Big Questions

As we venture into the world

                We are confronted by two questions,

“How will I make a living today”, and

                “What is the meaning of life?

It is the Big Questions that humans uniquely ponder,

                “I am human, but what does that mean?”

                “I am spiritual, but what does that mean?”

“Am I a human being having a spiritual experience, or

                Am I a spiritual being having a human one?”

In Christianity there is sin and salvation,

                In Buddhism there is no sin, only harmony.

In my life there is difficulty and joy,

                I choose joy and feel guilty about that.

Religions drive war, hatred and terror,

                Yet “God” is loving, caring and merciful.

Humans crave peace and love and harmony, and yet

                We love power, competition and success.

“I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.”

                “It is not an auto race without a fiery crash.”

Yin and yang are as natural as all of nature.

                The bell curve represents all in the world.

Good and bad, evil and holy, war and peace, strong and weak

                Are all essential to balance and harmony.

What is God?

                Is there a heaven?

                                Is there a right and wrong?

                                                Are there universal truths?

                                                                Is there one path for me or many?

What are the answers to the Big Questions?

                Perhaps they are those that bring us personal joy, peace and harmony,

                                Even if to others they seem violent, painful or crazy.

Well back to making a living . . .

Love

God is love.

When you share the deepest of all loves with someone,

                You are in spirit with them,

                                In harmony with them,

                                                Connected with them,

But you share something so much more,

                Something divine that cannot be explained.

When you are together all is right in the world.

                There is no place on earth you would rather be.

                                Warmth pours through you.

                                                Dreams are at once real and surreal. 

We call this person a soul mate.

                They are entwined with our soul.

                                We are enmeshed in theirs.

Whether our physical bodies are together or apart,

Our spirits are never separated.

Being with Barbara makes my spirit dance.

                When I hear her cheery voice, my soul soars.

When I hold her and kiss her, my world becomes so simple.

                I love her dearly and all else will figure itself out.

This is God.

                The connection of all souls to all others,

                                And a uniquely deep connection of two souls to one another,

Within the infinitely abundant cosmic harmony of spirit, nature, physics and life.

I say that all things are temporary.

                I feel, though, that our spirit is infinite.

I feel that when you meet your soul mate,

                A true deeply connected soul mate,

The fusion of spirit shared by Barbara and me,

                That is infinite too.

I am looking forward to infinity . . . one day at a time.

The Mirror

I was listening to a book on CD and

the author told me to look in the mirror and

tell myself that I am wonderful.

So I did.

What is wonderful, I thought.

What is a wonderful person?

                Do I know anyone who is wonderful?

Perhaps I do.

Who are they?

They love everyone unconditionally:

                Those they know well, know a little, have only just met, have yet to meet and will never meet.

                Those who disagree with them, with whom they disagree and those who are downright mean.

They know that love is inside them.

                Something to give to others.

                                Something they do not need back.

                                                But likely will receive nonetheless.

They know that they need not like those they love.

                That they bring everyone they meet into their lives for a reason.

                                No one can harm or discourage them unless they let him do so.

As a corollary, they do not judge anyone ever:

They know everyone is on his or her own journey following his or her own path.

              It is not their place to judge her on that path, nor what he believes, says or thinks.

They know their own path is one of peace.

                Something to share with others.           

                                Something they do not need back.

                                                But likely will receive nonetheless.

They know that each person’s path is her own.

                They know they bring people with odd paths into their lives for a reason.

                                No journeyer can deflect them from their path unless they let him do so.

They do not care a whit what others think of them:

                They know following their path is their journey for their enlightenment.

                It is not the place of others to judge or interpret or interrupt their path.

They know their own path is theirs alone.

                Sometimes shared with others they let in.          

                                A sharing they do not need back.

                                                But likely will receive nonetheless.

They wear what they want for themselves.

                They eat what they want for it is right for them.

                                They listen to their heart alone for directions.

No one can deflect them from their path unless THEY let her do so.

 

And they are always happy. They know what is right because it makes them so.

The mirror looked back at me.

                “Can you be that person?” it asked.

“I will be that person.” I replied.

Then I finished brushing my teeth . . .

Joy

The music plays wistfully in the background.

The sun glows brightly in the sky.
Barbara flits about preparing for work.
Big hug and kiss and she is out the door.

My mind wanders, as it is wont to do,

To ponder the world, the spirits and the universe and
The music plays quietly in the background.

I learned that DNA gives off electro-magnetic signals all the time.

                We can sense them.
All life gives off pheromones into the world around us,
                We can sense them.
I have known for years that we are part of a universal harmony of all things.
                We can sense this.
We feel comfort with no reason. We sense fear for no reason. We love for no reason. We join for no reason. We talk to a stranger for no reason. We act for no reason.
                Other than that we know, in our hearts, it is the right thing to do.
It is in harmony with the universe, and
The music plays boldly in the background.

