The Other

Why are you afraid of me?

When we first meet, do you see me as a new friend? Are you open to me, unless I demonstrate otherwise? Do you see me as a potential threat, until I reassure you over time by proving I am trustworthy? Or Is there an underlying protectiveness in you that assumes at some point I will betray your trust?

Perhaps our skins are a different color. We are of different height, weight, hair color and shapes. Maybe we are a different gender – or perhaps my gender is not what it once was and you thought gender was a permanent thing. Do my physical shortcomings, scars, disabilities, or ravages of disease make you uncomfortable, make you feel more vulnerable to being damaged in your future? If I look different than you, I likely have had different experiences than you. Are you afraid to learn about my experiences because sometimes they make you question your own experiences?

The world is a multi-ethnic place. It is likely that, over the centuries, our many ancestors came from very different places. Places with very different histories of their existence and their relationships with others. Those histories are in my physical and mental DNA, as are yours. Do the histories of my ancestral past threaten you today, afraid that past conflicts will reemerge in this lifetime, directed towards you?

I grew up in a family other than yours. A family shaped by a different culture of perspectives, traditions, rituals, religious views, and ways of conducting business. My formal educational path may have been more or less than yours, and certainly followed a different path. The things I have seen and done are unlike what you have seen and done. My memories are different than yours; my current life is different than yours. Are you interested in what I have seen and done? Are you interested in my stories, in my point of view that has resulted from my stories? Or do you find it difficult to understand my stories and views simply because they do not correspond to your stories and views. Is it too difficult to make the effort or find the time necessary to make these more understandable to you? Does understanding our differences unduly take time and energy away from your schedule and priorities?

My birthplace is likely different from yours. Where I have been and lived since my birth is probably also different, especially if you stayed rooted in one location for most of your life. In this world there are numerous species of plant and animal life; high mountains and low valleys; green forests, expansive plains, desolate deserts; frigid winters and oppressive summers; ocean beaches, river sandbars, lakeside playgrounds; big cities, small towns, and rural isolation. The visuals in my mind’s eye are in real contrast to the visuals in your mind. Can we share those visuals somehow, and be insightful about how these pictures affected us so differently?

I speak differently than you. The words I use, the pronunciation of them (“my accent”), the way I use them to form sentences, are part of my own background and uniqueness. Just because we speak differently does not necessarily mean that what we are saying is substantially different. If our speech is different, does it necessarily mean that our thoughts are different?

You say that you are not afraid of me. Yet you avoid spending time with me unless caused by unavoidable circumstances. You cross the street to avoid passing me. You choose to stay in an enclave of similarity rather than puncture that enclave with diversity. You expend much effort trying to make me change my beliefs and life choices to match yours. Maybe you resent others who are similar to me who you feel take advantage of your good will; why do you paint all of us with one brush? Does your avoidance of knowing me mask a fear you do not acknowledge?

Am I simply “the Other?” Do our differences make you inherently afraid of me? Afraid just because I am different? Do my differences make you feel self-conscious or defensive regarding who you are? Or challenge you about what you believe? We do not have to be alike, you know. We do not have to agree, or need to tell each other what to do. We do not have to convince each other that one of us is “right” and the other is “wrong.” I do not have to change my life to be as yours, nor you to change to be as me. Two divergent paths can almost always find a pathway in the middle for us to travel together.

My life choices are not a criticism or negation of yours. We are just different. That is what we share in common. We can find that commonality if we choose to, and thereby stop fighting with each other, stop being afraid of each other. Are we willing to support and accept each of us being who we are? Can we simply live side-by-side with each other in mutual respect? It will take effort and openness from each of us. Are we afraid to make that effort? To make “The Other” into “One Another?”

I ask these many questions of you. But will I be honest enough to also ask them of myself?

©   2017   Randy Bell               www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

Freedom From Death

Each of us is going to die. This is the known. None of us knows exactly when or how that will happen. This is the unknown.

I do not say this just to be disconcerting or unfeeling about what is a difficult emotional issue. That we will one day die is known by our own direct observation, and is affirmed by virtually all sacred texts. That we do not know when or how is likewise asserted in those text (though if we find ourselves in certain situations our awareness of a potentially imminent date may be heightened.)

We can hasten death by living our life dangerously, carelessly and thoughtlessly; we can perhaps delay our death somewhat by doing the opposite. Even then, the arrival of our death is highly subject to the actions of others – both near and distant to us – over which we have little control. That lack of control is a big deal to our psyche, and our emotional balance.

