Celebrating Our Humanity and Its Meaning
I try not to write posts that are completely off-topic, but occasionally I come across ideas on vaguely related subjects that I believe are worth sharing.
Traveling back East for Christmas, I came across the musings of a writer: “When I hear people say that life is hard, I wonder – compared to what?” The holidays truly are an opportunity for us to be thankful for what we have, and to be mindful that many of our fellow travelers on planet Earth are not so lucky.
If you’re looking for a book recommendation that makes this point with the power of a speeding freight train, I’d like to suggest Steven Galloway’s critically acclaimed The Cellist of Sarajevo, a short novel about the siege of the 1990s – a passionate and potent reminder of our humanity and what it truly means.
What a great recommendation! This is a wonderful book. The event was a miracle!
So true – we are so very fortunate to have been born in this nation particularly, where our potential for Liberty and transformative growth seems to me to be greater than any other nation, where the land is abundantly rich in life and beauty, graced with a strong natural web that provides so many un-valued and invaluable ecological services, and possessed of so many useful natural resources. We squander so much and yet are still surrounded by surplus, and even excess, in so many directions.
Income is only one small example – compare the poverty line for a single person in the US ($10,830.00) to the average yearly income of the population of Bangledesh ($1500.00).
We just need to straighten out our priorities, and shift the bulk of our budget away from buying destruction and toward investing in creation.
Ahh, yes! Miracles are necessary for healing. Understanding what they are is important. Any idea that moves this discusion forward and expands it, whatever that direction may be, is a good thing, yes?
The belief that life is hard or dificult is the penchant of the split mind. We all have it. It is only when it becomes obvious to others in this world of separated minds that it may become clinically diagnosed as pathological.(i. e., an illogical or harmful path).
Our mind is split because we see ourselves as being in a body and believe that is what we are. In truth, we are mind. The body is a part of the kingdom the mind must rule. The ego is the part of the mind that identifies with the body. It sees itself as separate and vulnerable. Yet the body by itself, can do or see nothing. It cannot change the mind, but the mind can change the body and what it believes it is for. Mind is boundless and invulnerable in itself, unless it believes it is bound to the body, and for this earth bound existance, it is. The ego tries desperately to insure the body’s imortality, all the while knowing it cannot. The egos basic premis is insane therefor, being based on false beliefs, which we do not ever question, at least not until those last few breaths on earth, if we are granted them. Mind is boundless because in can extend, and like itself. If it sees itself as fearful, it will extend in that way, but not very far, because it is the nature of fear to close off and be separate to protect itself. If it sees itself as invulnerable loving truth, it will extend in that way also. Truth extends to all minds because it supports life and being as one. This ultimate strength is what enables all higher life forms to recognize themselves and others like them. Returning the mind to this one true awareness is called healing, and it is accomplished by merely letting go of the separate mind that we made to replace the mind that we were given in our begining. That is the Miracle. Any questions?
Not a one!
A few words about “The Cellist of Sarajeivo”, and the reporters comments.. We may need to be aware that the ego is ubiquitous and believes that multitudes of pseudo though incorrect visions and imaginings will make its case for limitation and loss and suffering. This is the same for all stories of suffering, even the ones in the bible and other “holy” books. The ego believes that enough stories supporting fear will make its case, even though they are all untrue. The truth being; “you can be hurt by nothing but your thoughts”. The ego, and any thoughts from the past, are unreal; I.E., they no longer exist. They are only recalled by ones memory, and are no longer as they were, because the mind has changed from it was when the events were thought to take place. Therefore, they are not as they seem, but as we would have them be. The truth of the mind realizes that we cannot judge anything truly as it is. It is not that we shouldn’t, it is that we simply cannot; we are not equiped. Therefore, we must give all judgement over to a higher power that will see truly as it is, not as we would have it be. Yes, we must constrain those foolish souls who would believe that doing foolish things are in their best interests, but not to punish, which is in itself a false concept of correction, which history alone would tell us does not work. We have made a mockery of spiritual truth and subverted it for the ego’s domain of death and fear. We can now choose the higher plain and turn away from fearful thoughts and all they represent to us. We need not enlist all the world to harken to this seeing, but merely choose it for ourselves. In this is the world, for us, changed, and those who witness may be changed as they will, or they will be granted the rewards of the fearful thought system they choose and demonstrate their choice through the world they make real for them. I.E., we cannot see a better world untill we stop choosing the world we had before and believing it has value to us. We cannot have illusions and truth in the same instant.