People of all walks of life from all over the world have a common characteristic of offering advice to others. Whether it is in the form of suggesting a product they enjoy to their friends or trying to convince someone to stop a bad habit or switch to their way of thinking, most of us have both given and received advice.
The problem is, advice can ultimately be harmful.
Offering someone your opinion of their circumstances, needs, or interests seems like a helpful thing to do, and yet it is also commonly observed that people rarely follow the advice of others. Sometimes, we even resist the advice of others so strongly that we avoid doing something we would have done anyway simply because someone presumed to suggest it to us.
It can even lead to a cycle of avoidance of either the subject or the person so that we can avoid an impression of following the advice.
I think this is something we are all at least somewhat aware of, and the big question is why this is the case.
I believe that we are here to learn, to grow, and to evolve as spiritual beings. When we come here we chose what path we want to take and even though some of it is decided, it is also incredibly important that we have free will in our decision making because this is the reason for the world being as it is and the best way for us to grow. Every one of us cherishes this free will, it is essentially what we equate with freedom (here in America) and it is something we will fight to the death to keep.
Without our free will we are merely carried along in the current of our lives, making no decisions of our own. In this case, nothing that we do matters because we didn't chose to do it ourselves. This cannot teach us anything, and it relieves us of all responsibility we hold to act in a manner according to our beliefs.
We cherish our free will as much-if not more- as anything else in life. When someone gives us advice, even if well meaning, it feels as if our free will is being taken away. If we follow what they've said and do it to the letter, we are essentially enacting THEIR decision rather than ours. Though this isn't necessarily a concious thought of ours, we often resist the advice given in our own ways.
For the person giving the advice this can be equally harmful. They are concerning themselves with the decisions of another person, while neglecting their own decisions. The advice given could potentially be something that they should be listening to themselves - or even a habit they have that they are suggesting to another in order to not feel alone or judged in doing it themselves.
We are each here with our own mission and our own unique path. It is one thing to help one who comes to you in need, doing only what they've asked you to do and offering no advice but rather understanding and compassion. We want to be understood and listened to by others, not told what we should be doing when we are already hurting from what has happened.
As humans, we need to arrive on our own terms. We have to figure it out for ourselves and come to our own conclusions, otherwise we've learned nothing except how to follow others.
This drive is so deep within us that even seeing someone else not following their own free will and being directed and lead by others can make us want to do something about it. However, it's still not our choice to change the lives of others. We tend to think that suffering is bad and not suffering is good, but in the karmic sense the exact opposite is true. It is through suffering that we are strengthened, and it is through no suffering that we become complacent and engrossed in less than spiritual pursuits.
We have to let others make their own decisions and find their own answers, even when we know that what they've chosen is going to cause them pain. It seems to be the opposite of compassionate to allow someone to stumble and hurt themselves, but true compassion is allowing someone to be who they need to be, and helping them through the pain when it comes.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Mythological Connections - Christ, Ambrosia, Soma/Haoma
As we read through mythologies* from various cultures, there are many threads of connectedness to be found. More well known examples include the flood, the virgin birth and the redeemer (IE Christ, Krisna, Buddha). I enjoy sharing more of these threads as I come across them, and just today I came across another:
The Christ, Ambrosia, and Haoma or Soma
At first glance, Jesus, the food of the greek gods and a fabled plant/drink of Vedic tradition would not seem to have much in common. It is however the concepts surrounding these which suggests common origins.
Jesus:
One of the more famous things said by Jesus is of the bread being his body and the wine being his blood. A great deal of the descriptions of what Jesus came to earth for refers to sacrifice and more importantly, the spilling of his blood or pouring out of it over people.
Ambrosia & Ichor:
The Greek gods were described as consuming two things: Ambrosia and Nectar. The ambrosia specifically was referred to as the source of immortality, and that anyone who consumed it - mortal or otherwise - would gain immortality. In some descriptions it is also said to make one a god, not just immortal. Additionally, the blood of the gods is given special focus, it is called Ichor and described as a golden fluid, much like Ambrosia, which flows through their veins. It is insinuated that the replacement of blood with ichor is what makes one immortal or a God.
Haoma:
Also called Soma, the term describes a plant, a drink made from the plant, and a divine presence. All three are considered to be the same thing, there is no distinction. The drink made from the plant was part of a holy ritual and was considered to bring one to God, or to instill God within someone. Interestingly, the plant, drink and divine presence form a trinity not unlike the Christian trinity of Father (creator), Son (living waters of the creator), and Holy Ghost (holy spirit given by the creator by request of the son).
The connection:
All three of these concepts are part of a trinity - plant, drink, divinity; father, son, holy ghost; ambrosia, nectar, ichor. In each case, all three parts of the trinity are essentially viewed as being the same thing but in different presentations or forms. The essence is the same but the appearance is what changes.
All three of these concepts also relate to blood. The blood of the Christ, Ichor, and the juice of the plant which is drunk are all similar concepts and all three are considered the "cleansing" part of the equation. The plant, ambrosia and father are all "source" elements, and Ichor, the holy spirit, and the divinity of Soma are each a type of divine spirit which somehow changes mortals into immortals (of a sort).
While each of the three mythological sources has its differences, clearly these three ideas are related in some way. I think that each is trying to express a concept of an essentual fluid life force which comes to us by spiritual means and which can both replace all other forms of sustenance and elevate us into a higher state of being.
The mystery remains, though, what is this force, how do we tap into it and is it phsyical or purely spiritual in nature?
What strikes me is that many mythologies and religions say the same things, yet people focus on the differences between those religions and get involved in spiritual battles over them rather than focusing on our true goals - it isn't about who is right or who is wrong. It's about seeking a common goal in a way that makes sense to us and when possible working together to further the benefit for all of mankind.
Remember - the need to be right comes from the ego and it is a direct product of pride. There is a good reason that pride is considered one of the seven deadly sins, and the need to be right keeping people apart and angry at each other illustrates just how much damage pride can do.
*I am including the Bible and considering "mythology" to refer to an ancient story, whether or not mainstream culture believes it to be factual or fantastical.
The Christ, Ambrosia, and Haoma or Soma
At first glance, Jesus, the food of the greek gods and a fabled plant/drink of Vedic tradition would not seem to have much in common. It is however the concepts surrounding these which suggests common origins.
