Monday, September 29, 2008
Transcending Consensual Reality 2
As I indicated earlier, at the subatomic level, matter fails to exist with any certainty in specific places, but instead shows only a tendency to exist. Nor do atomic events occur with certainty at specific times and in specific ways, but rather display only a tendency to occur. These tendencies express themselves as probabilities and are referred to by physicists as probability waves. Because the construct of our experience is based on the subatomic realm, we must ask ourselves the question, "What is the true nature of our reality?"
Probabilities adhere to deterministic laws in the same way that macroscopic events adhere to deterministic laws. But the concept of predestination as it is normally thought of is erroneous. On the negative side, there are many events that will probably occur ... if nothing is done to change the course leading up to their manifestation. Conversely, there are many positive events that could occur if you create the space for them to birth.
The point of the story of Jonah in Christian writings is that the city of Nineveh would be destroyed if Jonah did not go warn the citizens about the consequences of their behavior. Action needed to be taken to change what was, at that time, the city's probable future (destruction) based on the conduct of its inhabitants. The city's destruction was not predetermined or set in stone.
Probability changes the way we look at the universe. Events may occur. But they are not fixed and the future can be changed.
This represents a different world view than the one usually reflected in consensual reality. Consensual reality generally reflects an acceptance of what is. Probability thinking recognizes what can be. The differences are listed below.
Consensual Thinking - We live in a closed universe
Probability Thinking - We live in an open universe.
Consensual Thinking - Events are fixed. The future is unalterable.
Probability Thinking - Events are fluid. The future is changeable.
Consensual Thinking - I must stay within my boundaries.
Probability Thinking - The boundaries are mine to take down.
Consensual Thinking - Vision doesn't matter.
Probability Thinking - Vision is paramount.
Consensual Thinking - Nothing will change.
Probability Thinking - Anything can change.
Consensual Thinking - What I think isn't important.
Probability Thinking - My thinking helps create my reality.
Consensual Thinking - I have no power. God controls everything.
Probability Thinking - I am a co-creator with God.
Consensual Thinking - The universe is static.
Probability Thinking - The universe is constantly evolving.
Consensual Thinking - We are alone.
Probability Thinking - The universe is teeming with intelligent lifeforms.
Consensual Thinking - I might change but nothing else will.
Probability Thinking - Everything in the universe is connected. When I change, I change my environment.
Probabilities adhere to deterministic laws in the same way that macroscopic events adhere to deterministic laws. But the concept of predestination as it is normally thought of is erroneous. On the negative side, there are many events that will probably occur ... if nothing is done to change the course leading up to their manifestation. Conversely, there are many positive events that could occur if you create the space for them to birth.
The point of the story of Jonah in Christian writings is that the city of Nineveh would be destroyed if Jonah did not go warn the citizens about the consequences of their behavior. Action needed to be taken to change what was, at that time, the city's probable future (destruction) based on the conduct of its inhabitants. The city's destruction was not predetermined or set in stone.
Probability changes the way we look at the universe. Events may occur. But they are not fixed and the future can be changed.
This represents a different world view than the one usually reflected in consensual reality. Consensual reality generally reflects an acceptance of what is. Probability thinking recognizes what can be. The differences are listed below.
Consensual Thinking - We live in a closed universe
Probability Thinking - We live in an open universe.
Consensual Thinking - Events are fixed. The future is unalterable.
Probability Thinking - Events are fluid. The future is changeable.
Consensual Thinking - I must stay within my boundaries.
Probability Thinking - The boundaries are mine to take down.
Consensual Thinking - Vision doesn't matter.
Probability Thinking - Vision is paramount.
Consensual Thinking - Nothing will change.
Probability Thinking - Anything can change.
Consensual Thinking - What I think isn't important.
Probability Thinking - My thinking helps create my reality.
Consensual Thinking - I have no power. God controls everything.
Probability Thinking - I am a co-creator with God.
Consensual Thinking - The universe is static.
Probability Thinking - The universe is constantly evolving.
Consensual Thinking - We are alone.
Probability Thinking - The universe is teeming with intelligent lifeforms.
Consensual Thinking - I might change but nothing else will.
Probability Thinking - Everything in the universe is connected. When I change, I change my environment.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Transcending Consensual Reality (1)
One of the most striking discoveries of quantum physics is that, at the subatomic level, matter fails to exist with any certainty in specific places, but instead shows only a “tendency” to exist. Nor do atomic events occur with certainty at specific times and in specific ways, but rather display only a tendency to occur. In fact, there is compelling evidence suggesting that subatomic particles – the basic building blocks of our world – manifest only when we are looking at them.
This raises the interesting proposition that subatomic particles do not possess a separate, distinct reality until consciousness calls them into existence. Physicist Robert Jahn has gone so far as to say, “I think we have long since passed the place in high energy physics where we’re examining the structure of a passive universe. I think we’re into the domain where the interplay of consciousness in the environment is taking place on such a primary scale that we are indeed creating reality by any reasonable definition of the term.” [1]
Other physicists have joined Jahn in this position and now believe that they and their peers are not discovering particles, but may be creating them instead. A case in point is the recently discovered particle called the anomalon, which possesses properties that vary from laboratory to laboratory. Picture a house that changes size, color and layout depending on who is living in it.
If the apparently plasticity of the anomalon is caused by the shifting expectations of the scientists who are observing (read creating) them, then why do some particles – like electrons – seem to have a constant reality regardless of who observes them? Perhaps because how we view the world is not based solely on the information we receive through our five senses. We may connect to or be affected by many different sources of information. The mind can be imaged by the soul, impressed by the magnetic pull of the thought stream that surrounds our planet, dominated by thought forms that it itself generates or even influenced by other non-physical beings.
More to the point, humans have the well-documented ability to tap into the senses of others. We live in an integrated universe and our interconnections with other human beings manifest even when we are not consciously aware of them. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that when an individual in one room receives an electric shock, it registers in the polygraph readings of a person who is in a separate room. Lights flashed in one person’s eyes will alter the EEG readings of a test subject who is in another isolated room.
It’s quite possible that several scientists trying to “find” the properties of a particular subatomic particle instead create the very reality that they are looking for. And, further, over time other scientists who build on those “findings” add substance to the original idea. Line upon line, precept upon precept the new reality is constructed. Eventually, agreement is reached on what the scientists believe are the composite properties of the particle and the expectation is that there is nothing else to learn. The creation is finished. From that point, consensual reality becomes firmly entrenched with all scientists agreeing on the final nature of that particular particle. They have, in essence, manufactured the particle from their own collective consciousness.
Herakleitos was correct – you cannot step into the same river twice. Although it is still your life (river), the water (your reality) is constantly being turned over instant by instant. In each moment you contribute to the construct of your reality. And through your contribution you affect the lives of others. That is why you must guard your heart carefully. The uni-verse is one. You cannot make a decision that does not ripple outward and touch others.
