No such thing as a dispassionate observer

Don't try to fool yourself by getting involved in a situation and saying "I'm just a dispassionate observer."

There has never been a human being created whose observations do not affect their psyche in some way. 

Be prepared to be changed. The hotter the situation, the faster the change will make its mark on you. 

Like a tuning fork, you will find yourself resonating with the emotional waves about you. 

This means that you should be involved with helping others only if you are prepared to learn, and change with them. 

Is it fun yet?

The purpose of all life:                                             

(1) Learn

(2) Enjoy

We must love ourselves, teach ourselves, learn from ourselves, teach others, learn from others, and have a good time if we can. 

Remember that, when you feel like crying, the most potential for learning exists. 

"Is it fun yet?"

"Pain makes man think, 
Thought makes man wise, 
Wisdom makes life endurable. "

John Patrick: The Teahouse of the August Moon

"Be careful what you wish for. You might get it!"
(my mother)

Teacher and Student Both

As our own best teacher, we excel beyond all expectations. 

Observe the number and variety of scenarios we will create, over and over, in order to learn one small painful lesson. 

Sometimes it is painful to observe what slow learners we can be, at the same time that we are such clever teachers! 

How marvellous to be god and mortal in one. 

Teachers everywhere

As we become ready for new lessons, teachers appear. Keep in mind that the true lesson is not the one you expect, nor even the one the teacher has in mind!

Can we accept real love?

As we aspire to greater understanding of the mysteries of life, we must be prepared to get answers to our questions. Sometimes the answers will be as painful as the problem that stimulated us to question.

The mark of our advancement may be our ability to break out of old cycles - pain, hurt, despair, more pain ...

When we can love ourselves and others enough to accept anything we and they might do, then maybe we have advanced another step. If we keep trying to love, we might eventually rise out of the power of the wheel of life. 

Tough Choice

As she wandered along the beach, our heroine found a crippled bird. Cradling it in her arms she hurried home to tend to its wounds. On the wet sand lay yet another crippled bird. Unable to carry two struggling, injured creatures, she left one behind, in order to attempt to save the other.

Should we be angered by her lack of compassion, or by the difficulty of the circumstances that caused one injured bird to be washed out to sea on the tide?

Will we be godly enough to love someone who would make such a cruel reality for themselves?

Slaves to a busy nature

We rarely consider the nature of any alternative to the busy life we have created for ourselves; our enslavement is so complete. 

Would we give it up even if we knew?

Manage your soul energy

Be prepared as a human to leave bits of your soul energy lying around. As you commit yourself to relationships with others, your energies become tangled. When you part and the mixing mo longer proceeds, that energy is left. The longing or separation you might feel is not necessarily logical, but it is real. Do not attempt to disown it. It cannot hurt you. Reclaim the energy by learning the lessons of the experience. 

What is sadder?

We think it sad when people live in a "fantasy world".

Isn't it even sadder when you think of people who never attempt to live their fantasy?

Beauty everywhere

Life can be like travelling along a road in mountainous terrain. When you are high up your view is spectacular. During the "low spots" it can seem to be sad and dull in comparison. 

We must learn to gain pleasure from all parts of the journey. There is beauty in remembrance, in anticipation, and in the moment itself. 

We must be prepared as we come around the curves to be surprised by a vista that we did not know was waiting there, and be ready to capture the beauty it brings us. 

Shamed by praise

One of the sad experiences in life is that of performing in some way, or saying something that you regret, then at some later date finding someone else who remembers what you did or said. The worst part of this comes when you find that they thought the action was clever of you! 

What a feeling of shame it brings. 

Boastful Ghosts

From time to time, you will be haunted by "probable you's". These spectres come by every now and then to tease you, since they are the result of you making a different decision in some part of your past. You might recognize the ghosts of the past by another name: the "if only's". 

Remember, like all braggarts, they only present the best of what they are. 

Learn to live with your decisions. 

Can't see the forest for the trees

It is amazing how blind most of us are. 

Sometimes we don't see what wonders are around until we are at risk of losing them. 

Pity those that see too late!

Two directions, one goal

Just because someone is travelling in a direction different from yours, do not conclude that their goals must be different! 

A Dream of Love

I once had a dream that was so life-like that when I awoke, it was hard to believe I had made it up myself. In it, you see, I awoke and before it ended, I went to bed.

The dream was uplifting to my spirit. I had found love and caring for self, for others, and from others that I had never imagined existed.

Looking back, the unreality of this love is all that convinces me it was a dream.