Our concern about dying is about losing the pieces of life that we know: our experiences, our loved ones, our setting, and our opportunities. It is also about what we do not know, more specifically what awaits us after death. All religions have some theological opinions on the subject, with varying levels of detail. These opinions range from the traditional belief of a minimally-defined future resurrection of the dead without much explanatory detail (Judaism); an elaborate structure of a living afterlife in the elaborate splendor of Heaven or unspeakable damnation in Hell in Christian and Islamic thought; or a continuous cycle in some form of reincarnated life in Buddhist teachings. The religious teachings may vary, but the commonality is that something continues after death. Yet none of it will be ultimately confirmed or denied until we personally experience it.

Having such a significant uncontrolled unknown inherent in our Life’s makeup is very disturbing. What we cannot control and cannot know creates a knee-jerk reaction likely to be fear, from a presumption that something bad will happen. Then our follow-on reaction is anger: at being threatened, and at our self for our apparent weakness to control the situation. We make a choice: to embrace the threat and seek to transform it into a positive opportunity, or to build some kind of fortress to defend and protect us.

Today, people are making a great number of such choices about the world we live in and the life we are living. Many of these choices are based upon this linkage of fear for our safety – the safety of our physical life, of our cultural way of life, of our ability to control our own future. We feel that the world is out to get us, that unseen attackers are just waiting to get us at a weak, unsuspecting moment,. That people of different backgrounds and lifestyles are determined to take away our values, rights, freedoms, livelihood and existence. They may be non-physical attacks on us, but our mental life is inseparable from our physical life. The same alarm bell goes off; the same chain of fear and defense is triggered. Defending one’s self is primary.

Why is this discussion important? Because all fears come from the same well: death. Death of body; death of mind; death of person. The potential for our death is all around us. Therefore prudence and common sense certainly demand that we live our life with some measure of caution in order to give our life a chance to fulfill and maximize its potential. Fear of death is a strong motivator that can lead us into very dark places filled with very questionable decisions, such as we are experiencing in world society today. But we also have to keep our fear in proportion, for the odds are that our death is not imminent.

In 2014 approximately 2.5M out of 330M Americans (less than 1%) died from all causes. Medical illness was the overwhelming reason for these deaths. Unintentional “accidents” were around the 5^th cause of death. Homicides – what we seemingly fear most – are way down the list and around half the number of suicides. The majority of homicides are committed by someone known to the victim, not some random stranger. Killings by foreign / foreign-inspired terrorists that we are so preoccupied with today? Less than 100 – perhaps .004% of all deaths, .00003% of Americans. I may well be killed by a foreign terrorist. But if I am going to worry about my impending demise, I choose to be far more worried about a neighbor with a gun, a drunk driver on the road, an accidental fall from not paying adequate attention, or most likely, a lurking disease working its way through my body. All seeming like reasons to never get out of bed and leave the house again.

Every life is important. Important to honor; important to protect. Death is not something to trivialize. But letting our fear of dying dominate our thinking and decisions, and protecting our life the end unto itself, leads us to separation. We erect mental and physical defenses that keep others away, see the worst in people rather than the best, run away from new opportunities out of fear of failure, avoid relationships we believe we cannot trust, reject love for fear of being hurt. As I have said before, “The walls we build to protect us are the same walls that imprison us.”

Dying is part of the contract we agreed to when we accepted this life in human form. So we need to get over inappropriately worrying about it. Opening to the fullness of Life is a risk, but it is the very risk we are here to take. We should move thoughtfully, but we should also be moving in continuous pursuit of our best Self and in support of the best self of others. We cannot escape our death but we can escape the specter of our death robbing us of the joy of the life we are living. Casting off the mental oppression that comes from trying to unduly avoid our death is key to gaining the freedom to live the full life of receiving and giving that is open to us.

©   2017   Randy Bell               www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

 

Reflection And Resolution

For many of us, New Year’s Eve is a festive time marked by (often too much) food, drink, and music in the company of someone special. If the prior year was an unsatisfying one, we celebrate its demise and departure in hopes that it will somehow exorcise itself from our memory bank. If it was one of satisfaction and benefit, we give thankful appreciation for the good in our life.

