Can you hear the birds singing?
Robert Green Ingersoll said: “The person who does not do their own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to themselves and to their fellow humans.” I like this quote because it reminds me that when I sell myself short I’m not just hurting myself, but others as well.
We are targeted every day with the media’s barrage of information that mostly costs us our peace of mind, or what Needleman calls our daily dose of fear and rage. We do not need to be enslaved. No one is forcing us to spend all day checking the news and social media. To the extent we are torturing ourselves, we have to step back and ask ourselves: Is this is a good use of our time?
We look and seem solid, but we now know this is an illusion. We are actually manifestations of moving energy, mostly empty space. As a result, there is a theory that we vibrate at different levels. We can surround ourselves with “downer” energy such as whiny thoughts and negative people. However, we can also change these vibrations to attune with something transcendent to the human ego.
We can do this through making efforts to meditate and practice being grateful. We can do this with deep, mindful breaths. We can do this by mindfulness activities, such as right now: I can see a beautiful blue shy without a cloud in sight and hear the birds singing. But I need to try to do these things or they will happen just occasionally, and most likely be forgotten soon, if they was noticed at all.
This time of sheltering in place is more of a challenge to some of you than others, but it is safe to say everyone is feeling the pressure to some extent. So I have all of this time at home. There is nothing I can do about that. But what can I do? I can practice inner freedom and stop being a slave.
Some teacher (I don’t remember who) taught that we could transform our lives by investing only one hour a day —meditate for 20 minutes, read for 20 minutes and exercise for 20 minutes. Surely we could try that. You may notice that feelings come up like “I don’t feel like doing some yoga for 20 minutes.” Well, really, who cares how you feel? If you give into that feeling then you are a slave to that feeling.
As you do the things you need to do whether feeling like it or not, you are practicing freedom. And when you practice freedom you will vibrate at a finer level and attract other people who are vibrating at a higher level. Then, gradually, you become the person you wish to be and you contribute to the welfare of each of us.
Listen closely — Can you hear the birds singing?
To Listening!
Apophat