we are all one and that the hardship of one affects us all. The value of this knowledge lies in understanding that helping others or preserving our shared environment leads not to shared deprivation, as some insist, but rather to real and sustainable prosperity and plenty for all. The secret then is not so much that all wealth will be drawn to us if we only believe, but that plenty will multiply like loaves and fishes when shared from generous hearts.
A related article of interest:
An article by Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks "Can We Learn from the Law Suit Against Rhonda Byrn and The Secret" - posted May 7, 2009 in The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathlyn-and-gay-hendricks/what-can-we-learn-from-th_b_198995.html
I am considering a reworking of my theories of why we are here. Previously I considered physical life to be a school where we come to learn so as to become enlightened. Recently I came to know that we are enlightened already; we just don't remember that we are. In other words, we forget why we are here and what we wanted to do here. Very simply, the reason we are here is to experience the dynamics of awareness on this plane.
You may ask how this relates to my dog guide Reggie? Well, Reggie is not so different from us in essence, and like us he already knows everything. He is universal awareness experiencing the dynamics of existence as a dog - particularly as a working dog in an American home with two reasonably functional humans.
Reggie seems to know exactly why he is here: He's here to eat. Eating is his chief goal in everything. Reggie lives for the next meal, and he gulps it down with gusto when it comes. Extend this pattern to its most universal application and we might say Reggie lives for self-preservation and self-gratification, in that order. Reggie seeks what preserves him, namely food. Now, after that he is also gratified by loving care and shelter, and you might be tempted to say these are actually more important. Well, they are not the things Reggie has on his mind most hours of the day, though I feel sure he would find life harder without them.
Reggie is centered on food because without food he would be extremely miserable. Perhaps he never considers death, but he knows he needs food for survival. He is sensitive to the gnawing discomfort of an empty stomach, and, believe me, he wants to avoid that feeling at all costs. Unlike most humans in developed countries, he does not eat for the pleasure of taste or the joy of companionship around a meal. He would fight for his food if pressed and he eats whatever appears.
So, what is Reggie's ethic? His ethic is self-preservation. Instructors at Guide Dogs for the Blind were the first to point this out to me. They say quite strongly that when a guide dog makes an emergency stop or scoot to avoid danger it isn't to protect the handler but to protect self. Reggie will refuse to step out into moving traffic as if saying: "I'm not stupid enough to go out there! You go by yourself if you want to go there!"
Reggie's chief way of proving this self-preservation ethic is that even on harness he is immediately behind my legs if we approach a cat. He will gladly face down any dog without losing his cool, but he immediately seeks protection from any cat that doesn't run.
How does our ethic compare to Reggie's? Well, I wonder! Is our ethic different from Reggie's or have we simply done a better job of forgetting than Reggie has? I'm asking this question only to those of us humans in an economically prosperous western world: I would never ask it of someone living where food is scarce. Do you get my point already?
Look for instance at the things that seem to capture our interest. Of course we are interested in food, but most of us in prosperous countries have no consciousness of what it is like to be really hungry. Our stomachs will complain if we find ourselves late for a meal, but that is nothing like the gnawing anguish and physical wastage of real hunger. Avoiding hunger is no longer our major concern when we believe food to be abundant. Our chief concerns regarding food are taste, abundance and sociability: Accessibility is almost never an issue to us.
So, the real question is: In a world of plenty, is self-preservation replaced by self-gratification as our prime concern? Admittedly, self-preservation may immediately spring back into first place when we sense a real threat to physical life: but threat to physical life may generally seem less compelling to us amidst plenty and security.
We have made books like "The Secret" into best sellers, together with their attendant films, and we flock to self-help groups devoted to engendering personal prosperity. "Find this secret," or "Follow this technique," they all say, "and gain all the wealth you can imagine!" All you have to do is believe and wealth will be attracted to you like a magnet - or - you follow these specific steps and inevitably wealth will be in your hands.
Our ethic, then, seems to be the reverse of Reggie's. We seem motivated first of all by self-gratification and secondly by self-preservation. After all, which of the two is most consistently on our minds? We no longer eat primarily for survival: we eat for pleasure. We also enrich our diets for a sense of increased youthfulness and vitality - improved self-image. We want to live longer and have more pleasure. We live for gratification.
There is one thing in common between Reggie's dog ethic and our human ethic in a prosperous world however: both represent an ethic of self-interest. Reggie is not concerned about the welfare of other dogs, to the best of my knowledge. We, on the other hand, allow ourselves awareness of the needs of others to the extent that it fosters our sense of relative fortune. After all, we have so much, we can afford to give some away without missing it - and that is exactly how much we give, individually and as a society. Most of us give to the extent that our sense of generosity enhances our sense of self-gratification and no more.
So, what do we really know that we have forgotten? I suggest that most of us have forgotten the reality that we are all one: we have forgotten that the needs of those in deprivation are really the needs of us all. We have forgotten that well-being is only an illusion if not experienced by all. Reggie experiences his dog life as part of universal consciousness's continued exploration of what it means to be physical in all forms. His concern hardly extends beyond himself and his pack. We also have self and family concern, but our concern is tempered by an added store of forgotten understanding that we as humans must remember if we are to comprehend why we are here.
That forgotten understanding, an understanding denied by those promoting self-gratification above all else, is that we are all one and that the hardship of one affects us all. The value of this knowledge lies in understanding that helping others or preserving our shared environment leads not to shared deprivation, as some insist, but rather to real and sustainable prosperity and plenty for all. The secret then is not so much that all wealth will be drawn to us if we only believe, but that plenty will multiply like loaves and fishes when shared from generous hearts.
A related article of interest:
An article by Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks "Can We Learn from the Law Suit Against Rhonda Byrn and The Secret" - posted May 7, 2009 in The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathlyn-and-gay-hendricks/what-can-we-learn-from-th_b_198995.html
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