If it is in my power, I will live the dream again; but nevertheless, I will not feel unloved ever again.

Never safe to love

It is natural, when we are about to take risks to look around for safety nets.

In love, there are no reliable precautions to avoid failure.

You are never safe to love. You must consider the alternative.

Can you live without it?

It has occurred to me very recently that when two allow themselves to be completely vulnerable when together, there is the greatest chance for success in love. Ironic in a way that the best way to keep love is to be willing to lose it completely if it isn't true. Losing love in spite of openness is still very hard. Even though we shouldn't grieve, we do and I have.

conversation

Two people sit in their kitchen. 

One comments: 
(1) "We haven't had much snow this winter, but those windows are already dirty."

Reply: 
(2) "Isn't it lovely the way the sunlight looks on the wall where we painted it?"

(1) "Good thing we covered up the marks."

In fun:
(2) "Look inside the peanut butter jar."

(1) "Looks like I need to buy more."

(2) "I was thinking how strange that you and I can look at the same thing and see two different things. There are still lots of sandwiches left. "

See the magic

Many do not know the difference between scepticism and pessimism. 

Nothing is good if you see only bad. The world is never bright when you look for shadows. 

See the magic?

It is an illusion. That illusion can be your life or you can choose to forget about magic and live in the shadows. 

Choose.

You are not alone

From time to time, the ideas in this book* will seem impossibly wrong. 

Remember they did feel right once. They will feel right again. It might not be tomorrow, but soon. 

Remember also that this condition is a permanent state for some. Pity them. 

* These little essays were housed in a 4x6 red binder until they were removed and bound separately then stored away and forgotten. The ideas were not forgotten however. Not completely anyway.

What we need

In December, without ever giving it a thought, I purchased an Amaryllis bulb. Against my usual habit of procrastination, I planted it immediately, almost urgently. 

The growth astonished me. It was frightening in a way, because as the shoot lengthened it tended to tilt. Once, its' bend became such that I thought it would break without support. Leaning it on the wall, it strengthened and continued its amazing climb toward light.
Its growth complete, it is now beginning to bloom. 

I do not fear for its failure any more. See, I never really expected that plant to live forever. I hope it lives a long time, but my fear is gone because I have seen its blossom. 

I never really thought of buying an amaryllis. It was just there, and I thought maybe "this would be pleasant." Such is the way of the inner self. I must, deep down, have needed that plant. 

Finding your unique path

The problems of Christianity are many. 

At the level of the spirit, much is made of human failings. Our 'sinfulness' or falling short is used to explain our need for Christ. But who can keep a positive self-concept when confronted with a belief system that tells  you "the voice within you might be Satan. Trust God!?"

But who can hear God better than you?

Where can you go to gain confidence in your right relationship to God? The priest? The minister? A monk in a cave?

This vicious circle leads people who are potential lovers and learners to become judgemental and lacking in self-esteem. 

Everyone needs a unique path to self-love and love of others. My path is not yours. Your path is found by listening to your inner self. 

Do not look for a guru. You are your own best teacher about you, but you must learn to listen to that excellent teacher. 

That makes me sick

Research* is indicating a relationship between occurrences of diseases such as cancer, T.B., and asthma to attitudes of the patient. Low self-esteem and lack of enthusiasm for life contribute to risk of illness. It almost seems as though the human body reacts to a lack of interest in life by bringing on death or illness. 

When you believe in the spirit, this becomes understandable. 

For good health, we must feel in control of our lives in the deepest sense. 

If you ask a person dying of cancer if they want to live, they are not likely to say "No I wanted to die, so I allowed this to happen." But belief in the spirit implies a life and death that are meaningful. Death is a statement made by the entity too. 

In some cases, to die, and especially the manner of death becomes a high point of influence over others. Do not deny an entity their right to choose the manner and drama of their exit from your play. 

*The Healer Within: The New Medicine of Mind and Body
by Steven Locke, Douglas Colligan, Norman Cousins; published 1987

Site Under Development

Imagine driving along a highway. In the distance you see many tall buildings. Without warning, one of them is engulfed in smoke, then the smoke clears and you see the building falling to the ground.*

Later, you see the pile of rubble marking the spot the building occupied. A sign outside the perimeter announces a fine new complex for the arts to be erected on the site.

In people's lives they sometimes need to renovate or even rebuild completely. The sight of destruction and ruins in a person's life might seem sad. You cannot know what splendours might rise to take their place.

Try not to judge the quality of another's life on the basis of your external observations.

