On Sacrifice
Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 4:35 pm
A crazy loud bluejay is hopping around by the hanging bird feeder, making a big fuss because he is too big and has to dive bomb it and hope to get a bite. Funny to watch.
And it's another one of those many thoughts kind of mornings. I am watching my two grandsons, still sleeping. So precious they are. I have been wanting to write a piece on the word sacrifice for some time now, and find I am struggling on where to begin.
My whole life, as I look back over time, has done nothing but move more into the fringe, to where I struggle to find words to define things nowadays. The true picture of how things are has become much more experiential, dynamic, and flowing, but nigh on impossible to describe. I feel myself existing on multiple planes, realities, simultaneously, almost as a kaleidoscope of moving images, with different screens to watch all at the same time. Multidimensional, this is life!
I think about the design of the human body, and how intricately amazing it is. Back when I was in my twenties, in the early 80's, having emerged from a distinctly Christian mindset, to a more expanded understanding of my world, and a much more intuitively driven outlook, I remember hearing a lot about the controversy between the biblical story of creation, and the so called scientific theory of evolution. I also remember shaking my head from side to side as I knew, beyond any doubt, that life was both created, and evolved, or devolved, through a combination of choices made, and circumstances encountered.
I could never understand what the argument was about. I also knew, and came to understand on a deeper level, that there was an unseen realm, where life forms of all kinds were imagined into being. And I thought about how amazing the creativity that has went into just life on this planet, in this version of reality.
So many things come to mind at once. An image of life energy flowing in multiple interlocking cycles of spherical whirling energies, that flow in and out of each other in a most amazing way, as if engaged in a dance, and geometric shapes constantly morphing back and forth between ebb, and flow, and that in between state, where time seems to stop entirely. That is the still point where there is no time. And where all can be known. Almost like breathing, this energy of life is, breathing in, breathing out.
And I think once again about the inversion of this understanding, where everything becomes turned on its head, as we see so clearly in this reality. When ever a truly new idea is conceived, and a blueprint is imagined, a new child of the mind or body is born. And almost as soon as that happens, it's opposite also gains traction, and eventually manifests in the in breath becoming the out breath. And the judgements and labels put on what was once an organic and natural process.
It seems clear to me that this has come about due to the separation of a part of the whole viewing itself as other. The mind, separated from the heart. It probably isn't as complicated as we like to make things. It may be as simple as a very small, almost imperceptible even, movement back to center, where mind and heart act as one. No judgment is really even needed, only perception of truth without distortion.
Maybe that's what was meant in the scripture that says let thine eye be single and thy whole body shall be full of light. Maybe we are the rays of light looking out, and when we finally decide to look in, is when our inner star really begins to shine and self generate.
Which brings me back to the subject of sacrifice. What is sacrifice? Before I get into the origin of the word, and it's many applications, as well as how the concept has come to be so distorted, I just want to clarify, if only for myself, what it actually means to me, in everyday life. I guess briefly, it comes down to whether the sacrifices you make contribute to life, or contribute to death. That makes it a bit more simple I think.
So, for me, sacrifice is everything you do, that puts the good of the whole over the good of the individual. What will most contribute to the over all well being, and future benefit of all life systems, as best I have come to understand them; also knowing, due to the dynamic, flowing, and ever changing nature of life, that this can never be a static process, where one size fits all. Each moment can merit its own unique response. It just doesn't work when you try to put life in a box, and have a label and file on everything, that never really changes. Life is movement, and change, always.
For me, sacrifice can be anything from joyfully missing a good nights sleep on the nights when I have my grandsons over (and I do struggle with the joyful part on occasion, especially that high pitched screaming, LOL), knowing that the opportunity to embrace the art, the dance, of love, is before me, to sacrificing ones comfort, and sometimes even sense of security to stand up to what amounts to the enslavement of all life, when viewed as merely a resource. Which is what we are up against. Somehow, the acid that normally dwells in the stomach to help digest our food, and turn it into life affirming nutrients that keep the body healthy, has been unleashed in the rest of the body to run amuck. And it's like a poison when not participating in the dance of life in the way it was originally designed for.
Ok. I have much more to expand on, but just wanted to break the ice for myself, and make a beginning. Feel free to share your own understandings on this topic, as there are always multiple ways to view information, and looking at things from many sides helps us to see the whole elephant.