This festivity is followed on New Year’s Day by a more sobering day of rest, including a pause for the making of new resolutions for the forthcoming year. We make our resolutions to help us identify some aspect of our life we want to do differently, pay more attention to, or enhance in some manner. Often these center around our body – a  promise to  lose weight, to eat healthier, to exercise more. Sometimes we make more noble resolutions for ourselves: to be more thoughtful, kinder to others, or more engaged with our community.

Unfortunately, most of these resolutions fail, usually before the first month of the new year is done. They fail because we do the resolution part too easily, with little true commitment, confusing “wishing” with setting realistic goals, all built upon a weak drive of little Purpose. It is Purpose that gives our resolutions sustaining energy, and Purpose comes from a necessary investment in Reflection. Time spent in honest and genuine examination of our life, where we have been, and where we now are. That is why our first Resolution should always be to spend more time in Reflection.

In Judaism, this idea of Reflection leading to Resolution is formalized in the annual tradition of the High Holy Days around the Hebrew New Year. It is a time that honors the 40 days Moses spent with God on Mount Sinai receiving the replacement set of stone tablets. The first 30-days are spent in spiritual reflection, introspection, and prayer looking back over the past year. The High Holy Days then begin with Rosh Hashanah, the start of the New Year. Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the creation of the world, the day when God passes preliminary judgment on one’s life and determines his/her upcoming fate. Ten days (“Days of Awe”) are spent meditating on the meaning of the Holidays, identifying needed changes for one’s better behavior, and asking for forgiveness from those one has wronged. It ends with Yom Kippur, the holiest “Day of Atonement.” One’s judgement is thereby sealed based upon one’s atonement and repentance; for those who have atoned, the new year begins on a clean slate. 

These High Holy Days are performed within a specific structure of prayers, liturgies, readings, ritual and ceremony applicable to the Jewish tradition. But the intention and structure of these days can be borrowed and applied to one of any faith or belief system, adapted to one’s own personal structure and ceremony. It starts with creating deliberate intention and time to pursue one’s own period of Reflection, Atonement, and Resolution. Borrowing from the symbolism of Rosh Hashanah, we engage in this period not at the secular calendar New Year, but annually on our birthday – honoring our own “day of creation.” We question ourselves as to our life and how we are living it, not as oppressive judgment but in the spirit of atoning for our missteps, and changing our course towards fulfilling our better Self.

In meditation or in journaling, we pursue pertinent questions. For example:

1. What is my life about right now – my surroundings, my relationships?

2.  How has my life changed over this past year, and what were the significant events?

3.  Am I where, and am I doing, what I had expected at this point in my life?

4.  What is not going well, or has not turned out well, in my life thus far?

5.  What immediate concerns are pressing upon me?

6.  What is going well, or has turned out well, in my life thus far?

7.  What immediate positives are enveloping me?

8.  How often do I do something different than my usual daily routine?

9.  What am I secretly wishing I had time and opportunity to do for myself?
10. Who or what have I harmed, whether intentionally or unknowingly, and how could I have handled it better?

11. In what way, and how often, am I expressing the spiritual aspect of my life today?

12. RESOLUTION: What do I wish to emphasize in the forthcoming year, and in what manner, regarding my: family; friendships; job / career / work / vocation; personal well-being and development; sense of happiness and completeness; spiritual practice and connection to the Universe.

Out of these answers can come our Resolutions, now infused with insightful Purpose. Resolutions that can have a lasting effect on our lives. Resolutions that give real meaning to our birthday: a life renewed again. May you have happy birthdays and truly meaningful renewals on each anniversary of your creation. Your true New Year.

©   2017   Randy Bell                           www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

A Personal Note

If you will indulge me a pause for a reflective moment …

The end of 2016 is also the completion of ten years of social commentary postings on the Thoughts From The Mountain blogsite. It is also the completion of seven years of spiritual messages on the Our Spiritual Way blogsite. There have been 221 individual essay-ettes on the Thoughts site; 95 essay-ettes on the Spiritual site. An estimated 300,000 words. So many words. Oftentimes when I am staring at the calendar looking at the next posting due date, I wonder, “What else is there to write about? What else is left to say.” Yet, inevitably, some topic ultimately presents itself. Thereby, another posting hits the digital landscape.

