Little Nudges

It's easy to ignore the little happenings in life. You intend to go one way, but since there's an obstacle, you take a new route. You pause to hold the door open for others, and that little shift in timing shuffles the deck of the rest of your day. Do you make eye contact and say hello, or do you walk on by? Little insignificant things, with the potential to change a day, and a life.

When I was 16, I bought myself a motorcycle. If anything was to convince me of some beneficent overseeing power looking after my well being, it'd be that I survived that era. When my bike died, as a result of a blind eyed old lady (that I thought was going to die of a heart attack on the spot) pulling out in front of me, I decided that, with winter coming on, I'd better go for a car this time.

I was drooling over this Pinto that the guy had dropped a 302 small block into. But since he wouldn't allow this young whelp to drive his insanely overpowered machine, I passed on it. Then I took the 64 Falcon convertible out for a spin. 289, header pipes down the sides, 3 on the floor, kicked me back in the seat when I punched it at 90. If he'd o' come down a dew hundred, that would have been one sweet ride. Then my dad called. “I found you the perfect car.”

So he takes me to meet this little old lady and her 1964 Corvair Manza. 30,000 miles. Fashionably retro. Great condition. Now, some Corvairs were coupes with rag tops and turbo charged engines. Pretty sporty for their time, except for the whole flipping into the air at high speeds thing. But the Manza was a sedan with big wrap around windows and a whopping 90 horse power from the factory. (Hard to say how much that had dropped by the time I adopted it, as it was almost as old as me.) It was the complete opposite of what I was looking for, and I knew immediately that pops was right. It was the perfect car for me.

My whole attitude toward the road changed, over night. I became one of the pokeyodos. No hurry. No more video game inspired sporting about. No need for the rush, of the rush. Take in the sights. Enjoy the air. (That was a few years, and many cars less, ago.) Share some stories or do a little dharma dueling with some friends. A leisurely drive up the river to sit by the falls and get really zen, before tooling home, at what felt like a walking pace.

It was just a car - one small decision, “I'll take what's behind door number B”. But how much of an influence was that in my becoming the character that I am today?

Each choice, each action, each thought, each focus nudges your trajectory. Some a little, some drastically. Hence, the value of refining both one's intuitive skills, and one's greatest intentions.

The stronger ones sense of purpose, the truer the course. If you choose to let the winds blow you about, you'll have a lovely journey, but won't end anyplace in particular. If you feel that specific things are truly important, then setting and maintaining a course will more likely get you to your desires.

“But the goal is to be here, now”, I hear echoing in some readers' minds. And while this is true, we still have our lives to live, and not everyone is content to just let it happen to them. (The illusion of control/choice being an argument for another day)

Back on point: The clearer people are about their priorities, the clearer their intuitive “voice” will be, in guiding them toward their wishes. We can adopt teeny temporary priorities, mid range ones and aims beyond this life, too. And the list is always a work in progress – whether one's aware of it, or not. (That one bears repeating) They're a work in progress, all the time – whether one's aware of it, or not. Our attention subbing for our intention, whenever we're not minding our energies.

So, if you're not mindful about your goals, your guidance system will have no given guidelines to direct from, or to. So it's signals get murky, and it's largely dismissed and allowed to atrophy. Then, as it remains unused, it becomes ignored and forgotten.

Each choice, each action, each thought, each focus nudges your trajectory. The thinker is woefully inadequate to calculate all the variables. Fortunately, we can develop and use an “ESP”, if you will, that can help us to determine which little nudges will likely move us in the “right” direction.

Your choice … worlds consequences.

Calibrating my compass:

May my presence on this earth help to shift humanities communal consciousness toward a more compassionate and harmonious way of being, and encourage other individuals into actions that are more compassionate and harmonious toward the earth and all other living beings, now and into the future. And, may I pick the perfect papaya from the pile at the market place.

Om, shanti, shanti, shanti.

Trail Markers

Language is brilliant, but it often falls short. Police know full well that a crowd witnessing the same event will all have their own interpretations and descriptions of it. A sketch artist would wind up with as many faces as there were witnesses. And that's talking about a very tangible and shared experience. What does that say about worldly words describing personal ethereal experiences, when there's no basis for common comparison? “The color was crasple. It felt quite inglie, and was highly hraskish.” No? OK then, well use old words that label other things to describe the unknown. Will that work better for you? Right.

