The Stone Mason and Reality

It was very late afternoon when I noticed him, the stone mason, through the hospital window.

I was tired of reading, of doing crossword puzzles, and generally passing time, but also worried about what I had been told by the doctors. 

So there I was, sitting in my armchair looking out at the setting sun, at the roof tops of the hospital buildings towards the new, still being built cardio-vascular unit. Pink stones with lines of white stone, and a patch not yet finished. 

That’s when I saw him – the stone mason, on a scaffold next to a patch not yet covered with stone. He was close enough that I could see him working, but far enough that I could not see every detail nor hear the sounds of drills and saws. He must have been working there for some time, because the patch was smaller than I remembered.

He was in the process of putting the finishing touches before the actual glueing, and finally the stone was in place. He adjusted it here, patted it there, very slowly, very lovingly, a real craftsman.
          The sun was now bright red and only a few centimeters about the horizon. It would soon be dark. And there was still a patch to be covered with stone.

Tomorrow, I said to myself, he will finish the job. My mobile rang, it was my son asking if I was in the mood for his visit. Always, I said. At that moment I realized that the stone mason was continuing to close the patch. In my mind began a race between the coming darkness, the stone mason and the arrival of my son.

With slow, deliberate movements he began preparing the patch and the stone, measuring, marking, cutting, patting the wall, touching as if to listen to the space. It seemed almost painfully slow.
           The sun had gone down in a fiery ball just a few blocks to the right, and the light was fading fast.

How can he see what he is doing, I thought to myself. Surely he has to stop for today! I sat glued to the window, not turning on the light, even though the dark hard almost completely taken over the room.

And still he kept working, measuring, drilling holes, touching, measuring, cutting. I could see sparks flying, as metal touched stone. I really had to strain my eyes to see what he was doing. Why doesn’t he do it tomorrow? I thought, When there will be better light.
            The sky was now very dark with streak of the last lingering red behind the mason.

Every 3 minute or so planes were landing or taking off at the airport, so close that I could see the control tower in the opposite direction of the worker. Behind him I could see the lights of cars on one of the busiest highways running through the country. Rush hour.

Once again I strained my eyes to let in as much light as possible. He finally picked up the stone and pressed in into place, patting, adjusting, touching lovingly. And then I saw it – there was still yet one small patch to be filled.

Was he going to do that as well? What’s the hurry? There’s another day tomorrow! Finally, through the dark I could see him packing up.

In my mind the darkness had won, as it had come before the mason finished the patch and before my son arrived. But who were the participants in the race but the images I had put there! The race was my imaginary reality.

So how many realities are there? Mine, the mason’s, my son trying to get through the traffic and the arduous job of finding a parking place, the passengers and crew in the planes taking off and landing, the people in the cars rushing home … 

Reality is not even what we think. Reality is only what we perceive at any given moment. Reality is completely and utterly subjective.

New Year Resolutions

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.

Jim Rohn: Author and motivational speaker

A few days into the New Year and by now most people have stated their New Year resolutions. I did not get mine done for the date, but I have them now.

But what are resolutions? They are basically decisions we take in order to achieve something. What makes them different from goals is that they are vague, like “I will drop those extra pounds”, “I will quit smoking”, and “I will look for a new job”. Resolutions stand by themselves, often without any connection to our larger desires and goals.

Goals are definite with quantity and date, when it will be achieved. They must be declared out loud, to friends, family or your journal. They are the stepping stones on our path to a greater dream or vision.

There are some sad facts about resolutions. Ask your friends and family, if they wrote them down. Only about 20 percent will bother to write down their goals for the New Year. And of those who do record their goals, only about 20 percent of them will reach them. Yes, only 4 out of 100 people have the plan combined with the discipline to accomplish what they set out to do.

It’s always too early to quit.

Norman Vincent Peale

Actually for many years past I stopped making resolutions, because I never kept them. What’s the point in promising myself something, and then year after year breaking it. It did not do much for my self-respect.

But this year I made two resolutions:

To let my light shine out through my Gift of Light; that no negative feeling about myself shall stop me

To take action every day to achieve at least one goal

The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it.

