Tuesday, September 27, 2011

you are important. and I am too.



It's important to remember that just because someone has more money or less money, more experience or less experience, more friends or fewer friends, more notches on their bed post or less that everyone is of the same importance and value in the eyes of God.

Now I can see people getting squeamish at my mention of God, but really fill in the blank of whatever you believe in - Source, the Universe, Allah, False Idols, whatever.

If you don't believe in anything....sorry, I can't help you.

The point is that this air of "I'm better than you" that our human race seems to thrive on is a sickness that holds us back as a collective. We boost ourselves up by putting or pushing others down and in doing so we impede ourselves from evolving as a whole.

Celebrity culture and the workplace pyramids and class differences can breed a shortfall of neighbourly respect. How about I honour your existence?

Sure, this guy might be more intelligent than that guy; but that doesn't make this guy better than that guy. It just makes him smarter. An important distinction.

If we were a collective of awakened, conscious people we'd treat all those we come in contact with reverence.

Acknowledging a beggar can a more meaningful experience for both parties than giving him money. Eye contact and a smile or a couple of quarters? I see you is worth more.

And the billionaire next door? I see him too. Hello friend, way to be.

Imagine if we all took the time to look at people in our lives. Really see them. We would see that we are the same.

As Rumi says: We are the mirror, and the face in it.

I know I have my elitist moments. I am aware of them. "I am better than you" is an exhausting attitude, and ultimately fruitless. Creating separateness doesn't feel good.

We're all in this together.

When I'm opening and accepting of all people - keeping my judgements on the back-burner - the magic of life turns on and good things flow to me. Everyone's a winner, including me.

Monday, September 12, 2011

the cairns are calling



When I was younger out hiking in the mountains, I always appreciated the cairns along the path. They were confusing at first (are people that bored that they need to build a pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere?). But then I got it.

They were objects of natural beauty, and a sign of human interaction with the landscape.

I loved the simplicity of them. A creative, strategic use of stone to show people the way. Ah, a cairn. We're on the right path.

Currently I spend a lot of time with someone who I'll dub The Cairn Master. He's built what seems hundreds of these miniliths in the forest of his property, each with its own character.

It's interesting being witness to the process. As the Cairn Master works, I hear stone grind on stone, watching the union of the rock together as they lock into place. The stones come to a marriage where they fit perfectly together and will balance there through thick & thin.

It take patience and strength to find that set point of balance. And it always comes, even with seemingly impossibly shaped stones.

When building a cairn a thought to consider: if a small animal brushes by this or a gust of wind blows while it is near the formation, will it be hurt or crushed by a tumbling cairn, or will the cairn hold it's ground? It's good to walk away with the confidence it won't easily budge.

The turn of seasons is the ultimate test for a well built cairn.

Here's a fun fact: When rocks like quartz are put under pressure, like being set between other stones in a cairn, and frequency is emitted - much like the crystals in the dial of a radio or a watch work. In this case, there is a constant pressure.

Thus, besides being a rustic art installation along the paths of many journeys, cairns naturally put out a frequency that would otherwise not be there. What or who is in resonance with this frequency? What is this frequency saying?

Regardless of the lore of cairns, they are a universal symbol of consciousness.

We were here. In a blink of time, the cairn marks a presence.

It's an honouring of passersby of past, present & future who notice... & know.