Archive for January, 2008

It’s all a story

It’s all a story. Even this which I am telling you now, it too is a story. Every-thing is a story told by a Great Mystery beyond the grasp of our human mind, for even our humanity is a story told by this Great Mystery.

2+2=4
3×3=9
These are stories also; mathematical stories. Yet even the concept of mathematics is again another story. I would about to say "The truth is we can’t get away from telling stories," yet that too is another story. Tricky, isn’t it?

Actually it’s not that complicated nor tricky. Once one realises the world of things is a story, a kind of a letting go can take place. It’s like we can sort of let go of the seriousness of it all, and approach Life from a perspective that is potentially much more at ease with things and especially much more at ease with the unknown, the realm of no-thing–which ordinarily has such a frightful presence in the world of Man.

Because everything is a story there is nothing to believe. There is nothing to disbelieve. We can simply choose what kind of story we wish to tell, and then experience the con-sequence of this story unfolding within our perception. I’ve noticed that the world of Man reflects many stories on many different dimensions. From one perspective it’s an awful story of war, hatred, fanaticism, religious dogmatism, and environmental and ecological destruction, where humankind somehow got it all wrong. There isn’t much fun to be had at that level of story telling–it’s mostly made up of pain and anguish, although human beings seem to do a pretty good job of hiding that fact from themselves. I know I’ve played my part in such stories, at one time or another.

From another perspective Life as made manifest here on/in Earth is an exquisitely beautiful affair, of unimaginable intelligence and perfection. There is such bliss to be experienced, such radiance to be lived, and such kindness to be shared, that all beings are simply overflowing with these qualities. Another angle on that story, however, is that despite this story being true most people seem to hide it from themselves. It’s awfully silly really, yet I know there’s a sound reason for this.

Whenever I am struggling with my circumstances I find it very helpful to pause and ask myself what story I am maintaining in this moment. I invariably find it is my story that is the cause of my pain and whatever suffering I may be experiencing in relationship to that pain. This leaves me with no one to blame, and no one to attack or defend (including myself). It simply leaves me with an opportunity to forgive and in that forgiveness–in that giving up of my story–the opportunity to tell my story anew.

In my story I trust you’ve enjoyed reading this story which I’ve now shared with you.

 

Self Regulation

Self-discipline is an area many people struggle with. I know I have over the years an in some areas this continues to be a challenge I face. According to some research done by Roy Baumeister of Florida State University and his colleagues exercising self-regulation (as they put it) an any area of ones life may result in greater self-regulation in many other areas.

One implication I can see of this hypothesis is that it may mean that sitting every day to meditate, even if only for 10 or 15 minutes, or doing some other spiritual "practice" each day will enable a person to have greater self-discipline and self-regulation in other areas of their life.

Information on this study can be found »here«