By Keith C. Milne
At any given time period in our lives, beginning with Infancy, there are aspects of living and experiences happening to us that are formative, lasting, illusory, and necessary. For all the activities that we can engage in and celebrate at those times, there are just as many pitfalls, danger, threats to our existence, and negatives, much of which we aren’t even aware of in real time. As long as there is a balance between these two spheres, you will live a healthy life and live largely in peace. Conversely, any imbalance in either direction also comes with consequences. A happy life is indicative of balance coupled with varying degrees of good health. An unhappy life is indicative of imbalance in the negative experiential realm, with varying degrees of ill-health, either physical, mental, or social or some of all three.
Our awareness of this phenomenon is tantamount to understanding ourselves at a deeper level, as we watch ourselves as if we are on the outside looking in, as we conduct ourselves under the various circumstances that life throws at us. The more we know the truth about everything, the more armed and capable we will become which can help us overcome our fears, summon the courage to get up each day, and face what we must face, while doing the best that we can.
The work is hard, and comes constantly no matter your age, and there are no shortcuts. The work of living is difficult and never-ending, but necessary in order to teach us lessons about ourselves, each other, and much more. Choosing to not do the work results in no personal spiritual or intellectual improvements, factual knowledge attainment, or retention of personal interactive lessons about our feelings and emotions. We will also lose gaining the information about how we manage them, and lose vital information about the art of filtering life so that we get better at only allowing through what matters the most to us.
Until your spiritual backpack is overflowing with these necessary experiences, your spirit will need to return to this dimensional reality again, and again, until the necessary work is complete and you have learned adequately in order to be able to transcend this realm.
Until then, your task is to learn everything that you can while living your life in the healthiest manner possible during your time here on this planet. The longer you live, the more you potentially learn, and the sooner you will be on to another dimensional reality to begin a whole new host of experiences.
Einstein’s theories posit that we are living multiple lives in multiple dimensions simultaneously, which really illustrates just how many experiences are possible and necessary over time, depending on millions of variables! How exciting, right!? There is so much to know and feel, plus we get to live multiple lives simultaneously! Perhaps true reincarnation doesn’t make sense mathematically because of this?!
Einstein’s theories add additional information to ponder regarding the improbability of traditional positions on reincarnation due to the overcrowding on Earth that would result if everyone ever born on Earth were constantly being reincarnated and living out another life here out to infinity, but also simultaneously offers a plausible explanation for how reincarnation could actually be true after all.
The late comedian, George Carlin’s last comedy tour was entitled, “It’s all bullshit and it’s bad for you.” In the routine, Carlin really illustrates the ridiculous seriousness that we all seem to bring to everything that we do. And it’s true. We do take ourselves, and others, and all that we do so seriously, often acting like our lives depend on whatever it is that we’re attempting to do, while we are also often super critical of ourselves, and quite often other people.
When we die, other than the experiences that we had, and what we chose to do with the internal feelings generated by those experiences, the tasks themselves—the writing or typing on all those pieces of paper at home or at work, or all of those weeds pulled in the garden, or all of that money you scrimped and saved and sacrificed for that is sitting in the bank, or all of that stuff you own, or that piece of paper saying that you are certified, or that fancy new car you just bought are all completely meaningless! Bullshit! The perceived significance vanishing the instant we die!
The message is loud and clear that we should simply live our lives without sweating anything too much, or taking anything too seriously at all while we are alive, knowing that our purpose is simply to live and have lots of experiences. Well, how about the need for taking a job seriously or the pursuit of a goal seriously? I’m not suggesting that we not take anything seriously, I’m suggesting that we stay aware of ourselves as we proceed through life, keeping ourselves in check, putting our health before a job or a degree or running a marathon. By learning to be present as much as possible, we can stay aware of what we are doing, what we are experiencing, and how we feel about all of it, and what we’re going to do about those feelings, if anything at all.
Additionally, we cannot take any of the material world with us when we die, so it is silly to acquire too much. Oddly, once you acquire too much, your acquisitions will inform you of that fact. Indeed, your “stuff” will bug you if you’ve acquired too much of it, but only if you’re paying attention to the internal feelings that “your stuff” elicits in your mind, heart, and gut when you get there.
It’s important to love yourself and others in a healthy and balanced way as much as you can allow your heart to bear. Love is the positive lubricant that silences that horrible noise generated by rusty thoughts and old feelings that have been buried unresolved in our hearts. If we fail to process our experiences in ways that allow us to have empathy, sympathy, and service for others, we will be handicapped in this regard and not know betterment in key areas of our lives.
When critical of anyone or anything, it can be useful to try to pause, and then actively choose to re-frame any negative judgement by putting yourself in the other persons shoes for a millisecond or maybe even a full half-minute before you let negative thoughts in that may emerge from your ignorance, and the fear that it generates. By doing so, you will begin to retrain your mind to see life more positively, and will begin to feel well and happy more often, and have a more positive attitude towards other people.
This might seem really hard or just so silly and stupid that you might want to quickly dismiss many of the points made. This is normal and expected and will become a part of your own personal, internal, experiential catalog. We are all somewhere on “the path,” and we are all far more alike than different.
As you proceed along your own path and life journey, may you gain much self-awareness, and through it begin to know enough to soften your demeanor towards others. May you also begin to know with every fiber of your being just what a miracle that all life truly is, and how important it is that we all have the opportunity to live long, healthy lives, and are able to give and receive love while here.