Consciousness is primary. It is an attribute of Spirit. If you let it, it will reflect onto your soul. While Spirit “knows, soul “intuits” and mind “thinks”. Let the knowingness of your Spirit reflect onto your soul. Then listen to its quiet intuition as it guides you in your decisions. Else, when faced with points of alignment in your life, you may make a poor decision, step onto the wrong path and create a reality that is less than you could have had.
If the aspects of your being are aligned, Spirit reflects downward onto soul, mind, emotions and body and projects outward into your surrounding environment. With practice and persistence, you can learn to alter consensual reality in your life and your circle of influence. You then become a co-creator with the universe.
[1] This information was communicated in a private discussion between Michael Talbot, author of the Holographic Universe and Robert Jahn, December 16, 1988.
This raises the interesting proposition that subatomic particles do not possess a separate, distinct reality until consciousness calls them into existence. Physicist Robert Jahn has gone so far as to say, “I think we have long since passed the place in high energy physics where we’re examining the structure of a passive universe. I think we’re into the domain where the interplay of consciousness in the environment is taking place on such a primary scale that we are indeed creating reality by any reasonable definition of the term.” [1]
Other physicists have joined Jahn in this position and now believe that they and their peers are not discovering particles, but may be creating them instead. A case in point is the recently discovered particle called the anomalon, which possesses properties that vary from laboratory to laboratory. Picture a house that changes size, color and layout depending on who is living in it.
If the apparently plasticity of the anomalon is caused by the shifting expectations of the scientists who are observing (read creating) them, then why do some particles – like electrons – seem to have a constant reality regardless of who observes them? Perhaps because how we view the world is not based solely on the information we receive through our five senses. We may connect to or be affected by many different sources of information. The mind can be imaged by the soul, impressed by the magnetic pull of the thought stream that surrounds our planet, dominated by thought forms that it itself generates or even influenced by other non-physical beings.
More to the point, humans have the well-documented ability to tap into the senses of others. We live in an integrated universe and our interconnections with other human beings manifest even when we are not consciously aware of them. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that when an individual in one room receives an electric shock, it registers in the polygraph readings of a person who is in a separate room. Lights flashed in one person’s eyes will alter the EEG readings of a test subject who is in another isolated room.
It’s quite possible that several scientists trying to “find” the properties of a particular subatomic particle instead create the very reality that they are looking for. And, further, over time other scientists who build on those “findings” add substance to the original idea. Line upon line, precept upon precept the new reality is constructed. Eventually, agreement is reached on what the scientists believe are the composite properties of the particle and the expectation is that there is nothing else to learn. The creation is finished. From that point, consensual reality becomes firmly entrenched with all scientists agreeing on the final nature of that particular particle. They have, in essence, manufactured the particle from their own collective consciousness.
Herakleitos was correct – you cannot step into the same river twice. Although it is still your life (river), the water (your reality) is constantly being turned over instant by instant. In each moment you contribute to the construct of your reality. And through your contribution you affect the lives of others. That is why you must guard your heart carefully. The uni-verse is one. You cannot make a decision that does not ripple outward and touch others.
Consciousness is primary. It is an attribute of Spirit. If you let it, it will reflect onto your soul. While Spirit “knows, soul “intuits” and mind “thinks”. Let the knowingness of your Spirit reflect onto your soul. Then listen to its quiet intuition as it guides you in your decisions. Else, when faced with points of alignment in your life, you may make a poor decision, step onto the wrong path and create a reality that is less than you could have had.
If the aspects of your being are aligned, Spirit reflects downward onto soul, mind, emotions and body and projects outward into your surrounding environment. With practice and persistence, you can learn to alter consensual reality in your life and your circle of influence. You then become a co-creator with the universe.
[1] This information was communicated in a private discussion between Michael Talbot, author of the Holographic Universe and Robert Jahn, December 16, 1988.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Intuiting Chaos
When you expand your ring of consciousness you can intuit chaos patterns (potentials) that, according to probability theory, will surface as disruptive issues in your life, in the life of others, in your community, state, country or planet before they begin to manifest. You are then able to abort the manifestation by changing circumstances.
The patterns you intuit may involve health issues, job challenges, relationship difficulties, environmental matters or a number of other areas of life that may affect you. You may wake up one morning, realize that your excessive drinking or smoking is going to ruin your health and decide to quit and start exercising. It may dawn on you that you’re with the wrong person … or that you’re acting like the wrong person … and you need to make some changes in your personal relationships or behaviors to avoid a real blow-out. You may suddenly understand that you’re not handling your money wisely and take a course in personal finance. You may live at the edge of a Superfund Cleanup site and realize that’s not the best environment for you and your family and that you need to move.
The good book says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Psalms 29:18). Lack of vision is the prime cause of people not being able to intuit chaos potentials and for most, if not all, of the turbulence we see around the world. A case in point is the current credit crisis and the resultant proposed $700 billion bail-out proposal for financial institutions. The people who concocted this financial witches brew did so by abandoning sound credit and lending practices and thinking that our country could continue to run forever in a deficit budget mode. They had no vision. And now the chickens are coming home to roost in the form of chaos.
Although chaos can be a necessary part of creation, it doesn’t have to be a part of the personal creative process. At the level of your individual life, it serves as an incentive to grow, change directions and get back on your path. You can begin to sift chaos out of the personal creative equation by better grasping the laws of the universe and taking more of a lead in the creative process rather than having to be incented. Said another way, when the universe knows that you no longer need chaos to provoke you to change (read create), it largely becomes unnecessary as a tool.
Of course, you may still experience some level of chaos in your life because of larger, global issues that affect you and over which you may have no direct or immediate control. For example, if you belong to a nation that is engaged in a war and you live near the front lines, it is likely that you will experience some degree of chaos in your life. If you live in the US during this time of economic turbulence, you may be clipped by chaos. That is simply a fact of existence on this planet.
Your ring of consciousness represents the level at which you function in your understanding of the universe. You expand your ring through meditation, study, contemplative practices and passing the tests that life puts before you. Your ability to intuit chaos patterns depends on the size of your ring. The larger your ring, the more patterns you are able to discern.
Chaos patterns need not surface as difficulties if they are inside the horizon of your awareness (inside the edge of your ring). Because they are within your view, they do not have to catch you unprepared. You are able to change conditions to avoid them.
As you expand your ring, you are able to see more patterns because you have increased the breadth of your vision. The greater your vision, the more control you have over your situation. Because the rule of the universe is maximum downward delegation, you increase your span of control and ability to create by enlarging your ring and acting on issues that could manifest before they actually do. If you are successful in handling small things, you will be given additional capacity, authority and responsibility.
You goal is twofold – 1) to expand your ring of consciousness to the point where you can intuit more chaos patterns and 2) to increase control over the quality of your life and the impact you have on lives around you by changing circumstances so intuited patterns do not manifest (sifting the need for chaos out of your life).