Chares DeLint

Birte Edwards

I would love to hear how you do with your resolutions? Leave a comment or question or even state your resolutions. You will find the place to write after tags.

The Season of Giving

 It is this time of the year – for a great part of the world, the time of giving, of sharing, of loving, of making promises to ourselves and others.

What a wonderful tradition that once a year we are reminded to give with a loving heart, and once a year to make resolutions on what kind of people we want to become.

This makes me wonder – why do we need to be reminded to give? Is this the only time of the year to give from the heart? What is so different at this time of the year in the way we give (and receive)?

What about all those resolutions? What’s so different about that date (1/1/….) than any other date of the year? What happens to all those resolutions?

Now understand, I am no better at this than most other people. But we seem to have a short-term memory. The giving and receiving from the heart goes out of the window, as soon as the season is over. With purpose I say giving and receiving, as the real value is in the exchange. Yes, often we are told that when we give, we shall receive 10-fold. And thus it is and thus it shall be.

I know of many people who give and give, and one day they are burnt out. Now what is the purpose of that? All too often givers do not allow themselves to receive. And when we give, let’s not forget ourselves. There are many ways also of giving to ourselves, as we give to others.

The short-term memory goes also for the resolutions we make at this time of the year. If we are not going to keep them, we are better off not making them at all. The damage we do to ourselves when not keeping promises is so devastating. It causes our sub-conscious to stop believing in ourselves. So if we make a resolution, let’s keep it. Many make many resolutions, saying: This year is going to be different. Before long, however, they are back at where they started.

This posting is dedicated to a very dear friend, my coach and mentor, Bob Yeager. He sent me a video greeting this morning, and I promised to get it out to as many as possible. I have known him for a few months only, but I have come to know him on a very deep level. Although younger than my son, he has such profound knowledge and wisdom, that he shares with all who are willing to learn. Without his teachings this blog would not exist. Without his incredible knowledge and understanding of the internet, I could not do what I am doing here. Without his support and teachings I would still be in a very different place.

Please go to this link to see and hear his video postcard:

http://videopostcard-004.com/X.asp?5574701X1920

To you, Bob, I dedicate my resolution: to continue on my path to higher awareness and to share with all who are willing to achieve higher awareness for the purpose of creating peace within ourselves and in the world; for the purpose of all having equal opportunity to live lives of purpose by their own design; to find and work with and through their soul purpose.

Merry Christmas and Happy Prosperous New Year to you all!

Birte Edwards

If you want to improve yourself, and your business and internet skills: info on CAMP 

If you want to know more on how to find your soul purpose: info on delfin knowledge system by Leslie Fieger, my mentor.

If you desire to develop you soul purpose, purchase Steve D’Anunzio’s new book “The Prosperity Paradigm, my friend and mentor, and help him to achieve his soul purpose.

(I don’t make a dime out of this – I am paying back by paying forward)

Choosing choice

 The ability to choose is what sets us apart from most other life forms. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of knowledge in the Garden of Eden they received the ability to see, to know. In the Garden of Eden they had security, but not freedom. They were blind, had not yet learnt to see. The fruit of the tree of knowledge taught them polarity, gave them the ability to differentiate between good and evil. The eating of the fruit gave them choice.

Choice is not just deciding which pair of shoes to wear today, or whether to go somewhere or not. Choice is about deciding who we are, how we live our life, how we express ourselves, and most importantly – what we think and believe. Choice is about how we can make a difference in the world and if we want to make a difference to the world.

There are two general approaches to life: fatalistic (pre-determined) or freedom of choice. All too often we are told that it is written in the stars, it is god’s will (meaning we have no freedom). How do the people, who tell us that, know what is god’s will? Have they read god’s mind? Did they receive instructions directly from god in these matters, and not just from their human superiors or predecessors? They may have read the bible, but saying it is god’s will is their interpretation of what they perceive to be god’s will!

