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"EMILY:
"Does anyone ever realize life while they live it...every,
every
minute?"
STAGE MANAGER: "No. Saints and poets maybe...they do
some."
—
Life
is precious
by Christine Wushke on
Several years ago
I was going through a really tough time. During this period
of difficulty, I had a dream that I will never forget.
I remember going
to bed feeling hopeless and drained one night, and falling
asleep in a state of despair and exhaustion.
I had a dream
that I was dead. In the dream there was someone beside me
that I couldn’t see, but I could hear a voice and feel a
loving presence. I
remember feeling really sad and full of remorse that I had died,
and wishing
that I could go back to earth, if even for just two minutes.
The voice beside
me offered to fulfill my wish, and sent me back for two
minutes. In a blink I was dropped back down to earth in my
familiar body,
but surrounded by totally different circumstances. In this new
scenario I
had just found out that the love of my life was having an affair
with another
woman and I was feeling heartbroken and alone.
Elated with being
back, I didn’t even care about the ‘scene’ going
on around
me, I felt relieved and grateful just to be back. Knowing my two
minutes
would be up soon I soaked in every precious second of heartbreak,
sorrow,
betrayal and loss.
After getting
pulled out of this scene and back to the ‘dead’ state,
I asked
again if I could please please be allowed to go back for just two
minutes
more. The voice agreed and I was allowed to go back.
This time I was
dropped into yet another totally different scenario. In this
scene I was happily married but we were going bankrupt and losing
everything. Knowing that the two minutes were very fleeting, I
soaked in
every second of financial distress, worry and uncertainty.
Once more I was
pulled out, floating in deadness with the loving voice. Again
I asked to go back, and again I was given that wish.
This time I
became aware of an interesting time distortion, in the scene
around me everything was falling apart, I was feeling the
impossibility of
'holding it together'. Knowing the two minutes would end soon I
drank in
'falling apart' and the feeling of losing control. I noticed that
what felt to me
like two minutes was different than the time line playing out in
the scene
around me. Hours were racing by in the situation around me, while
my two
minutes were very slowly ticking by.
At some point I
became aware that I was dreaming and a very lucid thought,
'OK you have made your point' shattered the dream. I found myself
lying in
bed starting at the ceiling. For a few minutes I drank in the
sensation of
being alive, really alive. I drank in what it means to be human,
and the
sweetness of all the things we experience here. Something about
this dream
had given me a glimpse of just how rare and precious it is to be
human.
The memory of the
dream has faded somewhat over the years, but the feeling
of life being fleeting and precious has never really left. I am
often reminded
of this dream during times of overwhelm or strong emotional
responses to
situations. I am often reminded to take the time and drink in
sorrow,
overwhelm, or heartbreak; knowing that the whole thing is so very
fleeting.
Our humanity is truly a gift to be cherished..
He who binds to
himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy.
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.
~William Blake
There is no way
into presence
except through a
Love exchange.
If someone asks,
"But what is
Love ? "
answer,
"Dissolving the will."
~Rumi
Belle Heywood on
Facebook
Meher Baba has
said, "If you can't love, at least give in"....!!!
When we Love God,
the Absolute, or another, and we know that we and God,
or another are "mind stuff"; simply
"non-existent" nouns, then we realize we
ARE the verb of Love that appears to be between the two. The Love
is all
that exists. No Me, No God, just the Love. Love in action is
everything..
~The Bhakti of
Nisargadatta Maharaj
by Bill Lindley
on Facebook
Bury the
Flowers, Burn the Flowers
(For Kabir)
by Robert Kirbo
© Sept 2009
Bury the flowers,
burn the flowers, do you not see I am gone?
What you believe
was me was never me, no more than the earth or sea
I was the ocean
and the fish, the forest and the fawn
I was never the person you thought I was, of worldly things
Nor was I just a
dreamer to ignore or cast aspersions by the score
I said to love,
and always love, to love what love brings
You walked my streets but not my path, wore my robe but not my
crown
You whispered my
words, in the dark but never in a daylit park
And now you
wonder how my words remain when my body is down
It's simple really, and perhaps a greater mystery
The spirit moves
in each of us, the breath of God inspires us
And yet we think
we earn our laurels from our own history
Bury the flowers, burn the flowers, that was never the meter of
mine
Speak the 99
names of God, whisper Kabir and know
That I never was,
but never left, and am forever thine.
(The title is
actually what Kabir told his followers when they asked what his
wishes were for them to do upon his death. This really moved
me...it was so
pure! ~Bob Kirbo)