When we are connected into the harmony of all things

We attract into our lives those things we really really want,

if we know that we can,

and have the faith to act.

We know it is the right thing to do

                Because it brings us happiness to do it, and

The music plays joyfully in the background.

Connecting means

Awareness,

                Thoughtfulness,

                                Belief without doubt,

                                                Knowing,

                                                                Trusting,

Dreams,

                Desires,

                                Passion,

                                                Love, and most of all

                                                                Joy.

Love and Joy are the absence of

Judgment,

                Hatred,

                                Anger,

                                                Jealousy,

                                                                Blame,

                                                                                Guilt,

Unworthiness,

                Insecurity,

                                Fear,

                                                Grief,

                                                                Despair, and

                                                                                Powerlessness.

All of these things are external to who we are.

                They are visions we create of ourselves, for ourselves.

They may be visions others have of us, but

                We have to make them ours for them to become real.

Our biggest fear is the realization that we are responsible for creating our own world.

                All of it and through it all,

The music plays constantly in the background.

Love and Joy are the presence of

Empowerment,

                Freedom,

                                Appreciation for all,

                                                Enthusiasm,

                                                                Happiness, and

                                                                                Creativity.

These are wealth. These are abundant. These are infinite.

They are available to all who truly want them.

Many do not, despite their circumstances, complaints and moaning,

Because these three are who they believe themselves to be,

They are safety, simple and comfortable no matter the pain involved, and so

Those three things they drag more of into their lives.

The music still beckons in the background.

The greatest gift we can give someone is not food, or money or things, but

                The power to know they can find love and joy in their lives, for

With love and joy you can have anything you truly want in your life,

But what could be more than love and joy?

The music plays so nicely  . . .

A Minute Passes

A minute passes and children die of hunger.

We send them food.

Still many die.

But even more live.

                Overpopulation

A minute passes and people die of malaria.

We send them nets.

Still many die.

But even more live.

                Overpopulation

A minute passes and people die from war.

We send them aid.

Still many die.

But even more live.

                Overpopulation

A minute passes and babies are born.

We send them drugs.

Still many die.

But even more live.

                Overpopulation

More people are born and live.

We send them condoms.

Still many live.

And even more are born.

                Overpopulation

We sit in our big arm chairs.

In comfortable rooms.

In US suburbs.

We send them money.

And complain.
Still many die.
But even more live.

Overpopulation

We change the channel . . .

The snow falls . . .

The snow falls silently outside my tree house window as it has for so many days now.

The birds that are still here seem not to notice as they peck the tree and eat from our feeder.

The squirrels eat corn from the tray we put out, their tails pulled tightly over their backs and around them like a big fur coat. They still romp after one another around the frozen tree and scamper across the blanket of snow with relative ease. Where do they go?

Jays and crows also like the corn. What do the robins eat? They seem happy and healthy as they fly about from branch to branch, but there are no worms.

I see the tracks of rabbits in the snow below and wonder where they go. What do they find to eat? I see tunnels that lead beneath the snow and wonder whose labyrinth they lead to. The surface is white and featureless. Barren and cold. Perhaps there is a whole world of life under that surface we cannot see.

I stay safely behind the glass and wonder, “How are all the creatures of nature so very bold?”

I think about things I cannot know. They do not seem to care at all about these things. Perhaps in their silent evenings in hiding, they too contemplate the universe. Who knows? I read something recently that asked, “Can we be more like them?” I suppose I am thankful we are not, because I am warm and dry as I watch them forage in this frigid environment.

Is thinking a trade-off for bliss? We create our own environment and bring life to us. In exchange we worry, ponder, want, seek, think, dream and strive for more. More money, more knowledge, more comfort, more understanding, more peace, more land, more everything, often figuring out how to take it from someone else, though we should know that abundance is infinite.

They, nature’s creatures, are not so much different than we are. They too fight over the food that is available and chase others away when they can, even though it is always there and always full, every day, all year long. They do this even in the warmer months when food is plentiful. The fear of want pervades all creatures, I suppose, and the greed of the powerful overwhelms the desire of the weak at every layer of nature. It is the way we are all trained, perhaps from before our birth.

Perhaps we will learn to be patient. Perhaps we will learn that joy, wealth, and happiness, as we individually define them, are in infinite abundance and we need not take from one in order to have what we need. Every great wise man and woman has preached this for many thousands of years, and yet it has not sunk in yet, really at any level of our society. Why is that?

Perhaps even I will learn those lessons someday. Today does not feel like one of those days.

It has been a long week . . . I take one last look out my window at the squirrel who seems to look up at me, and the birds flitting about the feeder, and the white expanse beyond, and think, “God bless nature’s creatures. I’m going to make a sandwich . . . “