Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Life is full of surprises, isn’t it? When tragedy strikes, and we start asking the ‘difficult questions’. When we wander down an unfamiliar path, and our senses perk up. We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore. Walking through the wilderness we become vividly aware of possible danger lurking around every corner.
Like Dorothy and her friends, chanting “Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!”, we realize that the world is not the place we thought it was. How about when life is good? When we’re not really challenged by anything, and we can kind of coast along. This is where the REAL lions, tigers and bears live. They are not dangers from without, but from within. I call them judgments, conclusions, and assumptions. Oh my!
Why are judgments, conclusions and assumptions so dangerous?
~ they mean we’ve become comfortable, and our curiosity dies.
~ they mean we’re asleep, on autopilot, while volumes of inner potential go untapped.
~ we lose compassion because we assume “I already know that.” We neglect the opportunity to step into another’s shoes, and really see the world from their perspective.
~ the world loses the magic it had when we were children. We think the world is known, and predictable. We build a box around our minds, and fence ourselves in to feel safe. Self-inflicted bondage.
~ our heart forgets how to discern
The sum of these things is that our energy stops. It gets stuck, and begins to sour. It can sour our attitude. It can poison our physical health. Our relationships can putter out. Our lives lose meaning. We become spiritually dead beings. And THAT, my friends, is the greatest tragedy of our time. Abraham Hicks speaks of flowing with life, and the solution begins by simply turning yourself in the right direction.
The tragedy this world is experiencing comes not because bad people do bad things. It’s because good people don’t do enough good things. They’re occupied by a myriad different distractions–distractions created by others. Not letting their light shine. Edward Burke said, ”All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” Now, I don’t believe in a force of evil like Satan, whose sole purpose is to get us to mess up and miss out on eternal glory. But I do believe in progression and regression–forward momentum, and backward.
This world is our home, for now. It’s our responsibility and stewardship. As beings in growing awareness, it’s time to wake up! Again and again! This is a world of infinite possibility, but in order to reach out and grasp it, we must engage all our senses. Not just sight and sound, but imagination, and creation, connectedness. The benevolent Universe is calling to you right now, to engage your own Greatness. And share it.
Don’t fear what can happen. ‘Bad’ things happen. They will happen whether you’re in your “safe” little box or not. We will fall and get hurt, many times over. But in the process, we will truly be alive. And in the process, not only will we pick ourselves up and try again, we will fly.
February 12th, 2009
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