When I first heard the call to start writing these blogs, the principal question for me – besides whether I was qualified or not to speak on these subjects – was what would be my “niche.” Did I have something new to add to the dialog, rather than just repeating commentary already provided by other writers? There are literally thousands of blogs out there, wandering the internet in search of an audience. Some are well-written, contributing to expanding our knowledge and nourishing our personal growth. Others, not so much. If I have nothing new and of real substance to offer to you, then I do not need to be just another piece of clutter in your inbox.

My goal with the Thoughts blog is not to just react to individual events as they come down the pike. There are plenty of sources in place already for that commentary. Rather, I am always trying to find the broader principles, the larger themes, the historical context for what passes through these events of our daily lives. Such encompassing themes always exist; the difficulty is in unearthing them. The blog is simply a way to sort out for myself whatever insights I may come up with, and to share them with you. They may or may not be meaningful or applicable to you and where your life’s journey has taken you thus far, but I leave that assessment to you. Hopefully you will be stimulated and able to take my thoughts and build upon them to discover your own insights – insights that will excite and inform your thinking.

The same principles apply to the Spiritual blog. Frankly, I try to stay out of denominational, institutional, and religious dogma discussions. There are no lack of such religious issues generating much strong discussion, and plenty of religious speakers more than ready to comment on them. Issues such as of the meaning of, and the direction for, the church in today’s society, and who has the “right” answers about these questions. Yet even in the midst of such often heated confusion, there are many small congregations, and individual congregants, doing such very good things, often going unpublicized. They remain true to the core beliefs of their faith, do not unduly burden others with that faith, and genuinely reflect the best examples of their founding Teachers regardless of denominational and institutional pressures. My personal spiritual pursuit is to find the fundamental spiritual lessons that transcend separate religions, scriptures, geography, cultures, and national borders. Because in the end, the one thing that we share is that we are all human beings. We may have different beliefs about how we got here, and what is expected of us now that we are here. But underneath the skin, and beyond the intellectual corners of our minds, we all think, react, and seek similar things. We all know fear; we all often feel overwhelmed by this Life we barely understand; we are all making up our way as we go; we all embrace joy; we are all interrelated and affected by each other. If we ever get around to embracing those commonalities instead of beating up on each other, that is where we will find true transcendent spirituality.

One of my disappointments in the recent election campaign of personalities that we witnessed was that issues of substance, very vexing problems needing fresh thinking leading to genuine solutions, got completely ignored and drowned out in the buzzword conversations that passed for national debate. Needed conversations on social and spiritual topics that underpin our secular life were also buried under the campaign noise. In 2017 my intention for these blogs is to get out from under this suffocating blanket of coarse arguments and move back to discussions of ideas. We will never find the commonality and humanity that we seek as long as we are overwhelmed by these tsunamis of personalities. Observing the events of our daily lives is like looking at a small, cropped photograph of division and conflict. It is in the quest of the bigger picture, the glaring, expansive billboard of our social and spiritual landscape, that we will find the love, unity and compassion that we seek.

I intend to continue my search to know more today than I did yesterday. To understand just a little bit better that which I did not fully grasp yesterday. To be a little more skeptical about what I may think I believe. And to put such insights that I may have to good use in my relationships with others – including each of you. Relationships that hopefully will continually be made better. None of us has the full Truth about anything. Every person, thing or idea is inherently too complex, too expansive, for us to find solely on our own. So we learn best by sharing each of our individual discoveries, pulling Truth together like pieces of a vast mosaic artwork. When we come to see divergent opinion not as a threat to our thinking and well-being, but as an opportunity to add more bits and pieces to a continually broadening perspective and understanding, then we can progress together to a better place for all.

So with your permission if not indulgence, I begin a new decade of writing, for as short or long as God determines that my life still has some worthwhile contributions to offer. Writing that seeks to be built upon deep reflection, factual accuracy, historical connection, respect to those involved, exploring differing perspectives of belief, while giving voice to that which frequently goes unsaid. Perhaps thereby you will begin another decade of reading alongside. Thank you for your interest, support, and feedback as I have traveled this long pathway. I am quite sure there will be plenty to talk about in the months and years ahead. In the meantime, I wish you many times of quiet reflection, joy and love during this coming year. Peace be within you.