The patterns you intuit may involve health issues, job challenges, relationship difficulties, environmental matters or a number of other areas of life that may affect you. You may wake up one morning, realize that your excessive drinking or smoking is going to ruin your health and decide to quit and start exercising. It may dawn on you that you’re with the wrong person … or that you’re acting like the wrong person … and you need to make some changes in your personal relationships or behaviors to avoid a real blow-out. You may suddenly understand that you’re not handling your money wisely and take a course in personal finance. You may live at the edge of a Superfund Cleanup site and realize that’s not the best environment for you and your family and that you need to move.
The good book says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Psalms 29:18). Lack of vision is the prime cause of people not being able to intuit chaos potentials and for most, if not all, of the turbulence we see around the world. A case in point is the current credit crisis and the resultant proposed $700 billion bail-out proposal for financial institutions. The people who concocted this financial witches brew did so by abandoning sound credit and lending practices and thinking that our country could continue to run forever in a deficit budget mode. They had no vision. And now the chickens are coming home to roost in the form of chaos.
Although chaos can be a necessary part of creation, it doesn’t have to be a part of the personal creative process. At the level of your individual life, it serves as an incentive to grow, change directions and get back on your path. You can begin to sift chaos out of the personal creative equation by better grasping the laws of the universe and taking more of a lead in the creative process rather than having to be incented. Said another way, when the universe knows that you no longer need chaos to provoke you to change (read create), it largely becomes unnecessary as a tool.
Of course, you may still experience some level of chaos in your life because of larger, global issues that affect you and over which you may have no direct or immediate control. For example, if you belong to a nation that is engaged in a war and you live near the front lines, it is likely that you will experience some degree of chaos in your life. If you live in the US during this time of economic turbulence, you may be clipped by chaos. That is simply a fact of existence on this planet.
Your ring of consciousness represents the level at which you function in your understanding of the universe. You expand your ring through meditation, study, contemplative practices and passing the tests that life puts before you. Your ability to intuit chaos patterns depends on the size of your ring. The larger your ring, the more patterns you are able to discern.
Chaos patterns need not surface as difficulties if they are inside the horizon of your awareness (inside the edge of your ring). Because they are within your view, they do not have to catch you unprepared. You are able to change conditions to avoid them.
As you expand your ring, you are able to see more patterns because you have increased the breadth of your vision. The greater your vision, the more control you have over your situation. Because the rule of the universe is maximum downward delegation, you increase your span of control and ability to create by enlarging your ring and acting on issues that could manifest before they actually do. If you are successful in handling small things, you will be given additional capacity, authority and responsibility.
You goal is twofold – 1) to expand your ring of consciousness to the point where you can intuit more chaos patterns and 2) to increase control over the quality of your life and the impact you have on lives around you by changing circumstances so intuited patterns do not manifest (sifting the need for chaos out of your life).
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Chaos, Creation and Coherency
The story of the earth's creation in many of the world's spiritual traditions is described as a chaotic event - one involving great turbulence and turmoil. For example, in Christian theology the book of Genesis says "when God made heaven and earth, the earth was without form and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss, and almighty wind that swept over the surface of the waters." Not a pretty picture. Tumultuous, foreboding storms rolling over a dark, cold, watery landscape.
Given a choice, most humans would not want to find themselves in that kind of environment. Similarly, when chaos surfaces in our personal lives, we generally recoil from it.
Yet, in a curious twist of perception, the word "chaos" in the Chinese language (roughly translated) means "opportunity". And perhaps their definition is healthier than the definition we may normally use.
University of London physicist David Bohm assets that there is no such thing as disorder (chaos), only orders of infinitely higher degree. In support of Bohm's assertion, science has found that chaotic phenomena are not as disordered as they appear. Scientists have discovered mathematical formulas, that when applied to irregularities inherent in chaotic phenomenon and converted to data on a computer screen, will appear as spiral designs called chaos patterns. There is actually a design suggestive of purpose to what appears to be a random, patternless occurrence. Researchers have recently found chaos patterns in the human brain by using more electrodes than normal and by analyzing several minutes of data. And they have found the same patterns in the human energy field by using sophisticated EMG equipment.
What is the message for us?
Chaos is part of the process of creation and we are co-agents of creation. It is within control of the higher orders of the universe and is used not only to create at that level, but also to incent creation and reorder at lower levels by generating circumstances that stand in need of conversion. Therefore, it is a vehicle of growth in this school we call Earth. It is represented in the ancient yin yang symbol that embraces and enfolds the concept of transformation.
A person without vision will view a chaotic situation as something to be avoided at all costs ... a painful, meaningless inconvenience without purpose at best ... a tragedy at worst. A person with vision may not find the situation pleasant, but will view it as an opportunity for growth and as a chance to expand their ring size.
With vision, you can glimpse the higher orders of coherency through the chaos. Perhaps this is why the early Christian saints held the belief that "all things work together for good for those who love God". They sensed the authority and order of the implicate realm and the purposes for the challenges that manifest themselves as chaotic circumstances. Eastern philosophies recognized the same concept and simply expressed it in different cultural terms - as yin and yang - an opportunity for transformation.
The difficulties we face in life are not out of control or out of sight of higher orders in the universe. When chaos manifests in your personal life or in your work environment, step back and ask yourself what it is that you are to learn from it - and how you are to transform it as a co-creator of your own sphere of reality.
Given a choice, most humans would not want to find themselves in that kind of environment. Similarly, when chaos surfaces in our personal lives, we generally recoil from it.
Yet, in a curious twist of perception, the word "chaos" in the Chinese language (roughly translated) means "opportunity". And perhaps their definition is healthier than the definition we may normally use.
University of London physicist David Bohm assets that there is no such thing as disorder (chaos), only orders of infinitely higher degree. In support of Bohm's assertion, science has found that chaotic phenomena are not as disordered as they appear. Scientists have discovered mathematical formulas, that when applied to irregularities inherent in chaotic phenomenon and converted to data on a computer screen, will appear as spiral designs called chaos patterns. There is actually a design suggestive of purpose to what appears to be a random, patternless occurrence. Researchers have recently found chaos patterns in the human brain by using more electrodes than normal and by analyzing several minutes of data. And they have found the same patterns in the human energy field by using sophisticated EMG equipment.
What is the message for us?
Chaos is part of the process of creation and we are co-agents of creation. It is within control of the higher orders of the universe and is used not only to create at that level, but also to incent creation and reorder at lower levels by generating circumstances that stand in need of conversion. Therefore, it is a vehicle of growth in this school we call Earth. It is represented in the ancient yin yang symbol that embraces and enfolds the concept of transformation.
A person without vision will view a chaotic situation as something to be avoided at all costs ... a painful, meaningless inconvenience without purpose at best ... a tragedy at worst. A person with vision may not find the situation pleasant, but will view it as an opportunity for growth and as a chance to expand their ring size.