And it's another one of those many thoughts kind of mornings. I am watching my two grandsons, still sleeping. So precious they are. I have been wanting to write a piece on the word sacrifice for some time now, and find I am struggling on where to begin.
My whole life, as I look back over time, has done nothing but move more into the fringe, to where I struggle to find words to define things nowadays. The true picture of how things are has become much more experiential, dynamic, and flowing, but nigh on impossible to describe. I feel myself existing on multiple planes, realities, simultaneously, almost as a kaleidoscope of moving images, with different screens to watch all at the same time. Multidimensional, this is life!
I think about the design of the human body, and how intricately amazing it is. Back when I was in my twenties, in the early 80's, having emerged from a distinctly Christian mindset, to a more expanded understanding of my world, and a much more intuitively driven outlook, I remember hearing a lot about the controversy between the biblical story of creation, and the so called scientific theory of evolution. I also remember shaking my head from side to side as I knew, beyond any doubt, that life was both created, and evolved, or devolved, through a combination of choices made, and circumstances encountered.
I could never understand what the argument was about. I also knew, and came to understand on a deeper level, that there was an unseen realm, where life forms of all kinds were imagined into being. And I thought about how amazing the creativity that has went into just life on this planet, in this version of reality.
So many things come to mind at once. An image of life energy flowing in multiple interlocking cycles of spherical whirling energies, that flow in and out of each other in a most amazing way, as if engaged in a dance, and geometric shapes constantly morphing back and forth between ebb, and flow, and that in between state, where time seems to stop entirely. That is the still point where there is no time. And where all can be known. Almost like breathing, this energy of life is, breathing in, breathing out.
And I think once again about the inversion of this understanding, where everything becomes turned on its head, as we see so clearly in this reality. When ever a truly new idea is conceived, and a blueprint is imagined, a new child of the mind or body is born. And almost as soon as that happens, it's opposite also gains traction, and eventually manifests in the in breath becoming the out breath. And the judgements and labels put on what was once an organic and natural process.
It seems clear to me that this has come about due to the separation of a part of the whole viewing itself as other. The mind, separated from the heart. It probably isn't as complicated as we like to make things. It may be as simple as a very small, almost imperceptible even, movement back to center, where mind and heart act as one. No judgment is really even needed, only perception of truth without distortion.
Maybe that's what was meant in the scripture that says let thine eye be single and thy whole body shall be full of light. Maybe we are the rays of light looking out, and when we finally decide to look in, is when our inner star really begins to shine and self generate.
Which brings me back to the subject of sacrifice. What is sacrifice? Before I get into the origin of the word, and it's many applications, as well as how the concept has come to be so distorted, I just want to clarify, if only for myself, what it actually means to me, in everyday life. I guess briefly, it comes down to whether the sacrifices you make contribute to life, or contribute to death. That makes it a bit more simple I think.
So, for me, sacrifice is everything you do, that puts the good of the whole over the good of the individual. What will most contribute to the over all well being, and future benefit of all life systems, as best I have come to understand them; also knowing, due to the dynamic, flowing, and ever changing nature of life, that this can never be a static process, where one size fits all. Each moment can merit its own unique response. It just doesn't work when you try to put life in a box, and have a label and file on everything, that never really changes. Life is movement, and change, always.
For me, sacrifice can be anything from joyfully missing a good nights sleep on the nights when I have my grandsons over (and I do struggle with the joyful part on occasion, especially that high pitched screaming, LOL), knowing that the opportunity to embrace the art, the dance, of love, is before me, to sacrificing ones comfort, and sometimes even sense of security to stand up to what amounts to the enslavement of all life, when viewed as merely a resource. Which is what we are up against. Somehow, the acid that normally dwells in the stomach to help digest our food, and turn it into life affirming nutrients that keep the body healthy, has been unleashed in the rest of the body to run amuck. And it's like a poison when not participating in the dance of life in the way it was originally designed for.
Ok. I have much more to expand on, but just wanted to break the ice for myself, and make a beginning. Feel free to share your own understandings on this topic, as there are always multiple ways to view information, and looking at things from many sides helps us to see the whole elephant.