Bozebits
Changing your perspective is like changing your clothes. You swap out one perspective with another, but it is still just a perspective with all the rules, boundaries, and definitions accompanying it. Do you see? Perspectives are baselines for thinking that only get in the way of reality. Without perspective, the only place you can go is “no” perspective, and that will free you to “see” untainted (by perspective) “what is.” A perspective-less mind is clarity no perspective can comprehend.
Carl’s Nutshells
Bozebits
Human perception is the product of conditioning. Thus, it is limited, and we are only aware of a fraction of what is happening. Our level of consciousness is directly related to what we have been taught and by whom. Question everything you know, think and believe. It’s
hearsay
Bozebits
Judging others is the veil we draw over ourselves that prevents us from seeing wondrous things; Judging removes the fun out of life
YOU the CREATOR- The Unchangeable Change
What we like to call change, for most of us, is really an adding of layers to the onion rather than removing them. We tell ourselves “let me do this, accomplish that or go here instead of where I am, and everything will be better.” It won’t; please get that!
Most of us are full of layers that are little more than avoidance of real-life experiences we find ourselves in. We believe that we can change our circumstances simply by running from them and that, somehow, will unravel us but really it just winds us up even tighter.
What you don’t experience fully becomes the nature of your experience even when you think you have changed. What you don’t take care of now becomes a layer; a full-length overcoat that is heavy and burdensome!
Get good with where you are; be honest with it and never let yourself be fooled into believing you are not its creator. You can run from creation, but you can never run from yourself, e.g., “the Creator.” Live where you are because “where you are” is the only place life exists.
Carl
Of Carts and Bags – A tale of Christmas
It was a cool, somewhat gloomy morning with a light snow falling but not accumulating. Just a few things to be done including a quick trip into town to pick up some things to complete a project I was finishing up. The large home improvement store, in town, wasn’t crowded, surprisingly, especially for a weekend and so close to Christmas. I suspect the dreariness of the day was the reason so few were out and about.
I made my purchases, exited the store and began making my way across the parking lot to my car when I noticed out of the corner of my eye an older, disheveled woman, running in the direction of my car and on a trajectory that would intercept me just about the time I reached the car myself. I didn’t give it much thought until she raised her hand and started calling out, “sir, sir, oh sir can you help me out?” I looked up without really considering that my car was alone in that section of the parking lot and while I acknowledged her call to me for help I assumed she was going to ask me to assist her in loading something in her car. I was only too happy to be of assistance but looking around the parking lot there were no cars nearby that I thought might be hers.
As she approached me she surprised me by asking if I could drive her to meet a friend exactly seven point two miles up the highway. I quickly thought how odd it was that she knew the exact mileage to her destination but before I could say a word she told me her car had broken down and she really needed to meet her friend just up the road. She offered to pay me for gas if I could just help her out in this small but important way. There was an urgency in her plea that overwhelmed any sense of concern in me and I simply agreed to take her to meet her friend. She was so grateful and thanked me profusely while I opened the car door to let her into my car. As she passed in front of me to get into the car I noticed the foulest smell. It was the smell of dirty wet dog with a hint of urine and rotting milk.
I got into the car, started the engine and quickly opened my window as the smell was so disturbing. I put the car into gear and began moving when she asked if I could go up to the other end of the parking lot so she could get some things from her car to take with her. I agreed and slowly moved across the lot expecting her to point out her car so I could stop and she could gather the things she needed. As we neared the edge of the building she instructed me to stop but there were only a few cars nearby parked in the employee parking area. I asked her which car was hers and she just instructed me to stop. I stopped and as she stepped out of the car she told me to just stay here and I’ll be right back.
I looked around to see which car she was going to get into but she slipped in between two cars and began pushing a shopping cart that was full of boxes and plastic grocery bags. I stepped out of the car and she called out, “oh no you don’t need to help, I can get this.” I walked back to the rear of my car and opened the rear gate and began to remove items from the cart and place them into the car. It dawned me that there really wasn’t a broken down car and that the items I was loading into my car were her possessions. Worn out clothing, worn out shoes and a dirty sleeping bag along with some odds and ends that I knew must be important to her. Her story about her broken down car now seemed a ploy to tug on my heartstrings to get me to help her out. MY demeanor changed from cheery helper to guarded dupe who had just been taken by a homeless, bag lady.