With vision, you can glimpse the higher orders of coherency through the chaos. Perhaps this is why the early Christian saints held the belief that "all things work together for good for those who love God". They sensed the authority and order of the implicate realm and the purposes for the challenges that manifest themselves as chaotic circumstances. Eastern philosophies recognized the same concept and simply expressed it in different cultural terms - as yin and yang - an opportunity for transformation.
The difficulties we face in life are not out of control or out of sight of higher orders in the universe. When chaos manifests in your personal life or in your work environment, step back and ask yourself what it is that you are to learn from it - and how you are to transform it as a co-creator of your own sphere of reality.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
... by learning your lessons.
Your soul covenant is an agreement made with God before your incarnation. It defines what you came to Earth to learn and who you came to serve. The learning piece has two functions. One is to contribute to the evolution of your soul. Given its fallen nature, Earth is a unique classroom environment where you have the opportunity to choose between Light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong. Few other planets that I know of provide that kind of opportunity. Other lifeforms look at us from a distance with curiosity because darkness is not manifest in their midst. It’s an alien concept to them. Their surroundings are uncontaminated.
In this regard, Earth is one of the more challenging environments in the cosmos. It’s like a tough post-grad school where students have more choices available to them than snowflakes in a blizzard and little to no memory of the clarity of the environment from which they came to give them an advantage. That’s why scriptures describe man as being only a little lower than the angels on the creation scale. Spiritual entities such as angels have a great deal of respect for souls who incarnate to Earth simply because of the difficulties we face.
The second is to make your life somewhat easier by not having to repeat the same mistake twice. When a child burns himself on a hot stove, hopefully he’ll know not to touch it a second time. It’s the old rub that if we don’t learn from history, it will repeat itself. Like the characters in the movie Groundhog Day, you will continue to encounter the same kinds of situations in your life over and over again until you learn the lesson(s) associated with the events. When you learn the lessons, things shift. Circumstances change … or your response to them changes … and you move on to different lessons. You avoid the frustration of metaphorically banging your head against the same issues over and over again.
Your lessons may involve learning patience, relationship skills, vision, forgiveness, healing, alchemy, leadership, teaching, generosity, tolerance, self-control, mercy, love, strength, independence, adaptability, courage, imagination, optimism, trust, resourcefulness, understanding … a combination of these or a host of others.
The key is to figure out what your lesson(s) are based on the themes of the circumstances in your life. Once you identify the lessons, it’s easier to study for them and pass the tests. Once you pass the tests, either the circumstances will change or you will find a different way to think about them … and you can move on.
In this regard, Earth is one of the more challenging environments in the cosmos. It’s like a tough post-grad school where students have more choices available to them than snowflakes in a blizzard and little to no memory of the clarity of the environment from which they came to give them an advantage. That’s why scriptures describe man as being only a little lower than the angels on the creation scale. Spiritual entities such as angels have a great deal of respect for souls who incarnate to Earth simply because of the difficulties we face.
The second is to make your life somewhat easier by not having to repeat the same mistake twice. When a child burns himself on a hot stove, hopefully he’ll know not to touch it a second time. It’s the old rub that if we don’t learn from history, it will repeat itself. Like the characters in the movie Groundhog Day, you will continue to encounter the same kinds of situations in your life over and over again until you learn the lesson(s) associated with the events. When you learn the lessons, things shift. Circumstances change … or your response to them changes … and you move on to different lessons. You avoid the frustration of metaphorically banging your head against the same issues over and over again.
Your lessons may involve learning patience, relationship skills, vision, forgiveness, healing, alchemy, leadership, teaching, generosity, tolerance, self-control, mercy, love, strength, independence, adaptability, courage, imagination, optimism, trust, resourcefulness, understanding … a combination of these or a host of others.
The key is to figure out what your lesson(s) are based on the themes of the circumstances in your life. Once you identify the lessons, it’s easier to study for them and pass the tests. Once you pass the tests, either the circumstances will change or you will find a different way to think about them … and you can move on.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Expanding Your Capacity for Life
I was sitting at my home office desk today finishing up some work and - being a faithful child of the 70's - listening to a Beatles CD. One of the songs - Rain - has always been my among my favorites. But today the words hit me with particular meaning.
I've had a difficult several years. Like many of us, I've faced a number of personal challenges and the going has often been tough. A few times, I've been ready to throw in the towel, find an easier way or a less constructive way to deal with the issues I faced. Today, as I listened to Rain, it reinforced for me how we may limit ourselves if we struggle against the trials that confront us. Some of the lyrics are:
If the rain comes, they run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes
If the rain comes
When the sun shines, they slip into the shade
And sip their lemonade
When the sun shines
When the sun shines.
Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine
I can show you that when it starts to rain
Everything's the same
I can show you
I can show you
Can you hear me that when it rains and shines
It's just a state of mind
Can you hear me
Much of the time life itself is like the weather. When it's fall and the weather is cold and rainy we wish it were summer and the weather was hot. When it's summer and the sun's beating down we wish it was fall and that we could feel the brisk north winds.
There were two lessons for me in these lyrics. The first is similar to the old saying, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. We tend to look at what we don't have rather than what we do. The second and perhaps more profound lesson is that we severely limit our capacity to enjoy life when we struggle against what is.
If we say we will only enjoy our life if the sun shines, but there are occasional clouds to periodically shade us and if the temperature stays between 68 and 75 degrees, and the wind between 3 and 5 mph., we will enjoy very little of it. Running away from the sun when it shines and the rain when it falls significantly narrows our capacity for experience. It suggests that we're always running and never being.
Is it always fun standing in the rain? No. Would it be fun to never have any weather changes, always experiencing the monotony of perfect weather? No. Is there a better way to deal with the weather changes than spending all of our time running from them? I think so.
I think it's interesting that, as a child, I didn't mind the rain at all. I'd play outside in it, splash in the puddles and make little rivers in the dirt. When summer came, I'd play in the hot sun all day - playing baseball, biking, swimming. Even when I was in my early 20's I could play three hours of tennis in 80 degree weather. I think as I became older, I became culturalized. It wasn't a "good" idea to play outside in the rain. It might not be a "good" idea for me to play so hard in the hot sun all day.
I believe the better way may be learning to experience "weather changes" as a part of life. If we learn to accept the changes in our lives as part of the flow of life's river, it takes some of the burden off us to keep trying to "change the weather" by running to shelter. And I think it's good to remember that we can't always change the weather - but we can change our reaction to it.
I've had a difficult several years. Like many of us, I've faced a number of personal challenges and the going has often been tough. A few times, I've been ready to throw in the towel, find an easier way or a less constructive way to deal with the issues I faced. Today, as I listened to Rain, it reinforced for me how we may limit ourselves if we struggle against the trials that confront us. Some of the lyrics are:
If the rain comes, they run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes
If the rain comes
When the sun shines, they slip into the shade
And sip their lemonade
When the sun shines
When the sun shines.
Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine
I can show you that when it starts to rain
Everything's the same
I can show you
I can show you
Can you hear me that when it rains and shines
It's just a state of mind
Can you hear me
Much of the time life itself is like the weather. When it's fall and the weather is cold and rainy we wish it were summer and the weather was hot. When it's summer and the sun's beating down we wish it was fall and that we could feel the brisk north winds.
There were two lessons for me in these lyrics. The first is similar to the old saying, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. We tend to look at what we don't have rather than what we do. The second and perhaps more profound lesson is that we severely limit our capacity to enjoy life when we struggle against what is.
If we say we will only enjoy our life if the sun shines, but there are occasional clouds to periodically shade us and if the temperature stays between 68 and 75 degrees, and the wind between 3 and 5 mph., we will enjoy very little of it. Running away from the sun when it shines and the rain when it falls significantly narrows our capacity for experience. It suggests that we're always running and never being.
Is it always fun standing in the rain? No. Would it be fun to never have any weather changes, always experiencing the monotony of perfect weather? No. Is there a better way to deal with the weather changes than spending all of our time running from them? I think so.
I think it's interesting that, as a child, I didn't mind the rain at all. I'd play outside in it, splash in the puddles and make little rivers in the dirt. When summer came, I'd play in the hot sun all day - playing baseball, biking, swimming. Even when I was in my early 20's I could play three hours of tennis in 80 degree weather. I think as I became older, I became culturalized. It wasn't a "good" idea to play outside in the rain. It might not be a "good" idea for me to play so hard in the hot sun all day.
I believe the better way may be learning to experience "weather changes" as a part of life. If we learn to accept the changes in our lives as part of the flow of life's river, it takes some of the burden off us to keep trying to "change the weather" by running to shelter. And I think it's good to remember that we can't always change the weather - but we can change our reaction to it.
Monday, September 15, 2008
... the story's ending
A couple years ago I was in a church service when I noticed an elderly lady sitting near the front. As soon as my eyes lit on her I was impressed with an almost overwhelming feeling that I needed to work with her as a healer. But I had never seen this lady before in my life and was not feeling particularly “in tune” spiritually at the time. So I immediately began to rationalize that the impression was, somehow, of my own doing … that we didn’t know each other and any conversation I would have with her about the issue could be very awkward … that I didn’t have the time that afternoon ... that, surely, there was someone more qualified than I to work with her.
But the feeling was piercing and unrelenting. Something inside me knew that if I passed on this impression, it would be a missed opportunity. So, I shifted from rationalizing to bargaining. I suggested to God that, if I was really supposed to work with her, it would help to have some confirming sign … confident that there would be none and that I could be relieved of the responsibility.
No sooner had the words left my mind’s mouth, when the woman stood up with great effort and with the help of a younger friend, walked feebly up to the front of the church where she knelt down to pray.
I was stunned. Not only was this an unusual occurrence during a service of this nature, but it also happened almost immediately after I had tried to “bargain out” of the situation.
After the service was over, I somewhat grudgingly approached the pastor and explained what had happened and he was gracious enough to introduce the two of us. As we were gathered in a small circle and the pastor explained what had happened during the service, the eyes of both the woman and her friend filled with tears. I didn’t ask her if she was suffering from any physical problems or if there were any other troubling issues in her life. I simply put one hand on her shoulder and the other on back of her head and began working with her. We sat there for about twenty minutes, tears streaming down her face the entire time. When I was finished, I simply told her I hoped I was of some help and we parted ways.
About six months later I received a phone call late one evening. The voice at the other end of the line obviously belonged to an elderly woman and she identified herself as the woman whom I had worked with that long past Sunday morning. She said that she had MS and multiple other physical problems and that some of the symptoms had improved after I’d worked with her that day. She went on to talk about the difficulties she had faced in her life, many in the very recent past. But what was really on her heart was this … why did I think that I was impressed to work with her.
That was really the $64,000 question because I, frankly, didn’t know. I was simply responding to a strong impression that I’d received. Deep inside me was a feeling that I wasn’t working with her to “cure” her of the physical difficulties she was experiencing. I had thought about her many times since that Sunday afternoon and never really came up with the reason why I had been moved to do what I did. But, suddenly, while on the phone with her, the answer dawned on me. And I told her that, sometimes, God just wants us to know that S/he’s thinking of us. It was as simple as that.
When I told her that, there was silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments until she quietly responded with, “Thank you.”
I’m a person who likes to have all the answers. I want to know why certain things happen as they do. I want to be able to comprehend how all the pieces of the mosaic we call life are put together. But, of course, I can’t. I can’t see a big enough picture. Most of it doesn’t make sense to me.
I haven’t seen this woman since. Frankly, I don’t know whether she’s alive or dead ... or to what degree I may or may not have helped her that Sunday morning. And, although I believe that God may have simply wanted her to know that S/he was thinking of her, I don’t have any more information than that about why S/he may have impressed me to approach her. Perhaps it was to mitigate certain aspects of her disease process. Perhaps it was to help with pain control. Maybe it was to prepare her somehow for her impending physical death.
The point to my little story is that, if we compare life to a book, we may get to read many chapters but we don’t always get to see how things end. And you have to come to a point where that’s all right. You do what you need to do … be obedient to promptings … listen to the still, small voice … and leave the ending in God’s hands.
Sometimes it has to be enough to know that, even though you don’t pen the endings, it doesn’t mean they’re not there.
But the feeling was piercing and unrelenting. Something inside me knew that if I passed on this impression, it would be a missed opportunity. So, I shifted from rationalizing to bargaining. I suggested to God that, if I was really supposed to work with her, it would help to have some confirming sign … confident that there would be none and that I could be relieved of the responsibility.
No sooner had the words left my mind’s mouth, when the woman stood up with great effort and with the help of a younger friend, walked feebly up to the front of the church where she knelt down to pray.
I was stunned. Not only was this an unusual occurrence during a service of this nature, but it also happened almost immediately after I had tried to “bargain out” of the situation.
After the service was over, I somewhat grudgingly approached the pastor and explained what had happened and he was gracious enough to introduce the two of us. As we were gathered in a small circle and the pastor explained what had happened during the service, the eyes of both the woman and her friend filled with tears. I didn’t ask her if she was suffering from any physical problems or if there were any other troubling issues in her life. I simply put one hand on her shoulder and the other on back of her head and began working with her. We sat there for about twenty minutes, tears streaming down her face the entire time. When I was finished, I simply told her I hoped I was of some help and we parted ways.
About six months later I received a phone call late one evening. The voice at the other end of the line obviously belonged to an elderly woman and she identified herself as the woman whom I had worked with that long past Sunday morning. She said that she had MS and multiple other physical problems and that some of the symptoms had improved after I’d worked with her that day. She went on to talk about the difficulties she had faced in her life, many in the very recent past. But what was really on her heart was this … why did I think that I was impressed to work with her.
