Rebirth is inevitable

"Somehow the wires uncrossed, the tables have turned, never knew I had such a lesson to learn. I tidied up my point of view I got a new attitude" Patti Labelle, legendary singer



On this journey, I have done stuff which I would never have thought that I would have done from the absolute crazy like bribing an African soldier to "get to cross the border" to the totally mundane like helping women sort corn seeds squatting on the ground. I have been blessed and priveledged to meet so many different people who have introduced me to many different cultures, ways of life, books, music and it has truly changed my point of view. I had this view that once you are a "good" person that bad will leave you alone! Talk about learning how to unlearn!

What I have learned is that Bad is not going to pass you buy because you read self help books, own a string of prayer beads, know how to meditate and feed the poor! Get real! Bad is gonna show up, its up to you to show bad just how good you are.

So in my travels I happened to learn about a number of people who share their empowering stories and this one I want to share, totally changed how I think I just love and believe this. It would be nice to hear your thoughts on this, so feel free to leave a comment.

What did I learn today?
During your life, you will experience betrayal, both as someone who will betray others and be betrayed by others. You will lie to others and others will lie you to. You will judge others unjustly and you will be judged unjustly. You will hold onto grudges and others will not forgive you. You will be introduced to strangers to love and strangers will fall in love with you. You will be saved miraculously from harm many times, sometimes knowingly – most times invisibly. You will be guided to be certain places on time. Sometimes those places include accidents. Other times you will meet future partners and best friends. And when the time comes, you will be called home, ending the journey of your physical life on Earth.

There is nothing personal about these cycles of life or these experiences. They are archetypal. That is, they are essential ingredients that make up the alchemy of the human character. These ingredients make us the same, and vulnerable to each other. They tie us together like invisible threads through our weakest links so that we may stand humbly before each other.

When we tell ourselves we are better than others, then we begin to believe that we are separate from Nature itself and the cycles of Nature. We begin to tell ourselves nonsense like, “The cycles of Nature do not apply to us because we are special. We are not like those people.” And soon we begin to feel entitled. We tell ourselves that because we are special, we are entitled to protection from the cycles of Nature, such as: Death and Rebirth and Abandonment and Bonding and Feast and Famine. In fact, pretty soon, we start believing we can strike up our own bargains with God. Here’s a popular one: If I am a good person and do everything right, nothing bad will happen to me. After all, I’m special and entitled.

 Separated from the cycles of Nature and armed with a head full of self-constructed mythologies, off you go into a made-up world that doesn’t really exist – except in your own mind. Your happiness becomes based upon these myths holding intact, all of them built upon illusion, as Buddha would say. Inevitably, of course, one of those cycles and one or two of those experiences will manifest, shattering this fantasy. (This is usually the point at which people ask, “What kind of God does this to people?”) Perhaps a betrayal erupts in a marriage or maybe a sudden job loss happens. There is no shortage of examples of how the cycles of life express themselves in our lives.

We are happy – if not happiest - when we are living in harmony with our inner nature. We feel most content, most balanced when the choices we make reflect our true feelings. We feel honest and clear. We are not hiding secrets from anyone, we are not betraying ourselves, we are comfortable speaking honestly when in discussions (not about wounds, just about life), and we feel openly and generously loving toward others.

Rebirth is inevitable!

Peace!!