Seasons of the Soul

Impermanence

It isn't good to know too much. It is deflating to the idealist in us who seeks to do good and believes that good will prevail. Yet, after years of observation - and indeed with the reality of life - everything takes much longer to change and often reverts again and again to the lowest common denominator - and in truth, everything dies.

Our good deeds appear to die, our noble inquiries fill us for the moment and help us move through the seeming travesty of life - we make a heady contribution, and then we watch the purveyors of whatever pull it apart or twist it to their own intention. Yet, in spite of it all, we proceed.

I think it boils down to doing what we do because it is innate and instinctive and that is what we do - not because of any outcome. Outcomes dissolve. There is always a new scheme, a new disease - and this seems to be the way of Earth. Impermanence, impermanence, impermanence. So the Buddhists say. Don't be disappointed in the truth. Don't be swayed by events. Just be the presence you want to be.

I have a great-aunt who is 98 3/4 - she points that out very proudly (the 3/4 part), and she has a wonderful attitude of enthusiasm and childlike excitement about things. She looks forward to family gatherings and her one great delight is going to play slot machines once or twice a year. She plays all of $20 in nickels and quarters, but the delight she exudes has the whole family looking forward to these adventures with her.
We are drawn in by her fun loving spirit and thrill at being there. When she is gone, none of us will ever go again. It wouldn't be the same. We'd bring our ho hum minds with us. But for that brief few hours where we indulge her in the joy of pulling slot machine handles and watch the little symbols jump around until they land in one or another position - we are transported out of our knowing and brought into her childlike sense of joy and wonder. And for a few hours the world is gentle, kind and simple. There is something completely innocent and fun about the way she views life.

We hope my great aunt will be with us in this exuberant form for more years. She is our antidote to too much news, too much greed, too much power, too little grace.
It isn't good to know too much. It jades us. Truth is, we will all pass out of this "illusion" into another form or space, and all we will have (perhaps) is the soul qualities we've gathered and expressed while here.

There may be no other grand assignments, but we certainly can take this vital energy that is still ours and put it into things that bring meaning and comfort to us now - and perhaps inspire others in the process. Once I realize I'm not necessarily going to change the world, I don't have such a burden of assignment. However, I can choose which lens to use in viewing life and pick the one that unifies me.
From Seasons of the Soul 2005

Summer Reading

Recently I’ve read several significant books, and would like to pass them along for your summer reading consideration.

Fiction—
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
This is a very unusual work—feeling a lot like non-fiction, about a 14 year old girl who deals with the complexities of life and tragedy. Through events, she ends up living with a family of bee keepers in the South. It is filled with warmth, poignancy, and insight about life. I read it on my vacation and had a hard time putting it down.

Non-Fiction—
The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D
As a researcher, Lipton was steeped in the left brain idea about science and how the body works. Through an amazing intuitive awakening, he was able to do research on memory held within cells—not DNA—that affects the body and is the underpinning of the subconscious mind. This work reads like fiction and shows the importance of our thoughts and how they affect current and future health.

Same Soul, Many Bodies by Brian Weiss, M.D.
This inspiring work by the author of Many Lives, Many Masters, left my mind reeling with questions and a desire to connect the dots within my own lifetimes. As a traditional M.D. who ventured into hypnosis to help his psychiatric patients, Weiss stumbled upon past life regression, and to his amazement, found that the healing potential of integrating past with present led to remarkable recoveries without drugs. In this book, he expands into future  lives as well—with remarkable results. This book is hard to put down, and I’m going to read it again to get what I missed the first time.
Dr. Weiss also has CD’s available to guide an individual into meditation, relaxation and hypnosis sessions. 

The Disappearance of  the  Universe  by Gary Renard
This book makes you think, makes you mad, and makes you question previous assumptions about life. It references  A Course In Miracles and was a result of an encounter with two guides who materialized in the author’s living room unannounced over a period of nine years to bring him a series of lessons about the origin and purpose of life. The results are revolutionary and require an open mind. I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the book, but it has been a catalyst to observing life from a different perspective.. If you are willing to shake up reality, this is a good summer read.

Light Humor - Disorder in American Courts

This is from an e-mail I received this morning, and laughed so hard, I had to share it with the BLOG.

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

___________________________

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's twenty, much like your IQ.
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: getting laid
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
______________________________________

And the best for last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar....
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Food for Thought

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.  ~Duguet

There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
~Hindu Proverb

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.
~John Andrew Holmes

We come into this world crying while all around us are smiling. May we so live that we go out of this world smiling while everyone around us is weeping.
~Persian Proverb

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.   ~Mother Teresa

Great minds discuss ideas.  Average minds discuss events.  Small minds discuss people.
~Eleanor Roosevelt

Treat  people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming ~Goethe

Take time to laugh; it is  the music of the soul!~Old English Proverb

The Crock Pot of Life

It was the 4th of July, and we were making baked beans for a party we would be attending later. The beans had been cooking slowly for 2 days in the crock pot, and the comment was made, “It’s always so odd when you start out, you think the beans and water and other ingredients will never amount to anything different because it takes so long for them to blend together and become fully cooked.” Yet they do. And it does take time, reminding me about us.