That was really the $64,000 question because I, frankly, didn’t know. I was simply responding to a strong impression that I’d received. Deep inside me was a feeling that I wasn’t working with her to “cure” her of the physical difficulties she was experiencing. I had thought about her many times since that Sunday afternoon and never really came up with the reason why I had been moved to do what I did. But, suddenly, while on the phone with her, the answer dawned on me. And I told her that, sometimes, God just wants us to know that S/he’s thinking of us. It was as simple as that.
When I told her that, there was silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments until she quietly responded with, “Thank you.”
I’m a person who likes to have all the answers. I want to know why certain things happen as they do. I want to be able to comprehend how all the pieces of the mosaic we call life are put together. But, of course, I can’t. I can’t see a big enough picture. Most of it doesn’t make sense to me.
I haven’t seen this woman since. Frankly, I don’t know whether she’s alive or dead ... or to what degree I may or may not have helped her that Sunday morning. And, although I believe that God may have simply wanted her to know that S/he was thinking of her, I don’t have any more information than that about why S/he may have impressed me to approach her. Perhaps it was to mitigate certain aspects of her disease process. Perhaps it was to help with pain control. Maybe it was to prepare her somehow for her impending physical death.
The point to my little story is that, if we compare life to a book, we may get to read many chapters but we don’t always get to see how things end. And you have to come to a point where that’s all right. You do what you need to do … be obedient to promptings … listen to the still, small voice … and leave the ending in God’s hands.
Sometimes it has to be enough to know that, even though you don’t pen the endings, it doesn’t mean they’re not there.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Monsters in the Basement
When I was a little kid I was scared to go down into the basement of our house. Ours was a modest ranch-style home with an unfinished downstairs typical of the times. The concrete floor was painted a battleship grey. The upstairs floor joists were visible, uncovered by the now-common drop ceiling. Bare light bulbs with pull chains hung from the joists. The walls were concrete block, painted a light grey. There were plenty of places for monsters to hide. Behind the old furnace. Underneath the stairwell. In the pantry.
It was bad enough to have to go down there even when my parents were home. Sometimes my mother would ask me to fetch something from the pantry. So I’d run down the steps, scamper across the floor, snatch whatever she wanted off the shelf and run as fast as I could back upstairs. Leaping the steps two or three at a time, I was sure I could feel the hot breath of a hobgoblin on the back of my legs. As difficult as it was to venture downstairs when someone was home, it was unthinkable to go down there when I was at the house alone. I avoided it like the plague.
My father passed away 16 years ago. When my mother followed him three years back I had to clean out the house and put it up for sale. I went back one last time before the sale was completed and spent over an hour by myself in the house that my parents had built and lived in for over 50 years … and where I had spent 21 years of my life. I spent time in every room … thinking about the things that had transpired between the walls - Christmases, Thanksgivings, birthdays, and family dinners. I remembered the nights I’d spent doing homework at the little desk in my small bedroom. Building fires in the living room fireplace with my dad on cold winter nights. Alternating washing and drying the dishes with my sister after dinners. Smelling the sweet scent of fall apples stored in paper bags wafting in from the breezeway.
And I went into the dimly lit downstairs to remember the games of pool I played with my father and grandfather. I thought about how we’d take our rifles and shotguns down there to clean them after hunting trips. I recalled how my father would spend time at his work table doing wood carvings of animals. And, finally, with a melancholy chuckle, I said good-bye to the monsters and walked back upstairs.
Today I can smile about dashing downstairs on errands for my mom … and getting out of there as fast as I could, knowing that spectral hands were just inches from grabbing me. But back then, those monsters seemed pretty real.
That’s the way it is with a lot of the things we fear in this life. We’re certain they’re out there stalking us … breathing down our backs … just waiting for the right moment to pounce. And, truth be told, we do live on a fallen planet. And there are some things we ought to take seriously. From a practical perspective, however, most of the things we worry about don’t ever happen. Like my monsters in the basement, they’re products of our imagination.
It’s such a waste to worry about things that are unlikely to happen. So many times we look back at things about which we were terrified and laugh quietly in amusement that we ever thought them worthy of our attention. So, do yourself a favor - choose your fears wisely – and put them in perspective.
It was bad enough to have to go down there even when my parents were home. Sometimes my mother would ask me to fetch something from the pantry. So I’d run down the steps, scamper across the floor, snatch whatever she wanted off the shelf and run as fast as I could back upstairs. Leaping the steps two or three at a time, I was sure I could feel the hot breath of a hobgoblin on the back of my legs. As difficult as it was to venture downstairs when someone was home, it was unthinkable to go down there when I was at the house alone. I avoided it like the plague.
My father passed away 16 years ago. When my mother followed him three years back I had to clean out the house and put it up for sale. I went back one last time before the sale was completed and spent over an hour by myself in the house that my parents had built and lived in for over 50 years … and where I had spent 21 years of my life. I spent time in every room … thinking about the things that had transpired between the walls - Christmases, Thanksgivings, birthdays, and family dinners. I remembered the nights I’d spent doing homework at the little desk in my small bedroom. Building fires in the living room fireplace with my dad on cold winter nights. Alternating washing and drying the dishes with my sister after dinners. Smelling the sweet scent of fall apples stored in paper bags wafting in from the breezeway.
And I went into the dimly lit downstairs to remember the games of pool I played with my father and grandfather. I thought about how we’d take our rifles and shotguns down there to clean them after hunting trips. I recalled how my father would spend time at his work table doing wood carvings of animals. And, finally, with a melancholy chuckle, I said good-bye to the monsters and walked back upstairs.
Today I can smile about dashing downstairs on errands for my mom … and getting out of there as fast as I could, knowing that spectral hands were just inches from grabbing me. But back then, those monsters seemed pretty real.
That’s the way it is with a lot of the things we fear in this life. We’re certain they’re out there stalking us … breathing down our backs … just waiting for the right moment to pounce. And, truth be told, we do live on a fallen planet. And there are some things we ought to take seriously. From a practical perspective, however, most of the things we worry about don’t ever happen. Like my monsters in the basement, they’re products of our imagination.
It’s such a waste to worry about things that are unlikely to happen. So many times we look back at things about which we were terrified and laugh quietly in amusement that we ever thought them worthy of our attention. So, do yourself a favor - choose your fears wisely – and put them in perspective.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Change Your Role, Change Reality
Years ago I attended a seminar on creativity of which a substantial portion was dedicated to role playing. During this section everyone in the room was required to participate in different brief skits in which they had to play several different roles. People in one group had to play Lil' Abner and Daisy Mae. In another they played both a gruff truck driver dissatisfied with his food and the waitress who had to wait on him. People in another had to play both a barber and a cheerleader. In another they played Snidley Whiplash, an innocent maiden and Dudley Dooright.
