Spirit tells me that awareness is an ever-deepening experience of
Understanding, with the capacity to expand forever.
The more we understand how each life form has the potential
To affect every other, the more clearly we will know, for
Understanding is knowing, that all life is much more than
Interconnected; it is interwoven.
We each are part of everything else.
Spirit tells me that, perhaps someday, somewhere in another world
Not too different from this one, we’ll replay this lifetime and
Review it together, from off-stage.
Then, all the little or not so little incidents that have contributed,
One at a time, to the development of our particular relationship,
Will seem to make sense
Then, perhaps I will understand the why and how, but
For now, please try to believe that there is purpose and
Meaning to the lives of each one of us, both separately and
As part of a greater life.
Spirit tells me that all stress is a response to experience, but
Experience itself does not necessarily create stress.
How we choose to respond to experiences that Life
Provides us with, and we seem to respond differently to
Similar situations at different times, determines how
Stressful each experience will be.
I have a problem with that explaination.
Yes.
Choosing suggests rational thought.
Yes.
But, how can we choose an emotional response?
Why would you choose an emotional response?
Surely an emotional response is a more immediate and
Natural expression of how I experience whatever situation.
Doesn’t emotion have to come before thought?
Yes.
Then?
Emotion may be triggered by experience, but thought
Would determine how to respond.
Always?
Always. even when thought allows emotion to have its way.
Spirit tells me that practice is habit, but an intentional one,
With a goal, and requires intent to improve or maintain
What we have developed in skills or in establishing
A way of life.
Practice can result in patterns of behaviour; physical, intellectual,
Emotional and, or spiritual that may appear to some others to be
No more than habits.
There is also the danger, He cautions, of practice becoming
No more than a habit, when intention is no longer involved.
How can I be sure that I still have intention?
Are you satisfied?
No.
Are you still making progress?
Yes, but …
Even a little is more than none.
Spirit tells me that the purpose of His teaching is to encourage
The study and practice of an increasingly clearer understanding of
Our interconnectedness to all forms of life, human and otherwise,
And of our personal responsibility to care for and protect, not only
Our own unique individual life, but also that of the countless,
Equally unique life forms that we share our world with.
How?
By becoming intentionally aware of how we live and the negative
Affect that may have on others.
That would require a powerful sense of responsibility.
Not would; it does.
Is it possible?
Yes.
How?
One step at a time.
And the first step is intention?
Yes.
Spirit tells me that spirituality is a natural capacity
To expand a mystical awareness and understanding
Of life that develops compassion for others.
We can, if we will to, increasingly recognize
Ourselves in others, and others in ourselves,
Without which, He claims, compassion is not
Possible.
There is no essential difference between anyone.
We could never, He tells me, recognize love or
Hostility in others, if we were incapable of
Experiencing, to a greater or lesser degree,
Perhaps, the emotions that we witness.
In essence, there is oneness with variable attributes.
Spirit tells me to let it all go, since it is going, anyway.
I am two generations behind where today’s action is.
I hardly need to be reminded that Life is moving me
Into the past, while young people are moving into
Their future.
The world I remember is being swept away, to make
Room for the world of tomorrow, that younger
Generations are creating, without much thought
To what once was.
When we have done all that we can, He tells me,
Then we must be content to wish them well, and
Get out of their way.
Does that mean that I’m on the way out?
We are all on the way out, at least in some way.
Spirit tells me that habits are consciously developed
Patterns of behaviour or self-discipline with, or
Without intent to integrate them into one’s way of life.
Habits can serve a useful purpose in preparing for
Competitions, exams, performances, goals, etc., or
Just to maintain a chosen lifestyle.
Habits can also become addictions, when they no
Longer serve any useful purpose in one’s life, but
At some point in time the habit has taken control
Over will power.
I sense a question coming.
Yes. Which am I?
You are my teacher.
Then I still serve a useful purpose in your life?
You know the answer to that.
Yes.
Over will power.
Spirit asks me if I would wish anyone else to share
Such a relationship as we seem to.
The answer to that one is easy, and simple.. No.
I would not wish for anyone the stress of the strugggle
I experience, with no end in sight.
Why do you continue?
I’m not aware of any option. Besides, I seem to
Need to hold on as long as I can.
Why?
There could be some reward, and perhaps
Learning is its own reward.
What are you learning?
To understand life.
What have you learned so far?
That it’s still a mystery, to me.
Yes.
Spirit tells me that to serve Life is to serve ourselves, for
We are all as one with everyone and everything else that lives.
Life is an ecosystem wherein all life is interactive, interrelated,
And interdependent, in the same way that all biological systems
Within the human body are as one unit while functioning as
Seemingly separate systems within systems.
We seem to be able to accept that any diseased area within
The human body is a threat to the health and the survival of
The entire human body.
Why, He asks me, can we not just as simply accept that
The same relationship exists beyond the human body, and
That interconnectedness of all life forms functions
To sustain the individual life forms through a sense of
Co-dependency.
Co-dependency?
Yes. We are mutually sustained or mutually destroyed.
It’s as simple as that.
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