Gazing in the Mirror

November 26 - Are Humans The Chosen Ones ?

Strange is our situation here
upon this earth. Each of us
comes for a short visit, not
knowing why, yet sometimes
seeming to a divine purpose.
~ Albert Einstein

Mind, all mind, is right here.
It is God's Mind, God's creative
Power, God's creative Life. We
have as much of this Power to
use in our daily life as we can
believe in and embody.
~ Ernest Holmes

Sometimes we humans seem to want to apologize for existing as if the Earth would be a better place without us. Don Miguel Ruiz says collectively we are the intelligence of Gaia. I can believe that. Can we take the fortunate blessings that are being human and elevate these collectively a notch ? Is that not what we were being called to do with that time period said to be creating a transition called 2012 ?. I first wrote this essay that very year (2012) which was said to be a point at which we were to be entering into the unknown of the next cycle, which at that time, I did suspect would realistically look a lot like the cycle we were then leaving. I can still ask – can't we evolve what it is to be human further ? – without such "monumental motivations".

Since it is easy to believe that we are somehow "special", could we not still accept some humbling without actually denying our value to the planet ? In his book "The Wolf at Twilight" author Kent Nerburn shares a collective point of view that is whole. Whether we are special or not and whether we are "chosen" as a species, he suggests – "We must stop looking at life as if we humans are at the top of everything. There's Spirit in everything, not just in people. If the Creator made it, there is spirit in it. And if it has Spirit in it, it has a part to play in creation." He shares the concept "Mitakuye Oyasin" – "all my relations" – and defines this to mean "everything in the world — the plants, the animals, the sky, the trees, the rocks — everything. When you feel that everything is connected." For more than one of my friends this oneness IS their spiritual path.

The ancient wisdom of the Kabbalah also reminds us – "The human was created singular to remind us of how exalted we are, having been the crescendo of Creation ! But if it goes to your head, remember that the mosquito preceded you." Because we are chosen to be somehow special, a kind of specialness that needs no proving to any of us actually, we should also easily embrace humility. Rainer Maria Rilke says "We are life with no thought of applause." And in Unity's Daily Word – Flexibility – we are reminded "Letting go and letting God, I can remain flexible. Relinquishing the inclination to control other people or situations. I trust in the Divine Solutions." This avenue for divine solutions may be the collectivity of intelligence that humans contribute to and it is so intertwined to such a high degree that it is the movement of Life though a mental realm that brings inspiration and action and empathy and compassion into expressed existence through humans on Earth.

This thread of perception is found throughout the best of human thought. Rumi said – "Instead of being so bound up with everyone, / BE everyone. / When you become that many, /you are nothing. Empty." Because we occupy space and because there is a somethingness to us as human beings, we are also fascinated by the concept of emptiness. My friend Bert thinks about that a lot. He approaches it from Buddhist philosophy and sees the tendency of the mind to "categorize" as a filter to avoid emptiness – an effort to fill space. Byron Katie muses on emptiness in her essay to the 18th Verse of the Tao Te Ching. She equates the empty desert with "the absoluteness of solitude, the positive nature of emptiness". She asks – "And what am I who wonder what I am ? ... knowing that you can't know and don't really care, ... Nothing of life imagined can compete with the beauty of nothingness, the vastness of it, the unfathomable darkness."

Why do we try so hard as human beings to remove ourselves somehow from the equation of reality ?, as though we have no right to exist, as though we are an accident to apologize for causing by our thoughtlessness. I don't agree. A friend commented that "It is difficult to comprehend but true that 'nothingness' is the end point of our search". I'm not so certain and wonder if nothingness were arrived at would there be nowhere else to go ? Do we search for what is nothingness to understand that we are somethingness ? Another friend honestly offered – "We can't know what nothingness is or what emptiness is. They are words to us; that convey something that may be very different from the experience itself". Indeed. Why do we humans find it so difficult to relax within life ?

The Science of Mind textbook advises us that "We are to know the Truth by its fruits. The certain estimate of reality is ever evidenced by its worth in actual living". What is it that actually matters ? To my own heart's mind it is "quality of life" and knowing that I am not taking more than I need, that I am respecting ALL of Life. I wish to sense the Spirit in everything – in the water, in the soil, in my wildlife neighbors and in the wild humans that are my neighbors. I feel that being incarnated in human form is such a wondrous blessing and it saddens me to know that it is not experienced and admittedly, perhaps it is not even possible for it to be experienced as a blessing by many people due to circumstances of birth and country and status in living. So that is what actually matters to me, to live towards an eventual outcome where every person experiences easily that life is a wondrous blessing.

~ perspective

I make of my life one that is
worth living, knowing that I have
it within my own control to
interpret the circumstances of
my life in a positive perspective.
I find no need within myself to
live another person's life and
that includes my trying to change
their perspective to somehow
control their behavior or
influence their choices.
I do not need any recognition of
specialness by any other person
to believe that my own life has
value and is worthwhile and that
I actually matter to the whole
of creation.
I relax into Life and do not
worry too much about any
circumstance while at the same
time taking responsibility fully
for my actions and behaviors.
I am everyone and everything
from the center of my individual
perception – by this I remember
that perception is subjective
and incomplete.

#action #blessings #compassion #empathy #flexibility #humility #intelligence #motivation #nothingness #perception