The teachings of the masters are not intended to be the lessons, in and of themselves. They're more like trail markers to let us know that we're on the right track. The words attempt to paint unknowns and indescribables, with an inadequate vocabulary in the wrong language. It's just not possible to understand some things through another's words, no matter how eloquent and inspiring they may be. Beyond the inherent short comings of words, some things simply can't be grappled with by the contemplative mind, at all. They can only be experienced.

If you've never been in a hot tub, I could try to explain what it's like to you. That would create a mental image for the thinker's appeasement - perhaps acurate-ish, perhaps not. If you'd never taken a warm bath or had someone massage you, the challenge would be even greater. But no matter how detailed the descriptions and how refined your images, they'd be no substitute for the actual experience, itself. A no brainer, eh? Of course. No one would seek to learn about hot tubbing through spending years studying other's recalling their hot tubbing experiences. They'd slip into one and have their own. Yet, people spend their entire lives reading about spiritual experiences and talking to others about how they might be, what it means, if it's real, whose version is right, … without ever settling into stillness, themselves.

This is partly due to the fact that others' recountings often sound like old seafarers tales, with gargantuan serpents, bottomless whirlpools and tidal wave tossing deities. Something that would require epic commitment and decades to undertake. It's also impossible to adequately communicate the full value of inner silence. And the inner dialog presents as many distractions as times square, in order to retain its illusion of superiority.

Face the fact. The cognitive mind is incapable of knowing true nature. Not to dismiss it or disregard its understanding. Just to acknowledge its limitations. To be open to other possibilities. To allow yourself to be greater than your thoughts would. To receive and understand in new ways. To be your Self. Not your preferred character, but your undefined and open ended authentic nature.

Let go of the words. Stop labeling and defining and explaining and judging and categorizing and speculating and calculating and regretting and worrying and fantasizing and all of it. Just let it be what it is. You may even spy a trail marker or three. The world is really quite capable of maintaining its integrity without your thoughts holding it together - as are you. ~~~ Shhhhh.

No. I said Shhhh. Don't do, don't try, just let go and allow.

Shhhh. It's right here.

Potential Incarnate

If I had to attempt to say what we are on our most basic level, I'd say that we're “potential incarnate”. I like to imagine, unlimited potential. Exactly how we came to be, how we're related to the whole and what happens when we die are issues of much conjecture, speculation, prosthelytization and belief. But many of the theories espoused have both self and universally limiting angles woven into their narratives.

 A widely embraced idea is that we are all segments/facets/windows of one consciousness. A consciousness that is solely responsible for manifesting us and all of existence. And, one that we (as “individual essences”) are destined to be fully reintegrated with, when our corporeal vessels have expired. With a little squinting, this generalization accommodates many pre-existing molds of religious and philosophical presumptions. But this assumption/philosophy/belief is based on a closed system theory – everything always self contained. As challenging as that may be to comprehend, it may be easier for the limited mind to grapple with, than what I'm postulating here.

 Consider this as a possible alternative:

We are of a “one consciousness”, in the same way that shoots, springing up from roots, are of their parent plants. Clones, in the image of our “maker”. Offshoots, with the potential to grow into universe spinners, with prolific root systems, ourselves. Not destined to grow back into the mother trunk; but, born with the potential to grow into our own unique specimens, standing alone, amid a forest of universes.

 As far as “spiritual” possibilities go, this one lends itself well to physic's, ever more popular, “multiverse” theories; whereas, most others clash with them. (without significant adaption) And, if it initially seems like an unreasonable possibility, consider that an infinite, entirely unlimited consciousness could easily spin off an infinite number of other unlimited consciousnesses from itself, on an ongoing basis. Ultimately, infinity is conceptually impossible to grasp, but that's the way it works. “God” could make a billion more equivalent gods out of itself in a snap, without being lessened, in the least.

Unlimited potential, incarnating, as potential incarnating, with the potential to manifest another unique everything, full of unlimited potentials, entirely from itself … ad infinitum.

You are not of god, as god. You are of god, as a sapling god, yourself.