Japan’s most revered Haiku master, Matsuo Basho, wrote;
By the roadside grew
The Rose of Sharon
My horse just ate it
No one has ever made a better statement about the value we place on things and their temporary nature. The horse sees a snack while we mourn the loss of a beautiful object. Things are not meant to last forever. That awareness is part of why we value them. We know they are fleeting aspects of our experience and will soon disappear.
I just read a brief article on the value of old toys. Barbie dolls are still worth lots of money as are those little Pez dispensers. We might hear ourselves say “I wish I had saved those things.” But no, then we would not have enjoyed them. We all have treasured possessions. But what if they were all gone tomorrow? Who would we be without them? Would there be a terrible sense of loss or could we move quickly into opportunity and create a new lifestyle?
I stopped in a huge antique shop the other day. One of the individually owned booths was so crammed with collected stuff that it was hard to believe it all came from one person. She had passed on and her daughter was left with the task of getting rid of it all. What was treasured had become a burden.
We can be as possessive with our old ideas, as well. Out-dated thinking weighs us down. We spend time defending our position while the world moves on. We are meant to release what we believed based on what was known, and to explore what is emerging in our collective awareness. Without fear, we acknowledge that God is not a man in the sky after all, but a real Presence in us. We let go of superstition and dogma and lightly hold to some new concepts of who we are and our relationship with Presence. It is such a relief to step out of the heaviness of misunderstanding. We value our mind. We value this life. We value love and truth.
Stay tuned in,
Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com
Check out www.californiafreepress.net
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