Jesus:
One of the more famous things said by Jesus is of the bread being his body and the wine being his blood. A great deal of the descriptions of what Jesus came to earth for refers to sacrifice and more importantly, the spilling of his blood or pouring out of it over people.
Ambrosia & Ichor:
The Greek gods were described as consuming two things: Ambrosia and Nectar. The ambrosia specifically was referred to as the source of immortality, and that anyone who consumed it - mortal or otherwise - would gain immortality. In some descriptions it is also said to make one a god, not just immortal. Additionally, the blood of the gods is given special focus, it is called Ichor and described as a golden fluid, much like Ambrosia, which flows through their veins. It is insinuated that the replacement of blood with ichor is what makes one immortal or a God.
Haoma:
Also called Soma, the term describes a plant, a drink made from the plant, and a divine presence. All three are considered to be the same thing, there is no distinction. The drink made from the plant was part of a holy ritual and was considered to bring one to God, or to instill God within someone. Interestingly, the plant, drink and divine presence form a trinity not unlike the Christian trinity of Father (creator), Son (living waters of the creator), and Holy Ghost (holy spirit given by the creator by request of the son).
The connection:
All three of these concepts are part of a trinity - plant, drink, divinity; father, son, holy ghost; ambrosia, nectar, ichor. In each case, all three parts of the trinity are essentially viewed as being the same thing but in different presentations or forms. The essence is the same but the appearance is what changes.
All three of these concepts also relate to blood. The blood of the Christ, Ichor, and the juice of the plant which is drunk are all similar concepts and all three are considered the "cleansing" part of the equation. The plant, ambrosia and father are all "source" elements, and Ichor, the holy spirit, and the divinity of Soma are each a type of divine spirit which somehow changes mortals into immortals (of a sort).
While each of the three mythological sources has its differences, clearly these three ideas are related in some way. I think that each is trying to express a concept of an essentual fluid life force which comes to us by spiritual means and which can both replace all other forms of sustenance and elevate us into a higher state of being.
The mystery remains, though, what is this force, how do we tap into it and is it phsyical or purely spiritual in nature?
What strikes me is that many mythologies and religions say the same things, yet people focus on the differences between those religions and get involved in spiritual battles over them rather than focusing on our true goals - it isn't about who is right or who is wrong. It's about seeking a common goal in a way that makes sense to us and when possible working together to further the benefit for all of mankind.
Remember - the need to be right comes from the ego and it is a direct product of pride. There is a good reason that pride is considered one of the seven deadly sins, and the need to be right keeping people apart and angry at each other illustrates just how much damage pride can do.
*I am including the Bible and considering "mythology" to refer to an ancient story, whether or not mainstream culture believes it to be factual or fantastical.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Retelling Tales: Genesis
As an exercise in envisioning mythology in a new light, I have an interest in re-writing mythologies into modernized stories, ones that you might consider science fiction in nature.
These stories will include the original elements revisioned through our ideas of present and futuristic technologies in order to provide another possible understanding of what may have been described in these tales. It will require a bit of artistic license, in order to flesh out some of the ideas or occurrences, but I would stay true to the original stories as much as possible. Nonetheless, these stories are a work of fiction and are not meant to be understood as having been literal accounts of events, but rather as one interpretation of the possibilities.
Genesis: The awakening of Man
Our story begins with the spaceship carrying beings from a distant star hovering over a gas and liquid planet. The planet had no real form or structure, its gravity holding it in a spherical shape but within those boundaries was an ocean of matter in gas, liquid and plasma forms. The ocean had great turbulence, with mighty storms slowly moving about it's circumference and denser, heavier elements swirling deep within. As the spaceship orbited the planet, a member of its crew, all of whom were of the god race, launched a probe which would begin a transformation upon the planet. This planet, third from the sun, they called Eden.
Once the probe impacted the surface of the waters, it used a special technology to begin changing the composition of the matter. Moving all the way through to the center of the sphere, it caused the elements and phases of matter to separate and to change. Thick water vapor moved to the outermost edge of the sphere, followed by a mixture of gases and with heavier materials such as iron, silica, carbon and the like settling in the center along with large quantities of hydrogen and oxygen, made heavy by being bound together into molecules of water.
The newly changed planet had a surface of dusty and rocky elements, below which flowed a tumultuous ocean of water, and below that a hot core of rock and metal. Over a period of time, the surface of the earth was warm and temperate thanks to both the heat from the core transferred up through the waters, and the dispersion of heat through the thick vapor in the outer atmosphere. The planet became a petri dish, an ideal environment for the growth of life.
Along with the terraforming, the planet's rotation was also changed. The increased speed not only allowed the entirety of the planet to be exposed to warmth from the sun frequently enough not to cool too much, but it also increased the gravity and magnetic field so that the changes made would hold fast. As the thick vapor in the outer atmosphere disguised the sources of the light and the darkness, and the movements of the stars, they launched representations of the bodies into the sky, beneath the vapors but far from the surface. These bodies moved exactly as their exterior counterparts, as a sort of map to the universe beyond.
The members of god pulled various samples from their collections, samples which had been collected throughout their travels, and brought them to the surface in order to flourish. They seeded multitudes of life, from those which grew in the dust to those who walked on it, things to fly in the air and things to swim in the waters. Pleased with their work, they spent some time studying and cataloging all that they had done here.
The time came, once Eden had been suitably populated and growth had covered its surface, for the second phase of the experiment. They gathered a couple of a type of being that had been created here into a facility containing an ideal and controlled environment. The garden, as their habitat was called, had been designed to include every species of plant that had been added to this planet, as well as a couple of species that were from the home planet of the god.
One of the specimen was anesthetized, and it's DNA was sampled and hybridized with the DNA of the god race. From this sample they used a technology not unlike cloning to grow a new hybrid being. This being, they called Adam. He was placed in the garden and observed for a time, including testing where they showed him images of all the species which had been brought here to see if he had enough recall from his combined DNA to recognize them. Once they had completed all the testing that they could perform on him alone, they anesthetized him and took a sample of his DNA, further altering it in order to create a female version of the new species. Once she had grown to full form, the two were introduced.