We got everything into the car, stepped into the car ourselves and headed for the interstate on ramp heading north. She reiterated that the destination was only seven point two miles up the highway and that she truly appreciated me helping her out. I didn’t say anything because I was now put out. She began to speak of how she had fallen on hard times, that her mother had fallen very ill and lost her house while her father died suddenly just about the time she lost her own job. It was a tale of hardship and loss but she never really lost her perkiness as she told it. She seemed very happy to be alive even amidst the hardships she had encountered. She thanked me over and over even as I tried to tell her it was no big deal and not to worry.
I kept a close eye on the odometer because I didn’t want to overrun her exit but we drove far beyond the seven point two miles she said we were going and I began to wonder just how far the drive would be. It was about fifteen miles. I was stewing. She pointed out the exit we were to take and I made the turn off the freeway when she asked me, “you know, speaking of hard luck if you wanted to help me out with a few dollars I would really appreciate it. “This was the proverbial straw.
I blurted back abruptly, “wait a minute, you mean you’re asking me for money when you offered to pay me for gas to drive you to where you are going?” She responded, “oh yes that’s right I did offer to pay for gas. How much would you like for your gas.” I was flabbergasted. I wasn’t about to take any money from her but I asked, “do you even have a car?” She said that she did have one about seven years ago. Very sternly I began to lecture her about her lack of honesty and how if she was up front and honest that she might get a better response from people and more would be likely to help her out. She agreed with everything I said and began apologizing and promised that she would take to heart all the things I told her would make her a better panhandler.
She became very quiet other than to point out a Target store down the road that was where she would be getting out. I was feeling smug as could be that I had exerted my two cents and had successfully given her useful instruction on being a better homeless person. I drove her to a place where excess shopping carts had been lined up along the outer wall of the building and stopped, got out of the car while she did the same. Without speaking she walked over got a cart and wheeled it back to the car and I began helping her load. She placed each bag in a particular order and meticulously positioned them as if she knew exactly where each one belonged in that particular cart. She didn’t have much but she loved what she had. My heart tugged.
When she finished loading she looked up at me and thanked me again not only for the ride but the instruction as well. She offered to pay again and I told her there is no way I will take any money from you. I then reached into my pocket and removed my wallet, took out every bill I had and handed it to her. It wasn’t more than seventy dollars and she pleaded with me that she would not take it while reaching over as fast as she could and snatching from my hands. It didn’t matter. I would have given her more if I had it. I was feeling a bit like a heal but her graciousness poured out again and she thanked me over and over. I smiled at her and told her she should have a nice meal with her friend.
The encounter was over. I got into my car, drove out of the parking lot and about the time I was entering the main road when I suddenly burst into laughter. Not ordinary laughter but debilitating, full on, belly laughter. You know the kind that takes your breath away and creates tears that stream down your face. I had to pull over to the side of the road because I had no bodily control and was not able to see the road through the tears. I roared like never before and the convulsive heaves of laughter poured from my mouth in huge waves. I was hysterical; absolutely hysterical. This lasted for several minutes before I could see through my tear soaked eyes and I began to breathe deeply and methodically so I could regain enough composure to make the drive back home.
As I was sitting there the thoughts began to pour in. I had just lectured this lady, who carried all her possessions in a shopping cart, on the virtues of honesty in the performance of living an effective “homeless” life while at the same time realizing that not only had she secured the ride to her next place of temporary residence but she got all my money as well and by doing it exactly the way she had always done it! I began to laugh again, only this time at the smugness of my offering her a better way while sitting on the side of the road, roughly thirty miles from home and not a penny in my pocket.
There is no lesson here or profound meaning. This is nothing more than a chance encounter with a fellow soul whose trajectory in life happened upon mine at this unique time and place in the eternities. I judged her and who knows but perhaps she judged me, as well, but even still it was the connection of two souls living the life they were living and without the judgments each life was perfectly fine. We find a way, don’t we?
I smile, still, when I think of this intersection of our paths and often wonder how she is doing and really how special my encounter with her was. A lecture, a laugh and smiles for the memories. Looking back and then returning to the present there is no one I would have rather given my money and a ride too. Merry Christmas.
A View on Compassion
Recently I was asked a question by someone visiting my website. Here is the question and what follows is my response. While the response is a bit lengthy I believe there is some important information for those who ask the same questions. I’d love to hear your response.