©   2016   Randy Bell               www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

 

Happy Holidays Redux

Back in December 2007, I wrote a post about a rising national protest from some Americans. They were complaining about being instructed to say “Happy Holidays” to their customers instead of wishing them “Merry Christmas.” This gag order was seen as an infringement on their religious rights, and yet another assault on the public expression of religion in general and Christianity in particular. Since then, this religious persecution mantra has resurfaced on an annual basis, sponsored in part by Fox News stoking the fire. After these many years of argument, we really need to put this issue back into the Church where it belongs, and out of the public debate and business marketplace.

When we look to extend a greeting or good wish to another person, the presumption is that our goal is to honor that person’s life and aspiration. When we send someone a Get Well card, it is not we who are sick but another who is suffering. When we send a Congratulations card to a recent graduate, it is not we who are walking across that commencement stage. The premise is that we extend good feelings to someone for what is happening in THEIR life, not ours.

The story and celebration of Jesus’ birth is a remarkable yet decidedly Christian event. However, there are millions of non-Christians in this country, almost one-third of our population. Many of us no longer live in isolated homogeneous communities, but increasingly we live intermixed all together.  One can choose to “spread the Gospel” in the winter holiday time to those not looking to receive it, or one can express true love and acceptance of each other and honor their respective celebrations.  People who insist on the “right” to wish a Merry Christmas to people whose traditions of observance are different are in fact being very selfish.  They are looking to make themselves feel better, not the person they are addressing. They are not seeking to truly spread “joy and good will to others,” but to themselves. Does a Christian you expect a Jew to wish you a Happy Hanukkah?

On the website http://www.interfaith-calendar.org/2016.htm, there are 19 religious holidays listed as celebrated in December, and 21 in January. They include a number of generalized “Christian” observances, but many are reflective only of one denomination of Christianity: Christian, Catholic Christian, Hispanic Christian, Hispanic Catholic Christian, Orthodox Christian, Armenian Orthodox Christian, Ethiopian Orthodox Christian.  In addition, a number of non-Christian holidays occur within these same two months: Jewish, Shinto, Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist, Islam, Zoroastrian, Baha'i, Sikh, Wicca/Pagan.

People of all of these faiths are our neighbors and fellow citizens. Our country’s diversity is one of our strengths and reflects our multiple cultural and religious heritages.  So say Happy Birthday to me on my birthday, not yours.  Wish me a Happy 4^th of July, not a Happy Bastille Day.  Wish people joy and peace in their own personal form.  If you know that family or friends are Christian, then by all means wish them the “Merry Christmas” that they celebrate. If you do not know them, or have not bothered to try to understand another person’s religion and culture, then do not assume that you know them. Just know that when in doubt, “Happy Holidays” really does work just fine in all cases. And in this time of such strife and division, perhaps a simple message of “Peace” works even better.

Happy Holidays. Peace be within each of you, and your families and friends.

©   2016   Randy Bell               www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

Fear And Promise

A lot of known and unknown friends and neighbors, within this country and across the globe, are feeling very fearful these days. It is fear that crosses political ideology, racial identities, economic status, and national borders. In some instances it is a fear from certainty: bombs exploding all around (Syria); a loved one who has been shot cradled in your arms (major cities); an empty plate on a dining table (across America). In other instances it is a fear from uncertainty: a vague sense of dreams and ambitions escaping away; of known, unshakable truths being challenged; of security being threatened by forces unseen and unimaginable; of a comforting way of life eroding and disintegrating.

In light of recent political events, many Americans fear that sixty years of cultural/political movement towards the realization of “Liberty and Justice for All,” yielding accomplishments achieved against continuing resistance and barriers, is now under threat. Old battles are having to be refought against a seemingly perpetually recurring foe. Other Americans fear the loss of cultural identity, a way of life embodied in 1950s America of set family roles, unambiguous church teachings, job and economic stability if not upward mobility, clear social and legal rules, and American world dominance. Our fears of loss may be different; fear itself is shared.

The parent Fear creates the child Anger. And Anger in turn creates an environment of separation from each other. So we have in our land today. Not “One Nation, Indivisible,” but a nation separate and not equal.

Numerically, we are separated right down the middle, 50/50. Middle America separating two costal populations. The division, fueled by our anger, is exemplified by increasing acts of physical violence against persons and property, social violence in name-calling and indiscriminate insults thoughtlessly and casually tossed about, and spiritual violence in our rejection of each other based upon our unacceptance for no reason other than “they’re different.” A difference we typically know little about. A superficial difference that masks a shared commonality.