As the two were allowed to live together, mostly unsupervised in the garden, something incredible happened. The female, looking at Adam recognized that although he was like her, he was his own being who was not the same as she. This brought her to the understanding that she was a being like him, but not the same as him. Ultimately, she came to know that she was a conscious entity and awakened to higher understanding of her existence. Having been changed by her new understanding, she now understood the idea that she could do something kind or something unkind, having a will of her own. She now understood the concept of causing harm or causing good, and developed the emotions which go along such as guilt and joy. Feeling the joy, and wanting to cause good, she endeavored to teach Adam what she had learned so that he too might experience knowingness and joy. Once she had taught him, and he understood her to be a being like him but not him, and that he himself was a conscious being with will to cause either good or harm, he called her Eve "mother of living" as she had awakened him to new life.
Along with their awareness of good and bad, guilt and joy, they realized that there were parts of their body that should be covered so as not to inspire various feelings and desires when unwarranted. They created clothing for themselves, and then, they heard one of the beings of god enter the garden. They hid from fear, as they now understood that the beings of god had subjected them to certain experiments and tests, and they were nervous about what else would be planned for them.
The being of god, Jehovah was his name, called out to them as they had not come to greet him as in the past. When he found them, he asked why they had hidden themselves, and he noticed that when they answered there was a change in their stance, they made lasting eye contact and they spoke of themselves with understanding when they said "we were afraid". This marked monumental progress in the experiment, and appropriate timing for the next step of testing of these beings.
After explaining to them as much as possible about what they would soon be experiencing, the two were removed from the facility and placed in a new home out in the world, a natural habitat for them to adapt to. They were told that unlike the garden, not all things would be there so they were taught to farm to grow their own food and they were taught about some other survival tools they would need. It was explained to them that now that they had a new understanding of each other, they may in time come to reproduce and that the process would be long and painful for the woman but ultimately rewarding as it would provide more of their new race - this race called Man by God.
Adam and Eve, newly awakened, did not fully understand everything, and now the beings called god had removed themselves almost completely from the lives of Adam and Eve - a test to see if they could survive, if they could put their hybrid intelligence to use enough to sustain themselves.
It worked. After a time of confusion and not eating, the pair began to farm and build as they needed, to develop a life for themselves. It did come to pass that they bore children as well, another highlight in the experiment proving that though they were hybrids, they could reproduce and when they did so, their children were like them.
Many further things were learned about these hybrids, including that they retained some of their animal natures. Once, the children of Adam and Eve, named Cain and Abel, brought the efforts of their labors to show to the beings of god as a check on their progress. The works of Abel were graded well, he had learned to pasture and grow animals well, but the works of Cain were not as well praised. He had brought only plant matter, which he could have grown or could also have collected. This showed no remarkable progress, and at Cain's displeasure he was told that he would need to put more effort forth if he desired to receive more benefit from his efforts.
The words did not reach Cain, as he had carried more of the animistic genes than his brother or parents, and he decided that if his brother were no more, then all of the praise would be his. He killed his brother, and when this was discovered by god, he attempted to deny his knowledge that anything had happened.
The beings of god had found where Abel's blood had stained the ground, and pointed it out to Cain. They then said that Cain would be removed from his family, and from contact with god, in order to protect others from him. He was immediately fearful that he would be killed as well, but god recognized that further study of Cain and the lineage he could put forth was important, and so he was allowed to continue living and to reproduce his own strain of DNA into a lineage for study.
The generations of this hybrid DNA were cataloged, following through the lineage of the males as it was they who typically passed either the god DNA or the original animal DNA and this determined what their offspring's tendencies would be.
Through all this time, the beings of god continued to interact with and be in close contact with Man, but some of their ranks found beauty in this creation and decided to do their own experiments - from lust rather than for research. The new strain of offspring produced was varied, some where giants, some were incredibly strong or powerful, some were more like god and others were more like man. The gods who had taken humans for wives had also taught them about their technology and other knowledge, showing them things beyond human comprehension and which muddied the experiment, effectively destroying any hope for conclusive results in the study of man.
Finally it was decided that they would need to wipe the slate clean and start over. They chose a man whose DNA had retained the most even blend of hybridization - he was no more god than he was animal, he and his family were as genetically close to Adam and Eve as remained in the experiment. These people along with specimens of every other type of life on earth (except those tainted by over mixture with god DNA) were ushered into a special carrier to protect them from the coming changes. Once all of the creatures had taken residence in the carrier, god sealed it and moved it out of harm's way - into a cargo hold on one of their larger spaceships.
Another probe was sent to Eden, much like the original terraforming probe. It condensed and pulled the thick water vapor from the outer atmosphere as it entered, causing great amounts of water and rain to crash down to the earth. As it entered the surface of the earth, it blew it apart such that the waters below the surface as well as the rock and metal from the core all came rushing out as well. For a time, the planet was again like the tumultuous sphere that god had originally found. Eventually, it settled, being more like a slurry of water this time and causing it to form quite differently in its settling. Now there was a terrain of great mountains and valleys, and all the water from the sky had pooled around to form vast oceans. The planet which had been mostly dust was now mostly water, it's surface a jumbled mix of the elements which had previously been separated more evenly. The container was brought out of the cargo hold and placed upon the ocean, and allowed to drift as a boat, until further settling occurred and it found it's way to land.
God instructed the humans directly a last time, teaching about the changes which had occurred, how they now could see out into space at night, and how it would now rain and because of those changes, the planet could not be torn apart in the same way again. They showed the humans how a rainbow could now appear in the sky, and assured them that as long as they could still see rainbows, they would be safe from massive flooding such as had wiped out everything.
Then the humans and animals began to repopulate, and the god notated that a strain of what Cain's DNA had contained still appeared among the sons of Noah, being a sort of curse that would follow the lineage of Canaan.
And thus, mankind and the earth came to exist in the forms that we now know them.
These stories will include the original elements revisioned through our ideas of present and futuristic technologies in order to provide another possible understanding of what may have been described in these tales. It will require a bit of artistic license, in order to flesh out some of the ideas or occurrences, but I would stay true to the original stories as much as possible. Nonetheless, these stories are a work of fiction and are not meant to be understood as having been literal accounts of events, but rather as one interpretation of the possibilities.
Genesis: The awakening of Man
Our story begins with the spaceship carrying beings from a distant star hovering over a gas and liquid planet. The planet had no real form or structure, its gravity holding it in a spherical shape but within those boundaries was an ocean of matter in gas, liquid and plasma forms. The ocean had great turbulence, with mighty storms slowly moving about it's circumference and denser, heavier elements swirling deep within. As the spaceship orbited the planet, a member of its crew, all of whom were of the god race, launched a probe which would begin a transformation upon the planet. This planet, third from the sun, they called Eden.