Like those beans, we’re all in the crock pot of life. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like anything is happening. We feel as though we are just simmering along. And yet, as we look back through the years—we can see how the flavor and character of our nature has developed. Each ingredient of life has added and contributed to our fullness. We’ve sometimes had the heat turned too high and may have gotten burned, but at just the right time those ingredients that no longer contribute to what we are becoming are removed and something else is added to bring us to another stage of flavor and readiness.  

Age is a helpful tool when used properly, for we can go back and reconstruct the recipe that brought us to who and what we have become. Then, through the vantage point of years and experience, we can co-create ourselves with the benefit of knowledge based on what has gone before. We know what was too hot, and what was a waste of energy. We recognize those ingredients that contribute to our wellbeing, and those that do not.

Yes...life is like the crock pot. And when we allow ourselves to be worked by a master chef, we are all assured that at the end when the cooking is done, we will be a unique and flavorful masterpiece—the result of all that we have gone through to ripen into what we were designed to become.
From Seasons of the Soul 2005

Food for Thought

"In filling myself, I had emptied myself. In grasping things, I had lost everything. In        devouring pleasures and joys, I had found distress and anguish and fear…
Such was the death of the hero, the great man I had wanted to be. And it was my defeat that was to be the occasion of my rescue."

~ Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

There are two types of people—those who come into a room and say, “Well, here I am!”
And those who come in and say, “Ah, there you are.”
~Frederick L. Collins

The Blue Sweater

I often share wonderful pieces of information I receive from The Daily Good. www.dailygood.org  It is filled with inspiration and news that uplifts and empowers us as individuals, communities, the world, and as a species. The following book is one of the gems that points to possibility for alleviating some of the issues the world faces. It is practical and pragmatic in its outlook, and hopeful in finding solutions to issues by empowering those who are in need of help, not causing more harm by handing out aid that does not involve their own efforts. Take a look at the excerpt to get a taste of how helping the world helps all of us.

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3718a

Rain

She had been shopping with her Mom in Walmart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.

      We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Walmart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried summer day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall, so I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the  world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring  in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

     Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in.  "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.  "What?" Mom asked.  "Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.   "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied. This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run  through the rain."  "We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.  "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.  "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get  wet?”  The little girl looked surprised. "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"

   The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few  minutes Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will  bloom into faith.

   "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said. Then off they ran.

      We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I  was one of them.  I got wet. I needed washing.

      Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday.

     To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
~Author Unknown

The Gift Within Language

In the latest Mother Jones magazine, there is an article about a forgotten language used by a Native Americans tribe in California called the Maidu. What was very interesting within the article relates to the importance of language, culture, and creation.

We get upset about people from other cultures coming to the U.S. speaking their language in preference to English, but for native peoples, the arguments for language preservation are deeper and more personal. Language, more than any other single human creation, is the living artifact of a culture. Constructed over successive generations, it embodies the cumulative memory of a people’s beliefs and knowledge, their stories, their names for things, the conventions that they use to tell each other about the world.

One young man from the Maidu tribe has used his knowledge of Maidu plant names to unlock the secrets of traditional ecology. The Maidu name for “pine tree” translates as “wind-lessening tree,” indicating that the pine was used to shelter oak trees, thus protecting the precious acorn harvest.

If we would take time to investigate the gifts within different languages we would learn valuable things about our lives. How would we know that a pine tree lessens wind in English? We wouldn’t. But this important link to protecting the food harvest is spoken of through words that represent the understanding and knowledge of people with much longer histories than our own. 

In Maidu tradition language was one of the first gifts the Earthmaker gave to beings he created. In other ancient cultures, the gift of language was considered equally sacred.  Language is a link to heritage – a link that reaches back to the creation of the world.
From Seasons of the Soul print edition 2004

Organic Consumers Association

I received an e-mail newsletter this morning that is full of valuable information about our food  from the Organic Consumers Association Organic Consumers Association

More and more we are going to have to look for alternatives to the packaged, processed foods we are being sold in supermarkets. Eating as close to the source will be important as genetically altered strains of wheat, pesticides, and chemical additives become increasingly insidious ingredients  that are used to enhance flavor, not nutrition. Our children are being bombarded by products that appear to be food, but have very little nutritious value, and are often filled with ingredients that are indigestible. The increase in celiac disease, autism, weight gain, and many other dis-eases that have appeared in the past twenty years may be attributed in part to the adulteration of our food supply in pursuit of greater profits and addicting consumers through chemicals that appeal to taste buds.

An old saying is once again very timely: BUYER BEWARE! The antidote: Become Informed!