Courtesy of L.Shadrack

What makes us human?

Is it our heart, opening…closing, like the windows of God’s eyes.

Is it our brains, constantly scanning, searching, hoping, thinking about what comes next.

Is it our emotions, feeling a single high for every low, always keeping us on our toes.

Is it our ability to recognize suffering? Is it our ability to acknowledge it?

Are we as unique as we think we are…will the journey continue to unfold after death?

In my opinion, none of this is what makes us human. The difference between a rock and an animal is that the rock accepts its fate. The rock knows it has no place to be and needs nothing to survive…now or ever. An animal is driven by instinct, it is always trying to survive. An animal is anxiety, movement, panic. A rock is stoicism, stability, and patience.

Humans are animals, but there is one difference that differentiates us. What makes us human, is that we are connected, we are alive, we are one. We feel the patience hiding inside of the rock. We feel the constant struggle in an animal’s instinct. We are both the rock and the animal.

We are aware of those around us. We know how our actions affect others, but there’s one problem.

We try to forget…

During your daily struggles, don’t become the animal. Remember that you have no place to be, except where you are. Remember that your place is not in your individuality, but in your connection with others.

We are human, but we are so much more. Become more.

There are some that teach us to feel guilty for being born in this skin. Others will have you believe we are less than perfect. All of that may be true, but I refuse to believe it.

We’ve been given a gift of seeing what it is truly like to live. We struggle, sometimes alone and sometimes together. We suffer, we laugh, we cry…we love. We spend our lives hoping, searching, and sacrificing our lives for love. We all feel deeply tied to each other, even though we try to forget.
Sometimes the suffering is too much and we quietly return to our shells…hoping that our luck will change. We often feel alone, but we know that we are not. Somewhere, someplace, there is a being or a spirit that lives within us.

We should not feel guilty, for we are born to be exactly as we are. Perfectly formed beings filled with the intention of our creator. Whether or not you believe in a god is irrelevant. We are the very act of a nature so great and powerful that we do not understand.

Universes bent to the will of fate…by the hand of nature herself, in order for this miracle of life to take place. By chance or by fate, it has happened and the likelihood of it happening anywhere else or at any other time is virtually nonexistent.

Celebrate who you are, even if your times are dire. Someday we will all realize that we are in this together. Someday the consciousness of man will shift further toward the divine and when we all wake up what a glorious day that will be.

Don’t feel guilty in your own skin, be thankful for the chance to shine. Be grateful that you’ve been able to see what it was like to suffer, for now you understand joy. Be thankful for war, for now you know peace.

In the end, whether our souls move on our perish forever, our memories will be imprinted on the very space we inhabit. We will remain forever on the fabric of time.

Although future generations may not know us, the universe will forever keep us in her memory. That my friends, is why we do matter. Just as we learn from the universe, the universe learns from us. Let us cherish that.

Image by Happy Tinfoil Cat

You claim freedom and free will, but how far are you willing to go to back that up? Given the choice, would you take the red pill and risk everything to gain it all, or would you be afraid to leave your “quasi” life behind and cower behind the blue pill?

Many people say that they want freedom, but I’m willing to be that they simply tell themselves that to mask the fact that they don’t have the strength or courage to do what they know must be done.

You have a choice…you can forsake everything you have for the sake of a spiritual journey, or you can remain in place, stuck to a body that will die and a life that will fade away.

How Much Control are

You Willing to Give Up?

The question isn’t so much, how much control do you have – the question is how much are you willing to give up? The true measure of control is the amount that we are willing to let go of and I’m willing to be that given the choice, many of use would retreat to our comfort zone.

You see, I know you feel it somewhere deep inside of you, that urge to break free of your cocoon and live the life of a butterfly. I bet that every day that passes where you haven’t shed a layer has resulted in another layer being added. Every day you feel the emotional energy build up inside of you, but you are afraid. You can’t take the pain of separation, of change.

So where does that leave us? You aren’t alone. We are all tied to our social and physical bonds. However, if we just realize that eventually, everything is going to fade away regardless, then we can accept our life as a butterfly much easier.

The truth is, once you face death and conquer it, you fear nothing. Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful way to live?

Living Your Dreams

In the last two parts of the series, I talked about eyeing the world with innocence, and keeping hope alive. In the final installment of this series, I’d like to talk about keeping your dreams alive. Now, nowhere in the manual of life does it have to say that you have to reach for the stars. However, I’m betting that when you were a child you had a great many dreams about what you expected out of life. Now if you compare the dreams of your childhood or teenage years and with your life now, I am betting that the two are a little out of sync. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that you’ve given up, but it does mean that one of two things happened:

1. Your dreams have changed     …or
2. You lost them somewhere along the way.

If your dreams have changed, then there is nothing wrong with re-evaluating what you want out of life. The key is to make sure you don’t forget that part of the process. If you dreamed about being a therapist and later thought you’d rather travel the world and be a missionary, then it is important to note that change in philosophy. I highly suggest keeping a journal for things like this. I keep a notebook within arms reach at all times, and in this notebook I chronicle everything I want to be. I write down reminders for action as well as reminders of who I was and what I am.

I’m not suggesting we strive to achieve meaningless physical goods, but that you simply keep track of who you are. It is so easy to get caught up in the grind and struggle of everyday life that sometimes we forget where we were headed. This is especially important when it comes to spirituality. If I want to meditate or keep a certain mindset it can be very difficult without a reminder at times. What I’m trying to say is that it is easy to get off track and eventually we get caught in the current and lose ourselves in the process. Rather than letting this happen to you, spend some time figuring out what makes you happy and what kind of life you’d like to live. If you aren’t actively living, then you are going to get pushed in a direction you may not want to go.