Once the probe impacted the surface of the waters, it used a special technology to begin changing the composition of the matter. Moving all the way through to the center of the sphere, it caused the elements and phases of matter to separate and to change. Thick water vapor moved to the outermost edge of the sphere, followed by a mixture of gases and with heavier materials such as iron, silica, carbon and the like settling in the center along with large quantities of hydrogen and oxygen, made heavy by being bound together into molecules of water.
The newly changed planet had a surface of dusty and rocky elements, below which flowed a tumultuous ocean of water, and below that a hot core of rock and metal. Over a period of time, the surface of the earth was warm and temperate thanks to both the heat from the core transferred up through the waters, and the dispersion of heat through the thick vapor in the outer atmosphere. The planet became a petri dish, an ideal environment for the growth of life.
Along with the terraforming, the planet's rotation was also changed. The increased speed not only allowed the entirety of the planet to be exposed to warmth from the sun frequently enough not to cool too much, but it also increased the gravity and magnetic field so that the changes made would hold fast. As the thick vapor in the outer atmosphere disguised the sources of the light and the darkness, and the movements of the stars, they launched representations of the bodies into the sky, beneath the vapors but far from the surface. These bodies moved exactly as their exterior counterparts, as a sort of map to the universe beyond.
The members of god pulled various samples from their collections, samples which had been collected throughout their travels, and brought them to the surface in order to flourish. They seeded multitudes of life, from those which grew in the dust to those who walked on it, things to fly in the air and things to swim in the waters. Pleased with their work, they spent some time studying and cataloging all that they had done here.
The time came, once Eden had been suitably populated and growth had covered its surface, for the second phase of the experiment. They gathered a couple of a type of being that had been created here into a facility containing an ideal and controlled environment. The garden, as their habitat was called, had been designed to include every species of plant that had been added to this planet, as well as a couple of species that were from the home planet of the god.
One of the specimen was anesthetized, and it's DNA was sampled and hybridized with the DNA of the god race. From this sample they used a technology not unlike cloning to grow a new hybrid being. This being, they called Adam. He was placed in the garden and observed for a time, including testing where they showed him images of all the species which had been brought here to see if he had enough recall from his combined DNA to recognize them. Once they had completed all the testing that they could perform on him alone, they anesthetized him and took a sample of his DNA, further altering it in order to create a female version of the new species. Once she had grown to full form, the two were introduced.
As the two were allowed to live together, mostly unsupervised in the garden, something incredible happened. The female, looking at Adam recognized that although he was like her, he was his own being who was not the same as she. This brought her to the understanding that she was a being like him, but not the same as him. Ultimately, she came to know that she was a conscious entity and awakened to higher understanding of her existence. Having been changed by her new understanding, she now understood the idea that she could do something kind or something unkind, having a will of her own. She now understood the concept of causing harm or causing good, and developed the emotions which go along such as guilt and joy. Feeling the joy, and wanting to cause good, she endeavored to teach Adam what she had learned so that he too might experience knowingness and joy. Once she had taught him, and he understood her to be a being like him but not him, and that he himself was a conscious being with will to cause either good or harm, he called her Eve "mother of living" as she had awakened him to new life.
Along with their awareness of good and bad, guilt and joy, they realized that there were parts of their body that should be covered so as not to inspire various feelings and desires when unwarranted. They created clothing for themselves, and then, they heard one of the beings of god enter the garden. They hid from fear, as they now understood that the beings of god had subjected them to certain experiments and tests, and they were nervous about what else would be planned for them.
The being of god, Jehovah was his name, called out to them as they had not come to greet him as in the past. When he found them, he asked why they had hidden themselves, and he noticed that when they answered there was a change in their stance, they made lasting eye contact and they spoke of themselves with understanding when they said "we were afraid". This marked monumental progress in the experiment, and appropriate timing for the next step of testing of these beings.
After explaining to them as much as possible about what they would soon be experiencing, the two were removed from the facility and placed in a new home out in the world, a natural habitat for them to adapt to. They were told that unlike the garden, not all things would be there so they were taught to farm to grow their own food and they were taught about some other survival tools they would need. It was explained to them that now that they had a new understanding of each other, they may in time come to reproduce and that the process would be long and painful for the woman but ultimately rewarding as it would provide more of their new race - this race called Man by God.
Adam and Eve, newly awakened, did not fully understand everything, and now the beings called god had removed themselves almost completely from the lives of Adam and Eve - a test to see if they could survive, if they could put their hybrid intelligence to use enough to sustain themselves.
It worked. After a time of confusion and not eating, the pair began to farm and build as they needed, to develop a life for themselves. It did come to pass that they bore children as well, another highlight in the experiment proving that though they were hybrids, they could reproduce and when they did so, their children were like them.
Many further things were learned about these hybrids, including that they retained some of their animal natures. Once, the children of Adam and Eve, named Cain and Abel, brought the efforts of their labors to show to the beings of god as a check on their progress. The works of Abel were graded well, he had learned to pasture and grow animals well, but the works of Cain were not as well praised. He had brought only plant matter, which he could have grown or could also have collected. This showed no remarkable progress, and at Cain's displeasure he was told that he would need to put more effort forth if he desired to receive more benefit from his efforts.
The words did not reach Cain, as he had carried more of the animistic genes than his brother or parents, and he decided that if his brother were no more, then all of the praise would be his. He killed his brother, and when this was discovered by god, he attempted to deny his knowledge that anything had happened.
The beings of god had found where Abel's blood had stained the ground, and pointed it out to Cain. They then said that Cain would be removed from his family, and from contact with god, in order to protect others from him. He was immediately fearful that he would be killed as well, but god recognized that further study of Cain and the lineage he could put forth was important, and so he was allowed to continue living and to reproduce his own strain of DNA into a lineage for study.
The generations of this hybrid DNA were cataloged, following through the lineage of the males as it was they who typically passed either the god DNA or the original animal DNA and this determined what their offspring's tendencies would be.
Through all this time, the beings of god continued to interact with and be in close contact with Man, but some of their ranks found beauty in this creation and decided to do their own experiments - from lust rather than for research. The new strain of offspring produced was varied, some where giants, some were incredibly strong or powerful, some were more like god and others were more like man. The gods who had taken humans for wives had also taught them about their technology and other knowledge, showing them things beyond human comprehension and which muddied the experiment, effectively destroying any hope for conclusive results in the study of man.