It was an interesting scenario to watch and even more interesting in terms of my own participation! At first, people were hesitant and tight. Some were clearly embarrassed. Some had a difficult time getting into the spirit of the exercise. Some were willing but had a difficult time making the transition between roles. Some had a very easy time with one role but a very troublesome experience with others. But, as the session progressed, people began loosening up and having some fun. The observers became more animated. They laughed, encouraged, hooted, cajoled and clapped. The participants found it easier to change roles in mid-stream and really began to have fun. By the end of the session the entire ambiance of the group had changed. No longer hesitant, everyone actually wished they had more time for the exercise.
The point of the exercise was this - we all play different roles in our lives. We play the roles of fathers, mothers, supervisors, confidants, parents, employees, counselors, lovers, children and innumerable others. But we often lock ourselves into a limited number of roles or find it difficult to transition between our various roles. And this limits our abilities to respond to the many different types of situations that arise in our lives.
If we try to apply the role of father to a situation at work where someone really needs us to function more as a mentor, we will likely fail. If we try to act as a confidant in a work situation where we really need to function more as a leader or supervisor, we will likely fail. We need to be able to shift into various roles as situations present themselves.
In doing so, we can actually change reality not only for ourselves but for those around us. Have you ever sat at a lunch table where someone begins making negative comments about the workplace? Pretty soon, everyone is chiming in and you find yourself in the middle of a feeding frenzy of negative thinkers. Then, if someone is bold enough to say something positive, the negative talk generally stops ... until someone else can think of something positive to say.
By breaking out of traditional roles, we change the rules of relationships and force people to act in different ways. If you're having some difficulties with someone and your interactions have been tense and strained, try something new. Make up your mind to approach them in a relaxed manner, take their hand in a warm handshake or put our hand on their shoulder and extend them a sincere hello. Ask them how things are going. Take an interest in them. You will have changed the rules of the relationship. You will have shifted the dynamics. You will have caught them off balance. You will have forced them to reevaluate their beliefs about you. You will have changed reality. Your relationship with that person will not be the same. And, perhaps as importantly, your beliefs about yourself will never be the same.
Try this with your spouse, children, the people you work with. It will require you to stretch, to think about how you want to react to people and situations. It will require some thinking, some planning and some effort. But it will reap benefits. You will find you have the power to change reality. You will find that you have stretched yourself. And when you stretch you have fun, you learn, you gain flexibility, you grow and you improve yourself.
When a rubber band is stretched just once, it never completely returns to its original size. So it is with us. even a little stretch is a growing experience. And even a little stretch will change your reality.
It was an interesting scenario to watch and even more interesting in terms of my own participation! At first, people were hesitant and tight. Some were clearly embarrassed. Some had a difficult time getting into the spirit of the exercise. Some were willing but had a difficult time making the transition between roles. Some had a very easy time with one role but a very troublesome experience with others. But, as the session progressed, people began loosening up and having some fun. The observers became more animated. They laughed, encouraged, hooted, cajoled and clapped. The participants found it easier to change roles in mid-stream and really began to have fun. By the end of the session the entire ambiance of the group had changed. No longer hesitant, everyone actually wished they had more time for the exercise.
The point of the exercise was this - we all play different roles in our lives. We play the roles of fathers, mothers, supervisors, confidants, parents, employees, counselors, lovers, children and innumerable others. But we often lock ourselves into a limited number of roles or find it difficult to transition between our various roles. And this limits our abilities to respond to the many different types of situations that arise in our lives.
If we try to apply the role of father to a situation at work where someone really needs us to function more as a mentor, we will likely fail. If we try to act as a confidant in a work situation where we really need to function more as a leader or supervisor, we will likely fail. We need to be able to shift into various roles as situations present themselves.
In doing so, we can actually change reality not only for ourselves but for those around us. Have you ever sat at a lunch table where someone begins making negative comments about the workplace? Pretty soon, everyone is chiming in and you find yourself in the middle of a feeding frenzy of negative thinkers. Then, if someone is bold enough to say something positive, the negative talk generally stops ... until someone else can think of something positive to say.
By breaking out of traditional roles, we change the rules of relationships and force people to act in different ways. If you're having some difficulties with someone and your interactions have been tense and strained, try something new. Make up your mind to approach them in a relaxed manner, take their hand in a warm handshake or put our hand on their shoulder and extend them a sincere hello. Ask them how things are going. Take an interest in them. You will have changed the rules of the relationship. You will have shifted the dynamics. You will have caught them off balance. You will have forced them to reevaluate their beliefs about you. You will have changed reality. Your relationship with that person will not be the same. And, perhaps as importantly, your beliefs about yourself will never be the same.
Try this with your spouse, children, the people you work with. It will require you to stretch, to think about how you want to react to people and situations. It will require some thinking, some planning and some effort. But it will reap benefits. You will find you have the power to change reality. You will find that you have stretched yourself. And when you stretch you have fun, you learn, you gain flexibility, you grow and you improve yourself.
When a rubber band is stretched just once, it never completely returns to its original size. So it is with us. even a little stretch is a growing experience. And even a little stretch will change your reality.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Living in the Present
I’m a planner, a fixer and a driver. I like to see results. I’m always stretching to get my arms around the endgame. So there’s a piece of me that always has a foot in the future. Part of it is probably genetic. In general, males are hardwired that way. We fix things, we build things, we fight wars. Sometimes that works to our advantage. But sometimes it doesn’t. That kind of “drive” can make it difficult to live in the present.
I struggle every year at this time. The back-to-school transition marks the official end of summer for me. It’s the time of year in our part of the country where the nights begin to cool down, the days become less warm, it gets darker earlier and light later and we begin to see more rain. Yesterday, for example, we had blue skies and 80+ degree weather. Today it’s raining and the temperature is hovering around 55.
I can deal with that. It’s what follows that bangs on my emotional armor. Winter in our area is brutal ... and when back-to-school time hits, I begin anticipating it with dread. It can be overcast for weeks at a time. Temperatures are wicked cold and the snow never seems to stop falling. Because of the almost constant cloud cover, I keep a “happy light” on my office desk and turn it on for 30 minutes every day so my pineal gland gets enough light to keep a modicum of “happy” hormones flowing in my body. There’s a joke in our area that they put Prozac in the water supply starting in October to keep people from jumping off tall buildings.
When I was younger all that crummy weather didn’t seem to bother me. I hunted more, I snowmobiled and I skied. But those days are past. My responsibilities have made those activities less available to me. So, winter is fairly restricted to hunkering down in survival mode until Spring arrives. For all these reasons, I have to fight melancholy in the first weeks of September.
But it occurred to me the other day that I could limit that struggle somewhat by not projecting so much what’s going to happen this winter and focusing on what we have left of summer and the early days of fall. September through mid-October in our area can be beautiful. White frost on the lawns and fields melts gently under gradually warming, blue skies during the mid-morning. Changing leaves paint reds, yellows and oranges across the countryside. Geese fly in V’s overhead and mums are in bright bloom. You can occasionally catch a whiff of what is to me, one of the most wonderful of scents … the bittersweet odor of a wood fire wafting out of someone’s chimney.