Now, if you don’t fall into category one and simply lost your dreams in the process then it is important that you recover them immediately. Whether they were forced out of you by working a 9-5, you gave up on them, or you simply pushed them into your subconscious you need to get back to the dreaming self you were as a child. The most recognizable symptom I notice when it comes to someone leaving their dreams behind is that they have also lost their imagination. Maybe you feel guilty going against the grain, or maybe you just haven’t spent time relaxing and letting your imagination go wild…but I am betting that you could use the relief gained from going on an imagination trip.

I really enjoy mind mapping for something like this, although a blank sheet of paper will do just as well. Start by writing down what sort of things you would like to have in your life on a daily basis. Maybe its more yoga, maybe learning a musical instrument, or maybe learning another language. Anything is possible. I know this sounds like a typical self-help exercise, but bear with me just a moment.

I’m confident that if you just engage your imagination as often as you can, you will find yourself seeing things in a different way. You will start to release yourself from the bonds that keep you down and you will start dreaming again. This dreaming is what will allow you to focus on the path that leads you to your dharma and to start walking it with confidence. Everyone’s journey is unique…we have to drive our own train to freedom!

Dreaming allows you to feel ok going against the grain. Dreaming keeps you young at heart and your imagination on fire! Dreaming teaches you that this world is not what it seems, its up to you to get there!

So in the end, I’m asking you to look beyond the ignorance and try to see the world for what it really is…a beautiful and unlimited masterpiece! Find hope in your world and pass it around to those that need it most. And don’t forget to bring that little child inside when you venture throughout the world. He/She wants to stroll right along side you and help you keep the innocence alive.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’m looking forward to your comments and hope you share your journey with me as much as I have mine with you. Until next time…

Padma

A World Full of Hope

Image by Evelyn Arthur Richman

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about seeing the world for what it truly is, which is full of magic and wonder. In this part, I’d like to move on to the topic of hope. I believe that there is far too little hope remaining in the world and for the world. Our culture, particularly in the West, has become one of constant crisis and criticism. The media reminds me of Chicken Little, always claiming that “they sky is falling.” Less informed people follow this lead and the cycle perpetuates itself into a frenzy of chaos and fearmongering.

What I believe is necessary, now more than ever, is for those of us that refuse to fall prey to this trap to bring an era of hope to the world. When we were children, we had hopes and dreams to achieve amazing things. We were so full of hope that our imagination was the only barrier to what we would be able to accomplish. Look into a child’s eyes and you can see this hope as a glimmer of innocence. Lucky for them, they don’t know what they don’t know and as long as the innocence remains they continue to have stars in their eyes.

As we grow older, we begin to lose this hope. I often find myself getting down and depressed when confronted with this barrage of negative information. It is very difficult to keep hope alive at times, but I believe it is essential that we do so.

If we truly want to live a spiritually enlightened path, then we must find a way to not only adopt a life of hope for ourselves, but also act as a beacon of hope for others.

Here are some suggestions:

1. When you see someone acting like chicken little, offer them an alternative viewpoint of hope. Slow them down and let them know that they have the ability to be positive about any situation.
2. Practice spreading hope through your actions. Work hard to be positive throughout the day and when you find yourself being down or negative, find something to be thankful for to lift your spirits.
3. Spread hope wherever you go by being aware of the good things happening in the world and making sure others know about them.
4. Become an ambassador of hope by focusing your mediation on sending positive energy into the world and absorbing the negative energy around you. When you are in public, try and radiate positive energy to impact those around you. People love to be around positive energy and as you perfect this practice you will most likely find people flocking to you in order to feed off of your energy.

The world is craving direction and needs leaders that can offer a future of hope. Individually, we might not be enough, but together we certainly can make a difference. Eventually, a leader will step up and I hope it is someone like yourself that is consciously living your dharma.

I’ve been reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and besides being extremely impressed wih the quality of the writing itself, I am fascinated with the character of Howard Roark. If you haven’t read the book (I highly recommend it), Howard Roark is a man defined by his integrity. In this instance, integrity is defined as the standing by one’s beliefs regardless of the consequences. In the book, Roark’s integrity costs him his career, his love, and his friends but earns him the respect of friends and enemies in the process.

It seems to me, that there is far to little of this in our world. Although I cannot brag about my flawless integrity, I really try to stand by my beliefs the best that I can. Too many people live without belief so much as that they are willing to accept every little nudge towards a belief made for them. The media defines beliefs in such a way that I cannot tell where the truth is anymore and most people don’t know who to trust. We feed lies to ourselves and others in such a selfish way that it is hard not to believe we haven’t corrupted our souls.

Sometimes when I ponder the future of humanity and our current course, it looks like a trainwreck waiting to happen. It almost feels like we are all walking around with question marks over our heads pretending that we know what is going on but really feeling like a mess.

It is my belief that a lack of integrity has left humankind open to ignorance and as a result is lost. It is difficult to risk our lives for out beliefs, but we have to remember that we are all on the road towards death regardless, and if we keep our heads in the sand or convince ourselves otherwise the end will not be as peaceful as we like to imagine.

Again, I’m not trying to preach because I am not perfect at all, but the momentum of one person can carry an entire era.  We need more people to fight against the current and to help redirect it. Howard Roark believed in following his instinct and his path at great costs. I believe in truth, hope, and passion. What do you believe in?