Finally it was decided that they would need to wipe the slate clean and start over. They chose a man whose DNA had retained the most even blend of hybridization - he was no more god than he was animal, he and his family were as genetically close to Adam and Eve as remained in the experiment. These people along with specimens of every other type of life on earth (except those tainted by over mixture with god DNA) were ushered into a special carrier to protect them from the coming changes. Once all of the creatures had taken residence in the carrier, god sealed it and moved it out of harm's way - into a cargo hold on one of their larger spaceships.
Another probe was sent to Eden, much like the original terraforming probe. It condensed and pulled the thick water vapor from the outer atmosphere as it entered, causing great amounts of water and rain to crash down to the earth. As it entered the surface of the earth, it blew it apart such that the waters below the surface as well as the rock and metal from the core all came rushing out as well. For a time, the planet was again like the tumultuous sphere that god had originally found. Eventually, it settled, being more like a slurry of water this time and causing it to form quite differently in its settling. Now there was a terrain of great mountains and valleys, and all the water from the sky had pooled around to form vast oceans. The planet which had been mostly dust was now mostly water, it's surface a jumbled mix of the elements which had previously been separated more evenly. The container was brought out of the cargo hold and placed upon the ocean, and allowed to drift as a boat, until further settling occurred and it found it's way to land.
God instructed the humans directly a last time, teaching about the changes which had occurred, how they now could see out into space at night, and how it would now rain and because of those changes, the planet could not be torn apart in the same way again. They showed the humans how a rainbow could now appear in the sky, and assured them that as long as they could still see rainbows, they would be safe from massive flooding such as had wiped out everything.
Then the humans and animals began to repopulate, and the god notated that a strain of what Cain's DNA had contained still appeared among the sons of Noah, being a sort of curse that would follow the lineage of Canaan.
And thus, mankind and the earth came to exist in the forms that we now know them.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Necessity of Tragedy
I have yet to meet a person who enjoys losing things that matter to them - rather most people cling to the things they care about, be they people, possessions, homes or other buildings, careers, cars, animals, even a way of life.
Something happens to us when we feel like we have it good, or feel like things are on the upswing or going well. When we feel better and happier, we tend to forget all about the fight to get there. We forget the bad days, the bad moods, feeling broken down, the tears, the anger, the struggle. We relax, a bit, and we can become complacent.
In terms of spirituality, complacency may as well be death. We aren't striving, we aren't working, we aren't learning, and we aren't growing. We're floating along the the comfortable space that we have found. This rest is of course a necessary part of life... but so is the struggle.
It is we who determine what sorts of struggles we'll encounter in our lives, so to look over at someone else and say "wow, they have it so much easier because they aren't dealing with ________________________" is both unfair and silly. Sure, they may not be suffering what you are suffering but that does not mean they don't feel the same exact way about you because of what they are suffering.
Human viewpoints are narrow by nature. Our scope focuses on our own lives, and then peripherally picks up what is happening around us. We see other people, but we are incapable of understanding them the way that we understand ourselves. In our daily lives, we often forget this. To us, they don't look like they are having any problems but to them they could feel stuck in the center of a tornado.
Not knowing, understanding or talking to someone leads to a lack of understanding about them. It is rare that someone will tell you everything that they are thinking and feeling. In fact, it is so rare it may not happen at all. It becomes nearly impossible to really understand anyone else, so we go on thinking that our problems are the worst things ever, and isn't that person over there lucky they don't have to deal with them.
Rather than wasting energy on feeling bad about what has happened in our lives, we could look for the opportunity.
Every event in our lives offers some opportunity. We have two options. Pursue it or ignore it.
Most of the time, the opportunities that arise are immediately dismissed. We consider it for less than a split second, come up with an excuse as to why it's not worthwhile, and continue on our way. Other times, opportunities loom so large that we actually have to sit down and consider them for a while. Even then, we often opt out and continue on with our lives.
But these events are not just opportunities. They are messages. The universe is reaching out to you and saying "Hey! There's something here that you could learn from. This is something you need! Come take a look." Your path is paved as you walk it. The stones under your feet were laid just before you took a step. If you miss one opportunity, it will probably be thrown back into your path again, and again, and again wearing different disguises but ultimately wanting the same thing from you.
It won't go away, and you can either lock yourself away in your house hiding from the change an opportunity brings, or you can step out, and when it appears you can embrace it and hang on tight for the journey ahead.
Every tragedy bears an opportunity. We are often so overcome by stress or grief that we have trouble seeing it, and sometimes later we look back and understand it better.
You can stay open to the opportunities ahead of you, and the best way to do so is to release the obligations with which you bind yourself. Things like routines and habits become excuses for us to avoid change, as well as unpaid bills, too many possessions, and being too adapted to creature comforts. Work on releasing these bonds and when the next opportunity comes up, you may reach for an excuse and not find one.
Then your only option is to take the opportunity and see where it leads!
Something happens to us when we feel like we have it good, or feel like things are on the upswing or going well. When we feel better and happier, we tend to forget all about the fight to get there. We forget the bad days, the bad moods, feeling broken down, the tears, the anger, the struggle. We relax, a bit, and we can become complacent.
In terms of spirituality, complacency may as well be death. We aren't striving, we aren't working, we aren't learning, and we aren't growing. We're floating along the the comfortable space that we have found. This rest is of course a necessary part of life... but so is the struggle.
It is we who determine what sorts of struggles we'll encounter in our lives, so to look over at someone else and say "wow, they have it so much easier because they aren't dealing with ________________________" is both unfair and silly. Sure, they may not be suffering what you are suffering but that does not mean they don't feel the same exact way about you because of what they are suffering.
Human viewpoints are narrow by nature. Our scope focuses on our own lives, and then peripherally picks up what is happening around us. We see other people, but we are incapable of understanding them the way that we understand ourselves. In our daily lives, we often forget this. To us, they don't look like they are having any problems but to them they could feel stuck in the center of a tornado.
Not knowing, understanding or talking to someone leads to a lack of understanding about them. It is rare that someone will tell you everything that they are thinking and feeling. In fact, it is so rare it may not happen at all. It becomes nearly impossible to really understand anyone else, so we go on thinking that our problems are the worst things ever, and isn't that person over there lucky they don't have to deal with them.
Rather than wasting energy on feeling bad about what has happened in our lives, we could look for the opportunity.