Comments: I just continue to have a problem with people who take other’s lives and rape etc. I find that difficult to be ok with and that it is the god within at work you have to be kidding me. How can we offer love to human life forms who are capable of this???? We must still believe that there are many who are not Intuitive enough to realize who they are or from where they came… so walk a destructive physical life. How can we be ok with this and offer love to these people??? Please explain to me…
My Response:
Vicki,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You ask, perhaps, the most complex questions that can be asked for any human living in this existence. There is no easy answer mainly because our egos get so attached to what they have determined to be right or wrong in the world. You must think of yourself (we all must) as two individuals. One that is human and one that is divine (God). The human is everything physical that you experience including your thoughts, dreams, aspirations, etc. The divine is the observer of the experience the human is having. The divine does not interfere with the human experience because, after all, the divine came here specifically to have the human (that YOU are) experience. It did not come here to change anything. I know this sounds a bit bizarre, but the essence of our human existence is to experience the wondrous-ness of being humans and to interfere (as gods could) would be to alter the reality of that experience.
After having established this, I will try to answer your questions. Let me be perfectly clear that “the god within” as you mentioned could be okay with rape, murder and all the other forms of violence we experience in the world. Gods, as I mention in my Book “On Being God-Beyond Your Life’s Purpose” do not encroach upon the experience of other gods. They have no need or inclination to do so simply because they possess all the power to create whatever they want. Having said that, however, as for this human experience the “divine” in us has also agreed not to interfere in the “human” condition as part of the overall “human” experience. It is the “human” condition that commits the acts of violence and control on other humans. It is the human condition that tries to stop it and it is the human condition that decides if it is “ok” or “not ok” to “offer love” to those who commit such acts. Nothing that is going on in the physical sense is “because” of gods. It is all because of humans.
As a human, you can decide whether to “offer love” to those who perpetrate such things on other humans or not. As gods the question of “love” doesn’t even come into question. What comes into question for the divine in you is compassion. Now, the world has misunderstood
the meaning of compassion. The world (egos) thinks of compassion as a higher form of love which it is not. Compassion has nothing to do with love. The only words we have in our human language (English) to adequately describe compassion is “acceptance of everything” (careful not to confuse acceptance with apathy). Gods “accept” what is because they know that in the grand spectrum none of what goes on here “as humans” has any significance in the “eternal” spectrum.
What has happened in this “human” experience is that the “ego”, both individual and collective, has attempted to “out do” what is divine in us and in so doing has gotten out of control, to say the least! In other words, those who commit such horrible things no longer know
what they are doing. They are, for the most part, cut off from the divine nature within and have been largely taken over by the egoic nature that always looks outward for satisfaction and satisfaction often takes on vengeful and inconsiderate forms. Vicki, “they know not what they do.”
Here is why I say that we try in every way to love such individuals. To be angry, vengeful and unforgiving of those who have lost their way is to put yourself in the same kind of mind-set as they are. In other words, the ego in you is saying “why should ‘I’ be this or that” when they have done “this or that,” which “I,” for whatever reason, believe is wrong. Do you see this? You cannot fight against that which you despise or don’t accept (these are egoic responses) and not have it running wild in your experience. Love is a verb. It is one of the only things that can “actively” alter the egoic nature of the human experience, be it, individually or collectively simply because “love” alters YOU – not them. If you are holding on to your feelings of disapproval, anger and indignation, you are being as “disconnected” from the divine in you as any of those you judge to have hurt you or others. Your path is as “destructive” as theirs; not to say that you harm or hurt others but destructive to your own spiritual well-being. Why would you do that to yourself, Vicki?
In the end, Vicki, you choose (as a human) how you can view this experience. However, in the infinite scheme of things, none of what happens here matters. You will proceed into eternity as the God that you are and you will not judge anything that happened here or anywhere else, because everything to our innately divine nature is wonderful. As gods we don’t “see” with eyes that judge. We only see that everything is “good.” That is the “compassionate” nature the god who dwells within you. Find the divine in you and you will experience this knowing. Question every one of your judgments for they are of the ego. This is how you can tell whether or not you are connected to the divine within you.
Long answer to your question, Vicki. I hope you will contemplate what I have said. As I state on my website, “my purpose is to help get you out of your mind”. When you discover that YOU are not your body, your mind or your ego you will be at the point of discovering “WHO” you really are. It will amaze you how that will change your life. I wish you all the best in your spiritual endeavors.
Blessings,
Carl