Ignorance
is Not Bliss
7/28/7
The other morning as Brad and I
were relishing in the afterglow of making love, Brad shared with me an insight
he was having. He said he could see
ourselves in heaven just before we made our final leap into existence. Our Heavenly Father’s last words to us
were…HAVE FUN! As the final trails of
glory were streaming from our celestial selves we could barely make out
Heavenly Mother’s final sentiments…but BE CAREFUL!!
How many times have we, as
parents, said these same words to our own children—Have fun, but be careful! Well, I have to admit I do it every time they
leave on a date or travel far distances.
I also have to admit that the “word mechanic” in me immediately came out
to play. “Care-ful” meaning “full of
care.” I thought about this for a
moment. Then shared with Brad some of my
own insights.
“If we could only be care-ful
in being fully caring, loving beings to each other and treat each other’s
feelings with the highest amount of TLC, I think then we could truly have fun
and find the joy in each present moment.”
“But what exactly does that
mean to ‘treat each other’s feelings with the highest amount of TLC?” Brad
inquired.
Again, I pondered it briefly.
“Well, it means being
responsible for our own feelings and then “able to respond” to others
feelings. Being “response-able” is the
key here. When we get so wrapped up in
our own feelings of anger, jealously, rage and needing to control then we are
unable to respond to another’s feelings.
It also means being “accountable” for what we say and do. Like an accountant is with our money—we
should be as careful with our words and actions as we expect him to be with our
money. That’s being responsible and
accountable for our words and actions.
We had both just finished Gregg
Braden’s book, The Divine Matrix and
Brad brought up the part where Gregg had traveled the world over to finally end
up in a monastery in Tibet to ask a famous Tibetan abbot the one question he’d
been searching his whole life for an answer to.
In Gregg Braden’s own words:
“What connects us with one another, our
world, and the universe? What’s the
‘stuff’ that carries our prayers beyond our bodies and holds the world
together?” The abbot looked directly at
me as our translator echoed my question in Tibetan.
Instinctively, I glanced to the guide, who
was our go-between for the entire conversation.
I wasn’t prepared for the translation that I heard coming back to me.
“Compassion,” he said. “The geshe (great
teacher) says that compassion is what connects us.”
“How can that be?” I asked, looking for
clarity in what I was hearing. “Is he
describing compassion as a force of nature or as an emotional experience?” Suddenly, an animated exchange broke out as
the translator put my question to the abbot.
“Compassion is what connects all things”
was his final answer. And that was
it! Following nearly ten minutes of
intensive dialogue involving the deepest elements of Tibetan Buddhism, all I
got to hear was those six words!
A few days later Gregg had the
opportunity to ask another Tibetan monk the same question.
Just as I’d asked the abbot only days before, I posed the
same question (through the translator) to the monk: “Is compassion a force of
creation, or is it an experience?” His
eyes turned to the place on the ceiling where I’d been looking only seconds
before, taking a deep sigh, he thought for a moment, collecting the wisdom of
what he’d learned since entering the monasteries at the age of eight. (He appeared to be in his mid-20s now.) Suddenly, he lowered his eyes, looking at me
as he responded. The answer was short,
powerful, and made tremendous sense. “It
is both,” were the words that came back to me from the monk. “Compassion is both a force in the universe as well as a human experience.”
Again the word mechanic in me came
out to play. So what exactly does the
word “compassion” mean? Well, if you
break up the word into two parts “com” which is the Latin root word for “with”
and “passion” which means “intense emotion” or “energy in motion,” then
compassion, literally translated means “with intense emotion” or “energy in
motion.”
Every therapist knows that
whenever energy becomes “stuck” we begin to die. We start to exhibit restriction and
resistance which causes us pain. Pain is
simply a signal that we are blocking energy by restricting its flow or
resisting its movement. My job as a
therapist is to assist my clients in releasing those blocked energy pathways
which are causing them pain. Pain is a
friend to the therapist as it signals to us where there is blocked energy. To ignore pain is to not get in touch with
the body’s natural signals. In other
words “Ignorance is not always bliss!”