Every event in our lives offers some opportunity. We have two options. Pursue it or ignore it.
Most of the time, the opportunities that arise are immediately dismissed. We consider it for less than a split second, come up with an excuse as to why it's not worthwhile, and continue on our way. Other times, opportunities loom so large that we actually have to sit down and consider them for a while. Even then, we often opt out and continue on with our lives.
But these events are not just opportunities. They are messages. The universe is reaching out to you and saying "Hey! There's something here that you could learn from. This is something you need! Come take a look." Your path is paved as you walk it. The stones under your feet were laid just before you took a step. If you miss one opportunity, it will probably be thrown back into your path again, and again, and again wearing different disguises but ultimately wanting the same thing from you.
It won't go away, and you can either lock yourself away in your house hiding from the change an opportunity brings, or you can step out, and when it appears you can embrace it and hang on tight for the journey ahead.
Every tragedy bears an opportunity. We are often so overcome by stress or grief that we have trouble seeing it, and sometimes later we look back and understand it better.
You can stay open to the opportunities ahead of you, and the best way to do so is to release the obligations with which you bind yourself. Things like routines and habits become excuses for us to avoid change, as well as unpaid bills, too many possessions, and being too adapted to creature comforts. Work on releasing these bonds and when the next opportunity comes up, you may reach for an excuse and not find one.
Then your only option is to take the opportunity and see where it leads!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Static
Imagine that you are trying to stare into a deep lake to see what may be below the surface, but every where you try to look in there are ripples. All you can see are jumping, broken, moving reflections of the sky with teeny glimpses in between of the depths below. You sit and stare for hours, even days, but the ripples are constant and you are never able to see more than a fleeting bit of lake bed.
How discouraging it would be to try to find something, to learn something new about the world, but constantly battle a changing viewscape of static and disruption.
This is what we live in today.
We try to take a lovely walk in nature, but the scenery is broken up by telephone poles, litter, cars on nearby roads and houses. We try to read a book but we hear our upstairs neighbors yelling, stomping or playing loud music. We try to learn something new by reading online but are faced with thousands of ads and other links and distractions, even popups about surveys and little buttons on the side telling us how many people have liked that page on facebook... information which has no bearing on anything, really.
Even if we remove all distraction from our own homes, we're still bombarded by it from the moment we leave until the moment we return. A stretch of highway or road with no billboards or advertisements is rare. Right outside our front doors we see signs for open houses and whoever it is we're supposed to be voting for, traffic, people, and noise. Litter can find its way right up to our doorsteps, glaring us in the face until we do something about it. You can't touch the internet without being bombarded, both with relevant distractions and irrelevant ones. Everyone and everything wants your attention, wants you to ultimately spend money on whatever it is they are offering.
That's what it's all about... it's what everyone wants and what everyone pushes for. It's the thing that seems to universally matter to everyone.
I'll be honest - I am a gamer nerd. And Assassin's Creed is one of my favorites. There's a feature in the game where you can set your money to your weapon hand default and throw money on the ground. When you do, people around you dive on it and it even distracts the guards.
This is a common theme in entertainment and media, throw money and people will break their own necks trying to get as much of it for themselves as possible.
The irony is people will tell you how money doesn't buy happiness, but in the other classic saying - actions speak louder than words - their actions say the same thing as everyone else's. More money equals more happy, and any opportunity for more money is an opportunity you shouldn't miss.
I'm almost tempted to throw a bunch of $1 bills just to see if anyone doesn't dive on them. That would probably be the only person in the crowd I'd have any interest in talking to anyway... Hmm. This could be a great new way to make friends.
Anyway, I am digressing again.
The point is, the little universes we live in are infinitely cluttered not only by ourselves but by other people... and it is unavoidable, mostly. I am tired of websites covered with ads, I'm tired of seing commercials and billboards and signs stuck in the ground and giant graphics on cars. I'm tired by being accosted by the millions of people who are begging for my money by trying to cause me to have a seizure of some sort.
It's very hard to focus on anything while being subjected to this, let alone try to focus on something as important and fleeting as spiritual connectedness.
Decluttering your home is great, and it helps, but we need to declutter society, declutter the internet, and declutter our minds. How? It always starts with us.
Remove the excess from your own site. Simplify it, make it bare so that the only thing on the page that matters is your words and images. I promise that your visitors will appreciate it.
How discouraging it would be to try to find something, to learn something new about the world, but constantly battle a changing viewscape of static and disruption.
This is what we live in today.
We try to take a lovely walk in nature, but the scenery is broken up by telephone poles, litter, cars on nearby roads and houses. We try to read a book but we hear our upstairs neighbors yelling, stomping or playing loud music. We try to learn something new by reading online but are faced with thousands of ads and other links and distractions, even popups about surveys and little buttons on the side telling us how many people have liked that page on facebook... information which has no bearing on anything, really.
Even if we remove all distraction from our own homes, we're still bombarded by it from the moment we leave until the moment we return. A stretch of highway or road with no billboards or advertisements is rare. Right outside our front doors we see signs for open houses and whoever it is we're supposed to be voting for, traffic, people, and noise. Litter can find its way right up to our doorsteps, glaring us in the face until we do something about it. You can't touch the internet without being bombarded, both with relevant distractions and irrelevant ones. Everyone and everything wants your attention, wants you to ultimately spend money on whatever it is they are offering.
That's what it's all about... it's what everyone wants and what everyone pushes for. It's the thing that seems to universally matter to everyone.
I'll be honest - I am a gamer nerd. And Assassin's Creed is one of my favorites. There's a feature in the game where you can set your money to your weapon hand default and throw money on the ground. When you do, people around you dive on it and it even distracts the guards.
This is a common theme in entertainment and media, throw money and people will break their own necks trying to get as much of it for themselves as possible.
The irony is people will tell you how money doesn't buy happiness, but in the other classic saying - actions speak louder than words - their actions say the same thing as everyone else's. More money equals more happy, and any opportunity for more money is an opportunity you shouldn't miss.
I'm almost tempted to throw a bunch of $1 bills just to see if anyone doesn't dive on them. That would probably be the only person in the crowd I'd have any interest in talking to anyway... Hmm. This could be a great new way to make friends.
Anyway, I am digressing again.
The point is, the little universes we live in are infinitely cluttered not only by ourselves but by other people... and it is unavoidable, mostly. I am tired of websites covered with ads, I'm tired of seing commercials and billboards and signs stuck in the ground and giant graphics on cars. I'm tired by being accosted by the millions of people who are begging for my money by trying to cause me to have a seizure of some sort.