In our collective existence as one tiny sliver of the vast Universe, we are regularly called upon to face disruption due to changing times, and to face our fears that arise out of those occurrences. We have a choice to act out of our fears, if not perpetuate and expand them. Or we can discover the challenges that the fears provide to us, and commit to meeting those challenges and transcending those fears.

The Universe always conspires to sever the past. The past is simply past. It is not the present, certainly not the future. (Stripped of the fog of selective nostalgia, the 1950s were not all that great anyway!) The Universe also conspires to wake us up when we get too complacent, and remind us that social progress towards our spiritual brothers and sisters requires constant effort and vigilance. Such are the Universe’s conspiracies occurring in these current times.

It does not take much skill or creativity to tear things apart. In the Universe’s grander schemes, we will be measured by our ability to transcend division and see truths on all sides of our divide, and judged by our ability to give voice and create reconciliation across that divide. We should take heart that our even divisions also give us our equal choices. They make the questions to be answered, and the decisions to be made, an imperative to address, impossible to gloss over and bury in cheap rhetoric. The substance of our divisions is also the energy for our search for answers and understanding.

Underneath the anger we hear is the fear we seek to hide. We need to expose and acknowledge those fears, because only out of that naked exposure can come the direction and reconciliation we seek, working together rather than against each other. We need compassionate listening and respect for each other, because each person’s perspective is their own truth, and some measure of truth is found in every pocket of humanity. With thoughtful effort, our diverse national makeup can work for all of us, a nation Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All. That is the Promise awaiting us.

©   2016   Randy Bell               www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

Natural Rhythms Of The Universe

In the Christian New Testament, we are told that “To every thing there is a Season,” an appropriate time for each aspect of Life to happen naturally. The Tao te Ching tells us that there is a Life Force (Tao) that permeates all things, substantial and unsubstantial, and that Life Force creates a structural momentum and flow with which we are expected to align ourselves. Nature, indomitable and undeniable, works her ways, both foreseeable and unforeseeable, in spite of our best efforts to control her. In times long past, human beings lived in harmony with this Universal Life.

Regardless of these teachings given to us by word and actions, we often expend great efforts to ignore these realities of Life. We ignore the inherent makeup of things, and seek to make them into what we would like them to be by genetic engineering, or by the force of our will, or by seeing things only as we desire them to be. Or we try to force events and actions into our own timeframe, disregarding that all things have their own schedule to meet. We are stressed that results are not happening as we planned, but our plan likely did not reflect the plans of others. We cause most of our stress to ourselves.

Our calendars show blocks of time (days, weeks, months), but these are merely artificial human constructs, fairly meaningless in the grander scheme. We still think of four distinct seasons, each marked by a particular date and time of equinoxes and solstices. Night is distinguished from day; morning is distinguished from afternoon. Yet in spite of all this movement within consistent structures, we seek to live each day the same as the last, repeat the same for the next.

In the midst of summer warmth that begs us to move more slowly, we leave our air conditioned house to get into our air conditioned car to drive to our air conditioned workplace. Same in reverse in the winter cold. Fruits and vegetables are planted and harvested at different times in different seasons and locales, but we expect to eat the same throughout the year. We work eight hours per day year around, but in winter we leave in the dark and return in the dark. In the summer we underutilize the extended daylight that is available to us.

We build houses and landscape yards impervious to the geography and weather conditions that encompass them. We overlay timetables and schedules to fit structural models rather than accommodating the Universe’s Rhythms. What if we ate only when hungry? What if we rose in the morning when we woke up rather than when the alarm rings? What if we lived in a house sized to the occupants’ true needs, rather than the expansive space we need not try to afford? What if we spent more time outdoors in Nature’s guest houses than in our homes and offices?

In today’s complex and highly structured cultures, such Walden Pond-esque thinking can sound as an incredible fantasy, impossible to reengineer. But maybe, just maybe, even if only on occasions of our own making, we could slip into periods of natural rhythms, away from our artificially imposed lifestyle. We could listen to our bodies rather than looking at our clocks. Eat when hungry, and maybe only what the farmers provide to us in today’s season.  Sleep when tired. Have no “to do” list for today; just do the very next thing that shows up on our plate, rather than acting from our self-developed master plan.

Such would take a conscious effort. With practice, it can get easier. But the rewards will become more important, more visible, more appreciated, as living in sync within the Universe’s natural rhythms promises us.

©   Randy Bell              www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com