A Test of Magnificence
Someone mentioned today 9/11. They said it was their guru. That was a little mystifying but it ignited synapses in my brain. When the September 11 attack happened in the United States I was at home getting ready for work. When I showed up to work the woman behind the campus police station desk said to me, "You have no idea what's going on, do you?" She gave me my radio and my keys to the library and off I went. Once I got to work people were gathered around the TV placed in the hallway watching the smoking Trade Tower building. It wasn't too much later when the second plane hit. It stopped everyone in their tracks. Alarms went up. By mid-day all of the campus security guards, including me, were wearing bullet proof vests. The campus police were assigned to the International Center and other areas around campus that might be considered a target by foreign and domestic attacks.
Today we face a new kind of attack. A virus. Someone said to me that many a year ago when the bubonic plague hit that it was a bacteria. Today we know about hygiene and how some germs, bacteria and viruses can be very deadly if we do not take care to be hygienic. This is not about hygiene though.
When 9/11 occurred people came together and what was a tragedy became an act of compassion. Those people during 9/11 who died, in a way, are martyred. They died for us to see that there is a better way.
This virus may try to tear us apart and cause us to run in fear. Or it may provide a mirror for us. What the mirror is showing me is one who goes about his day often not fully mindful of what he is doing. But now that I am aware that every time I touch my face or shake someones hand my life may be in danger it causes me to think twice. I grab for the hand-sanitizer. It seems silly yet that is what we are being advised to do. We are accustomed to doing so many things. When someone reaches out their hand to you I automatically reach back. It's a habit. We are habitual creatures.
We are being encouraged to break our habits and to wake up. I see people showing their sense of humor, showing their calm, showing their sense of justice when they feel something is wrong and something must be done. This is not all about the corona virus. It is about our actions. The actions we take when we are upset, when we are doing anything but being aware of ourselves and each other and our actions therein. The things we do that are funny to us but maybe not so funny to others.
We're all guilty. But don't let the guilt get to you. Learn from it. The feeling is there to show you you. And then you might change when you are aware of something that might need to change. We get caught up. And we take action. But sometimes no action is required. More reflection is necessary. We have to ask ourselves. We have to ask others. Do you want this? But often that does not happen. We don't ask. We react.
When we react sometimes it is motivated by our delusions. Or habits. Or sense of what is right and wrong. It is all good. But it is nice to ask. And don't be set on any particular outcome.
Always with great tragedy there is an opportunity to grow or to set ones roots even more firmly planted within the Earth, soaking up all her majesty and sense of place.
"My mind wanders from here to there, never firmly grounded."
"I just want some place to call my own."
I am letting go of letting go. I'm saying how I feel in the moment. Because I know I have thought about it before. Things do not just come out of thin air. Like a plane or a virus. It came from somewhere. But where it came from can't always be answered. The question is, what do we do with it? Do we run and hide or do we embrace it for what it is? Reality. In the here and now. And I know that whatever is I asked for it.
Why did I ask? What am I wanting to change? What am I not happy with? Where do I want to ask for help, in what aspect of my life do I need guidance?
I listen to the people around me and my intentions and thoughts are always answered. I just have to listen and pay attention. That is what the corona virus is teaching me.
Within this great, grand and wonderful universe there are so many opportunities and we have a choice in all of it.
Today we face a new kind of attack. A virus. Someone said to me that many a year ago when the bubonic plague hit that it was a bacteria. Today we know about hygiene and how some germs, bacteria and viruses can be very deadly if we do not take care to be hygienic. This is not about hygiene though.
When 9/11 occurred people came together and what was a tragedy became an act of compassion. Those people during 9/11 who died, in a way, are martyred. They died for us to see that there is a better way.
This virus may try to tear us apart and cause us to run in fear. Or it may provide a mirror for us. What the mirror is showing me is one who goes about his day often not fully mindful of what he is doing. But now that I am aware that every time I touch my face or shake someones hand my life may be in danger it causes me to think twice. I grab for the hand-sanitizer. It seems silly yet that is what we are being advised to do. We are accustomed to doing so many things. When someone reaches out their hand to you I automatically reach back. It's a habit. We are habitual creatures.
We are being encouraged to break our habits and to wake up. I see people showing their sense of humor, showing their calm, showing their sense of justice when they feel something is wrong and something must be done. This is not all about the corona virus. It is about our actions. The actions we take when we are upset, when we are doing anything but being aware of ourselves and each other and our actions therein. The things we do that are funny to us but maybe not so funny to others.
We're all guilty. But don't let the guilt get to you. Learn from it. The feeling is there to show you you. And then you might change when you are aware of something that might need to change. We get caught up. And we take action. But sometimes no action is required. More reflection is necessary. We have to ask ourselves. We have to ask others. Do you want this? But often that does not happen. We don't ask. We react.
When we react sometimes it is motivated by our delusions. Or habits. Or sense of what is right and wrong. It is all good. But it is nice to ask. And don't be set on any particular outcome.
Always with great tragedy there is an opportunity to grow or to set ones roots even more firmly planted within the Earth, soaking up all her majesty and sense of place.
"My mind wanders from here to there, never firmly grounded."
"I just want some place to call my own."
I am letting go of letting go. I'm saying how I feel in the moment. Because I know I have thought about it before. Things do not just come out of thin air. Like a plane or a virus. It came from somewhere. But where it came from can't always be answered. The question is, what do we do with it? Do we run and hide or do we embrace it for what it is? Reality. In the here and now. And I know that whatever is I asked for it.
Why did I ask? What am I wanting to change? What am I not happy with? Where do I want to ask for help, in what aspect of my life do I need guidance?
I listen to the people around me and my intentions and thoughts are always answered. I just have to listen and pay attention. That is what the corona virus is teaching me.
Within this great, grand and wonderful universe there are so many opportunities and we have a choice in all of it.
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