It's very hard to focus on anything while being subjected to this, let alone try to focus on something as important and fleeting as spiritual connectedness.
Decluttering your home is great, and it helps, but we need to declutter society, declutter the internet, and declutter our minds. How? It always starts with us.
Remove the excess from your own site. Simplify it, make it bare so that the only thing on the page that matters is your words and images. I promise that your visitors will appreciate it.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Purpose of the Commandments
In the Bible, it is written that ten crucial commandments were given to Moses on Mt Sinai and that he brought them down to the Israelites below.
They are:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
There is much debate over these words, whether they are still relevant, what exactly constitutes a violation, what the consequences of that violation (immediate and long term) are, and so forth.
Commandments one, two, and three leave me with the most questions. If there were an omnipotent being who was above all others without question or chance for being overtaken, why would that being go to such great lengths to declare not only that they need to be first and foremost but also that they are jealous?
Suffice it that if one were to believe in a single omnipotent being, the commandment would be to seek that being above all other pursuits in life.
To the sabbath, not only is one to take a day of rest to themselves and spend it as much as possible in contemplation, prayer, meditation or the like, but also is not to put other people to work for them. That means, not only should you not cook but you also should not go through a drive thru. You shouldn't participate in commerce in any form. This is actually a very good idea for anyone who is attempting to simplify their lives and or become more spiritual or even healthier. One day a week, rather than spending money, stressing out, eating poorly or spending time in futile efforts, spend the day in nature as much as possible, in quiet contemplation as much as possible, and fasting, if possible. It's a great reset for your mind and body to take a break from all the business once a week.
Honoring thy father and thy mother (for a greater lifespan?) is another somewhat confusing one. There is the idea that this means obeyance, but I feel that it is a greater scope than what "honor" would mean in this context. It's almost as if it is a warning to stay true to who you are and where you have come from in your life. For example, today we are aware of many genetic diseases that can be dormant or non-symptomatic as long as certain foods, activities or situations are avoided. Such avoidance, in essence, would be following this commandment. It seems that far too often it is used to threaten children into behaving.
Which brings me to another point - the Bible is constantly praising the innocence of the child and how people need to return to a childlike state, which is completely contradictory to the idea that parents should be controlling and commanding their children as they do. It is the adults who should be learning from the children and not the other way around.
Thou shalt not kill, steal, bear false witness, nor covet: These are your basic instructions to treating other people properly. Together, they ultimately form the golden rule especially when you consider that "bear false witness" can mean both not lying yourself but also not tolerating it from others. So, it is essentially that one should not cause harm to come to others and if they can stop someone else from harming others, they should.
Now that we've got it all broken down, lets put it back together and get to the point:
Why is it so important that we recognize and respect that there is a higher power than ourselves, be true to ourselves, and are careful not to cause harm to others?
It's all about evolution. Which is kind of ironic considering that most Bible-believers aren't fans of the idea of evolution. But that's ok, I'm sure they like something I don't, like football or whatever.
Anyway, While human beings were still taking their first steps in this world (thousands of years in the span of the universe is barely a breath), they were guided away from barbaric ways and taught to to cohabit in cleaner and more respectful ways. These rules and commandments were laid out in order to introduce a system of rules and punishments in order to keep people on the right track long enough for them to -essentially- grow the moral fiber within themselves to the point that they wouldn't need these rules, they would simply understand right from wrong.
Then along came the great divide. The massive canyon between those people who still required the rules and those people who were kind and concientious enough to progress on their own and work on themselves internally rather than causing problems externally for others. (Extroversion is after all imposing your emotions outward on the world rather than inward on yourself)
This divide still exists today though I'd say far more people have crossed the bridge to the self-policing side. Nonetheless, those who can't seem to help but steal, kill, rape, lie, cheat or be adulterous or envious still seem to be a vast majority.
So if you question whether or not these commandments are still valid, look no further than your local police precinct to confirm that indeed they are. If they weren't, we wouldn't need police to keep order or put people to justice for their crimes. Even knowing the punishments, people still insist upon causing harm. Until this darkness within us passes on, we will continue to require a system of rules and punishments to keep us in line.
They are:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
There is much debate over these words, whether they are still relevant, what exactly constitutes a violation, what the consequences of that violation (immediate and long term) are, and so forth.
Commandments one, two, and three leave me with the most questions. If there were an omnipotent being who was above all others without question or chance for being overtaken, why would that being go to such great lengths to declare not only that they need to be first and foremost but also that they are jealous?
Suffice it that if one were to believe in a single omnipotent being, the commandment would be to seek that being above all other pursuits in life.
To the sabbath, not only is one to take a day of rest to themselves and spend it as much as possible in contemplation, prayer, meditation or the like, but also is not to put other people to work for them. That means, not only should you not cook but you also should not go through a drive thru. You shouldn't participate in commerce in any form. This is actually a very good idea for anyone who is attempting to simplify their lives and or become more spiritual or even healthier. One day a week, rather than spending money, stressing out, eating poorly or spending time in futile efforts, spend the day in nature as much as possible, in quiet contemplation as much as possible, and fasting, if possible. It's a great reset for your mind and body to take a break from all the business once a week.
Honoring thy father and thy mother (for a greater lifespan?) is another somewhat confusing one. There is the idea that this means obeyance, but I feel that it is a greater scope than what "honor" would mean in this context. It's almost as if it is a warning to stay true to who you are and where you have come from in your life. For example, today we are aware of many genetic diseases that can be dormant or non-symptomatic as long as certain foods, activities or situations are avoided. Such avoidance, in essence, would be following this commandment. It seems that far too often it is used to threaten children into behaving.
Which brings me to another point - the Bible is constantly praising the innocence of the child and how people need to return to a childlike state, which is completely contradictory to the idea that parents should be controlling and commanding their children as they do. It is the adults who should be learning from the children and not the other way around.
Thou shalt not kill, steal, bear false witness, nor covet: These are your basic instructions to treating other people properly. Together, they ultimately form the golden rule especially when you consider that "bear false witness" can mean both not lying yourself but also not tolerating it from others. So, it is essentially that one should not cause harm to come to others and if they can stop someone else from harming others, they should.