When we ignore the feelings and
impressions that are coming up for us and also suppress emotion or the
“energy-in-motion” which arises in us, then we lose an opportunity to clear
this energy and heal that which is causing the blockage. It doesn’t mean we have to act on our
negative emotions—it’s just being aware that they exist and acknowledging their
existence. We then can be responsible
for transforming those negative emotions into positive ones such as love,
forgiveness, peace, joy and bliss. Our
emotional state of mind is also a choice.
The more consciously we choose positive emotions, the less space the
negative ones have to occupy us. This
truly is the state of enlightenment.
After my last newsletter, An Emergency I was sent an enlightening e-mail from a new and dear
friend, Sheri, which I forwaded onto my beloveds. She attached some beautiful photographs of
the Glasswing butterflies found in South America. (See photos below) It was prefaced with the following words:
These beautiful
butterflies live in South America. A butterfly with transparent wings is rare
and beautiful. As delicate as finely
blown glass, the presence of this rare tropical gem is used by rainforest
ecologists as an indication of high habitat quality and its demise alerts them
of ecological change. Rivaling the
refined beauty of a stained glass window, the translucent wings of the
Glasswing butterfly shimmer in the sunlight like polished panes of turquoise,
orange, green, and red. All things beautiful do not have to be full of color to
be noticed; in life that which is unnoticed has the most power.
I then had a dear friend,
Claudia, ask me the question “Well, what happens when we see the Glasswing
butterflies disappearing?” “Good
question,” I replied as I thought about it for a moment. I didn’t have an answer for her. But then I read something that very night out
of Gregg Braden’s book, The Isaiah Effect
that I thought would answer her question.
And so, Claudia, this is for you:
Rewriting
Our Future
The membrane between future possibilities
may be so thin that we fail to recognize when we have crossed into a new
outcome. The “sudden urge,” for example,
to exercise more often, eat differently, or recommit to a floundering
relationship represents a new choice that breaks the structure of a present
pattern and promises a new outcome.
Though we may feel that the choice has been spontaneous or natural,
the change now allows us to experience a possibility of health or relationship
that was only a dream in the past.
Prayer is the language that allows us to express our dreams, making them
real in our lives. What if our choices
were made intentionally?
Now, perhaps more than any other time in
human history, the choice of outcome is ours.
Once we have read the words, recognized the possibilities, and exposed
ourselves to new ideas, we cannot return to the innocence (ignorance) of the
moment before. In the presence of what
we have seen, we must make sense of our experience. We may disregard (ignore) what we have been
shown, citing lack of proof or too little data, or we may allow ourselves to
embrace the opportunity of a new way.
The moment that we reconcile each new possibility is the moment where
the magic begins; it is the moment of choice.
As our world gives birth to a new earth,
landmasses, weather patterns, ice caps, and magnetic shifts bear witness to the
changes. In light of recent research,
what is the potential of applying the wisdom of two-thousand-year-old texts on
a global scale, to answer the challenges of the new millennium with an outcome
for healing, peace, and graceful transition?
The labor has already begun as history points to now, the last days of prophecy.
I’ve been accused of spreading
myself so thin that I’ve become “transparent.”
With a large family, a great group of friends, two jobs and care-taking
Mom, my life seems tremendously rich and full. I feel much like those beautiful transparent
and “clear” Glasswing butterflies—that my life has genuine vision and purpose
which is clearly defined. Transparency
can also mean “total honesty” which is what I try to be in every relationship.
Last night Brad and I shared
the fortune in his fortune cookie. It
read: “Your dream will soon come
true.” We both laughed out loud as we
both knew very well “my dream.” My dream
is to build a place of healing—a virtual heaven on earth—where family and
friends can join together to intentionally create a peaceful, loving, joyful community. You are invited to join us in our
dreams. Just show up. Another dream is to create a Garden of Eden
inside the biodome of the healing center where exotic butterflies like the
Glasswing butterfly and the rare Blue Butterfly can frolic and play without the
threat of extinction. (See the movie
“The Blue Butterfly” for details.)
Please join with me in prayer
to create this vision of “heaven on earth” together. For more details of this vision, please
e-mail me for e-copies of my books Heartsong
and Heart Wide Open. I would be happy to e-mail them to you.
Wordsmith extraordinaire`, Goddess speak, Fusion Union dynamic extremely profound and urgently timely, critical to civilization advance.. a MUST read. I urge it for your enhancement you will find therein.
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