We should all wear signs: "Site Under Development".

*My editor's first reaction was that this was a prophesy of 9-11 back in the 1980s.

Sex is a four-letter word

"She reads DIRTY BOOKS!!" (The Music Man)

Love is a four-letter word ... but sex is too! 

The world of the sexual fantasy looms in the distance ...  Sex rears its ugly head and someone yells "CUT", the lights come up and we see it for what it is. 

What!? Sex is just another form of human communication!? Not really, but how can something so potentially beautiful ever be called junk?

Humanity's ability to distort by its judgement and dogma is not new though, so dear "life hog", stop looking so surprised that the best that life has to offer, an endless variety of sensory stimulation, should be marked "OFF LIMITS" by the diet set. They will look for any excuse to bring you back into despair and hopelessness where they spend their self-imposed life sentence. 

Don't worry about them. You have only to make your choices. They are, in truth, powerless if you refuse to give them power over you. 

Freedom

Why must we have codes of dress, language, or any other outward form of expression?

Are we not free to ignore one another?

Do we really need each other's approval? 

Who should tell a human being what to do?

Living as Cooking

You are the chef, maitre d', and the diner as well. 

You plan the menu of life, prepare the meal, and consume it. If fast food is your steady diet, you'll get bored. 

Vary the menu. 

Spice the experiences, while using only the best ingredients in those smooth sauces. 

Savour the meal. Don't gobble. Any experience worth having will be better appreciated if you recognize the skill taken to serve it. 

Bravo!

What will they think?

When a person cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality, they are labelled insane. People who hear voices are "loonies". Those who act on impulses are thought unstable. 

All of these symptoms are brought about by an incomplete connection with the "higher self". This non-physical part of every entity attempts constantly to guide its physical counterpart. We are taught from an early age to ignore such impossible, unreal influences. 

The messages continue to come through our emotions, our feelings, despite this ignorance on our part. 

The higher self will sometimes trigger a compulsive desire in order to bring about its design. 

Modern humanity's struggle to ignore this persistent but friendly influence causes misunderstandings among others and much discomfort to its owner. 

When you pay attention to and try to act upon this influence, the outcome can be startlingly pleasant. In fact it is hard to believe all of the "coincidences" that can suddenly befall you. 

Life Hogs Unite!

If you live to love and learn, be prepared to take a bashing from society. 

People on diets rarely enjoy watching others eat. They criticize and as they grow thin, they laugh at their chubby fellows, not realizing the contradictions of a life of deprivation. 

As a "life hog", be sure of one thing: life's dieters will envy you your lifestyle even as they continue to count the pleasure calories. Be physically thin if you want, but grow fat on the richest and tastiest morsels that love and learning offer. 

Bon Appétit!

How could God let this happen?

The sceptic scoffs: 

"How could there be a God? Look at this world; all its destruction, suffering, disease, poverty, pollution ... Where is your God? Why doesn't this God do something about these problems?"

As hard to believe as it seems, the answer is simple. 

If we check the premises of these seeming contradictions, we see the problems:
1) Material destruction is bad
2) Pain is bad
3) Death is bad

But nothing of the physical lasts forever. Nothing of the spirit ever dies. 

Pain is the physical body's reaction to resistance on the part of the mind. 

Attempting to preserve the physical world at the price of repressing the spiritual causes pain and suffering. Trusting your higher self you can leave the physical, or remain to learn the lessons it teaches. 

Finally, judging any other person or group's experiences as bad is to deny them their free will. We all make choices. To suggest that someone should be "saved" from the consequences of their choices is denying them free will, no matter how benevolent your motives. 

So, if we all have past lives ...

In our society we are seeing a revolution in male/female roles. In the "new age" we accept that we are all both male and female. No one's abilities and attitudes are determined by sex. Attitudes are adopted, not inherited. 

What a shame the past lives and the lessons learned are hidden from us in our present. 

How could Abraham Lincoln, reincarnated as a black growing up in Manhattan, ever slash a tire or mug someone?

Can you imagine Mrs. Pankhurst as a Wall Street broker who discriminates against the women under him?

Empathy

Intellectually, the concept of many lives in many and varied situations has great appeal. Its appeal comes from the idea that we can each have empathy for all others, not just by imagining their situation, but by living it. 

The child in us wants a dress-up box so we can become whatever we imagine. 

Reincarnation becomes our release for that and its "real-life" mirror of our true nature. 

" ... for unless you accept the kingdom as a little child does, you will never enter ... "