Now that we've got it all broken down, lets put it back together and get to the point:
Why is it so important that we recognize and respect that there is a higher power than ourselves, be true to ourselves, and are careful not to cause harm to others?
It's all about evolution. Which is kind of ironic considering that most Bible-believers aren't fans of the idea of evolution. But that's ok, I'm sure they like something I don't, like football or whatever.
Anyway, While human beings were still taking their first steps in this world (thousands of years in the span of the universe is barely a breath), they were guided away from barbaric ways and taught to to cohabit in cleaner and more respectful ways. These rules and commandments were laid out in order to introduce a system of rules and punishments in order to keep people on the right track long enough for them to -essentially- grow the moral fiber within themselves to the point that they wouldn't need these rules, they would simply understand right from wrong.
Then along came the great divide. The massive canyon between those people who still required the rules and those people who were kind and concientious enough to progress on their own and work on themselves internally rather than causing problems externally for others. (Extroversion is after all imposing your emotions outward on the world rather than inward on yourself)
This divide still exists today though I'd say far more people have crossed the bridge to the self-policing side. Nonetheless, those who can't seem to help but steal, kill, rape, lie, cheat or be adulterous or envious still seem to be a vast majority.
So if you question whether or not these commandments are still valid, look no further than your local police precinct to confirm that indeed they are. If they weren't, we wouldn't need police to keep order or put people to justice for their crimes. Even knowing the punishments, people still insist upon causing harm. Until this darkness within us passes on, we will continue to require a system of rules and punishments to keep us in line.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Deciding What Really Matters
While everyone wishes they could live their life in happiness and doing only what it is that really matters to them, they are toiling away at 40+ hour a week jobs, driving too and fro in maddening traffic, and attempting to keep in order their mountain of possessions and likely too-big living space.
When we do the things we think we are required to do, we push what we really want to the back burner and devote maybe a few hours of week to it - if any at all.
After enough time doing this, we may even forget what really matters to us - or it may have changed over the years while it was buried under our lengthy to do list.
While I realize that today may not be the day you're going to change your life, today - this moment, right now - is always the time to think about it.
Putting some thought into a provocative question can help to bring the important things into focus. Here's a few questions to get you started - think about what each question entails, and write down (yes- I mean it - write it with a pen) what you would do in such a situation and how it would affect the way you live your life.
Once you've finished writing your answer to each question, you can close the book and put away your answers, let it stew around in the back of your mind and come back to it when it has leaped to the front of your thoughts. Maybe, when you write down your answers you won't be able to put them away. They might just spur you into doing something right now to change your life.
Here are the questions:
1. If you knew that in about 2 years time resources on Earth would dry up, be restricted, or be destroyed, and food and water would be very difficult to come by, what would you do for the next two years? How would it be different from your life today?
2. If you were told you had an aneurysm, which could burst at an unpredictable point in the future and would likely kill you, how would it change your life today? What would you do differently than you would have without such news? (note this is far less likely today than in the past, as if an aneurysm is detected it can be treated and most likely will successfully reduce chance of death, however most people never know they have an aneurysm and if it bursts survival rate is not very high.)
3. If you knew for a fact that you would never lose your job, assuming you did not quit, that you would never lose your home, assuming you did not move, and that your significant other would happily stay with you forever, assuming you did not leave them. How would that change your life as compared with what you are doing/thinking/feeling today? Would you walk away from any of the three things, knowing they will never be taken from you?
Ponder these questions and see how they make you feel. I realize that they are somewhat dark, but there is also some truth to each of them. For example, with the aneurysm, it is possible for anyone, anywhere, at any time to drop dead from one, never having known that they had the condition. Most of you reading this fall into the category of not knowing, which means you're at risk for this. I'm not saying this to scare you, I'm saying it to make you think about how you would change your life if you knew it could be severely limited.
And the most important question of all -
The changes you would make in response to each of the questions likely reflect things that you really want but feel that since there is no dire circumstance you should continue being "responsible"...
Why not make these things the goals of your life rather than the path you're heading down now? If they differ dramatically from your life as it is, then that means you're living someone else's idea of a good life - not your own.
That's no way to live. That's torture.
When we do the things we think we are required to do, we push what we really want to the back burner and devote maybe a few hours of week to it - if any at all.
After enough time doing this, we may even forget what really matters to us - or it may have changed over the years while it was buried under our lengthy to do list.
While I realize that today may not be the day you're going to change your life, today - this moment, right now - is always the time to think about it.
Putting some thought into a provocative question can help to bring the important things into focus. Here's a few questions to get you started - think about what each question entails, and write down (yes- I mean it - write it with a pen) what you would do in such a situation and how it would affect the way you live your life.
Once you've finished writing your answer to each question, you can close the book and put away your answers, let it stew around in the back of your mind and come back to it when it has leaped to the front of your thoughts. Maybe, when you write down your answers you won't be able to put them away. They might just spur you into doing something right now to change your life.
Here are the questions:
1. If you knew that in about 2 years time resources on Earth would dry up, be restricted, or be destroyed, and food and water would be very difficult to come by, what would you do for the next two years? How would it be different from your life today?
2. If you were told you had an aneurysm, which could burst at an unpredictable point in the future and would likely kill you, how would it change your life today? What would you do differently than you would have without such news? (note this is far less likely today than in the past, as if an aneurysm is detected it can be treated and most likely will successfully reduce chance of death, however most people never know they have an aneurysm and if it bursts survival rate is not very high.)
3. If you knew for a fact that you would never lose your job, assuming you did not quit, that you would never lose your home, assuming you did not move, and that your significant other would happily stay with you forever, assuming you did not leave them. How would that change your life as compared with what you are doing/thinking/feeling today? Would you walk away from any of the three things, knowing they will never be taken from you?
Ponder these questions and see how they make you feel. I realize that they are somewhat dark, but there is also some truth to each of them. For example, with the aneurysm, it is possible for anyone, anywhere, at any time to drop dead from one, never having known that they had the condition. Most of you reading this fall into the category of not knowing, which means you're at risk for this. I'm not saying this to scare you, I'm saying it to make you think about how you would change your life if you knew it could be severely limited.
And the most important question of all -
The changes you would make in response to each of the questions likely reflect things that you really want but feel that since there is no dire circumstance you should continue being "responsible"...
Why not make these things the goals of your life rather than the path you're heading down now? If they differ dramatically from your life as it is, then that means you're living someone else's idea of a good life - not your own.
That's no way to live. That's torture.
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