So it dawned on me that I’m actually living more of winter than I have to by thinking about it before it actually arrives. It reminded me of Christ’s counsel, “Take no thought of tomorrow. For tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” In other words, take it a day at a time.
That’s a challenge whether you’re staring down the barrel of a long, dark winter, wondering about the security of your job, dealing with a difficult illness, wrestling with family problems or struggling with any of the other seemingly numberless dilemmas that seem endemic to mankind. But it makes good sense.
By living in the future you rob yourself of today. By anticipating what it’s going to be like in a week or a month or a year, you divert your attention from simply living. So try to take things a day at a time.
I struggle every year at this time. The back-to-school transition marks the official end of summer for me. It’s the time of year in our part of the country where the nights begin to cool down, the days become less warm, it gets darker earlier and light later and we begin to see more rain. Yesterday, for example, we had blue skies and 80+ degree weather. Today it’s raining and the temperature is hovering around 55.
I can deal with that. It’s what follows that bangs on my emotional armor. Winter in our area is brutal ... and when back-to-school time hits, I begin anticipating it with dread. It can be overcast for weeks at a time. Temperatures are wicked cold and the snow never seems to stop falling. Because of the almost constant cloud cover, I keep a “happy light” on my office desk and turn it on for 30 minutes every day so my pineal gland gets enough light to keep a modicum of “happy” hormones flowing in my body. There’s a joke in our area that they put Prozac in the water supply starting in October to keep people from jumping off tall buildings.
When I was younger all that crummy weather didn’t seem to bother me. I hunted more, I snowmobiled and I skied. But those days are past. My responsibilities have made those activities less available to me. So, winter is fairly restricted to hunkering down in survival mode until Spring arrives. For all these reasons, I have to fight melancholy in the first weeks of September.
But it occurred to me the other day that I could limit that struggle somewhat by not projecting so much what’s going to happen this winter and focusing on what we have left of summer and the early days of fall. September through mid-October in our area can be beautiful. White frost on the lawns and fields melts gently under gradually warming, blue skies during the mid-morning. Changing leaves paint reds, yellows and oranges across the countryside. Geese fly in V’s overhead and mums are in bright bloom. You can occasionally catch a whiff of what is to me, one of the most wonderful of scents … the bittersweet odor of a wood fire wafting out of someone’s chimney.
So it dawned on me that I’m actually living more of winter than I have to by thinking about it before it actually arrives. It reminded me of Christ’s counsel, “Take no thought of tomorrow. For tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” In other words, take it a day at a time.
That’s a challenge whether you’re staring down the barrel of a long, dark winter, wondering about the security of your job, dealing with a difficult illness, wrestling with family problems or struggling with any of the other seemingly numberless dilemmas that seem endemic to mankind. But it makes good sense.
By living in the future you rob yourself of today. By anticipating what it’s going to be like in a week or a month or a year, you divert your attention from simply living. So try to take things a day at a time.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Living Lightly
Most of us expend too much energy on any given issue. It's like using an elephant gun to kill a fly. Because we live such busy lives, filled with demands from a large number of sources, it's very easy to fall into a pattern of overkill on problems. We deal with so many important issues that don't require higher levels of energy that we automatically carry over that approach to the smaller issues also. We sometimes think that if a little energy can be used to deal effectively with a situation, how much better will a lot of energy be! It's like asking the doctor to prescribe a very powerful antibiotic when you have a viral upper respiratory illness. First, the antibiotic can't kill the virus and, second, you probably don't need such a powerful intervention.
Living lightly, which includes the conscious application of just the right amount of energy to get any given job done, is becoming a lost art. Our lives have become demanding and loud. Too often it's the squeaky wheel ... not the most important wheel ... that gets the grease. Our society puts a value on noisy, flashy and busy. Other activities such as contemplation, meditation and conservation are de-emphasized. Whatever is screaming for our attention generally gets it, regardless of its level of true importance. We've become so accustomed to listening to the noise that we're losing the art of listening to the whispers of guidance that come from within and from higher Sources.
Many people go home after a long days work and automatically flip on the television. They open the newspaper and begin reading it with the TV on in the background. They feel uncomfortable in the quiet ... they have to have some noise in the background even if they aren't paying attention to the content. Some people want the noise because, if there's nobody else in the house at the time, they feel alone. As a people, we have become uncomfortable with aloneness, with solitude, with the quietness through which the voices of wisdom whisper to us.
I'm reminded of the prophet who told the story of how he received his guidance in a time of great inner turmoil. In the story he climbed a mountain and was waiting for some instruction or direction from God. During his wait a mighty wind arose and tore the rocks asunder. But, he said, his help was not in the wind. Then a tremendous earthquake occurred shaking and splitting the earth. But, he said, his help was not found in the earthquake. Then an immense and intense fire arose, devouring huge chunks of the countryside. But, he said, his help was not found in the fire. Then, having witnessed these loud and calamitous events, he heard a whisper. And his help was found in the whisper.
Living lightly entails managing our energy output by applying it correctly to the situations we face and taking the time to screen out the noise of our lives and listen for the whisper of guidance. Reacquaint yourselves with occasional periods of solitude where you can hear the hushed tones of comfort and direction that you won't find in the roar of the wind, earthquake or fire.
Living lightly, which includes the conscious application of just the right amount of energy to get any given job done, is becoming a lost art. Our lives have become demanding and loud. Too often it's the squeaky wheel ... not the most important wheel ... that gets the grease. Our society puts a value on noisy, flashy and busy. Other activities such as contemplation, meditation and conservation are de-emphasized. Whatever is screaming for our attention generally gets it, regardless of its level of true importance. We've become so accustomed to listening to the noise that we're losing the art of listening to the whispers of guidance that come from within and from higher Sources.
Many people go home after a long days work and automatically flip on the television. They open the newspaper and begin reading it with the TV on in the background. They feel uncomfortable in the quiet ... they have to have some noise in the background even if they aren't paying attention to the content. Some people want the noise because, if there's nobody else in the house at the time, they feel alone. As a people, we have become uncomfortable with aloneness, with solitude, with the quietness through which the voices of wisdom whisper to us.
I'm reminded of the prophet who told the story of how he received his guidance in a time of great inner turmoil. In the story he climbed a mountain and was waiting for some instruction or direction from God. During his wait a mighty wind arose and tore the rocks asunder. But, he said, his help was not in the wind. Then a tremendous earthquake occurred shaking and splitting the earth. But, he said, his help was not found in the earthquake. Then an immense and intense fire arose, devouring huge chunks of the countryside. But, he said, his help was not found in the fire. Then, having witnessed these loud and calamitous events, he heard a whisper. And his help was found in the whisper.
Living lightly entails managing our energy output by applying it correctly to the situations we face and taking the time to screen out the noise of our lives and listen for the whisper of guidance. Reacquaint yourselves with occasional periods of solitude where you can hear the hushed tones of comfort and direction that you won't find in the roar of the wind, earthquake or fire.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