The bible clearly also talks about the freedom to choose. Right from that same story of Adam and Eve. Individually or together they could have chosen not to eat of the forbidden fruit and stayed within the security of the Garden of Eden. They both knew there would be a price to pay for eating of the forbidden fruit. God had told them that if they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge they would die. And still both of them chose to eat of the fruit.

We should ask ourselves two questions here:

• Why did they choose to eat of the fruit?
• Why did god create a tree and plant it in the garden and then told them not to eat of that fruit, on the punishment of death?

As to the first: Maybe it was just too boring to be within that security of the garden, always watched over by an over-protective parent. As humans they were supposed to be intelligent. Of course they were also naked – naked as children. Now where is the excitement and stimulation living like that? What kind of experiences could they possibly have within that kind of life?

As for the second: god from the beginning intended us to make choices. God challenged Adam and Eve with the temptation of banning something. (Yes, I know the bible says the snake – the snake is another intriguing aspect in this). Is there anyone here who has never broken a rule without finding it challenging and exciting? (But be careful about which rules you break). Mybe God wanted Adam and Eve to break the ban, to receive the ability to differentiate, to choose. But the initiative had to come from them. They had to show that they were willing to accept responsibility for the choice they had made, that they had matured into adults. Up until then they had been children. With knowledge they became adults.

Can you imagine what would have happened to Adam and Eve had they been thrown directly into the world without the earlier experience of living a protected life in the Garden of Eden? Can a child survive without the learning of childhood?

Now we all have a choice.

• To live our whole life in circumstances as if we were in the original Garden of Eden (security), as children being watched over by an over-protective parent
• Or to live in freedom out of choice and experience life, as we were meant to do.

There is one more aspect. In the Garden of Eden there seemed to be no real communication between god and Adam and Eve. After all, their lives were protected, they could wander all over the place, and there was plenty to eat. Outside the garden, when they had to work for everything, now they needed to communicate with god. Or rather now they were individuals with whom god was willing to communicate in order to show the real way.

Consciousness

 

Science has come such a long way in understanding the human body, how it functions. It has also come a long way in understanding the origins of life and its development. And the more I learn about the more amazed I am of the complexity of life, our bodies, in fact the whole universe.

Some things, however, science has not yet been able to determine. What is consciousness? How did it come into being?

Without our consciousness we would not be where we are today. We would be like most of the other living creatures on this planet. It is consciousness that sets us apart from other living things. Yes, I know that many animals, and especially the great apes have a form of consciousness, but it is not as developed as in humans.

And the funny thing about consciousness, when we study it, is that it is the only thing that studies itself … When we study our body, physics, the stars or microbes, we are studying something outside ourselves. When we study consciousness, it is the consciousness studying itself.

In personal and spiritual development we talk about different levels of consciousness. Here is one perspective on levels of consciousness and some descriptive words to help identify the differences:

not conscious – instinctual, follower
sub-conscious – habitual, robotic, reactive
conscious – aware, intelligent, conceptual, reflective
super-conscious (or higher) – intuitive, guiding, truthful, loving, universal

What I have found worthwhile is noticing at what level of consciousness I am at, as I go through my day. There are things I do on the non-conscious level, such as walking, my bodily functions. I am grateful for that, because my conscious mind would be totally overloaded if I had to think about it, and not leave me time for more important things.

The sub-conscious level is more problematic. That’s the one I really have to work on. It continually amazes me, how many things I do, ways I think and feel, because that’s the way it has always been done. That’s being a robot. Even writing here to some level is a mix of the three first levels, mingled with the fourth level.  

I used to think that because I was conscious of something that I was aware. There are so many imprints and paradigms in our brain that make us think that this is the way things are or have to be. But is that really so? Many of these imprints just make it seem to have to be so.

So I continually ask myself questions such as: Why do I feel this way? Why do I think like this? Is this way of being in line with who I really am? Is this really my feeling, my opinion, my thought, or did I pick it up somewhere along the line, because it fitted in with my environment? Does thinking like this serve me?

Can we change the way we feel? I once thought not, but I have learned better since. When I control the way O think and feel, I am in much greater control of my life.

Utilizing the conscious mind to direct the sub-conscious mind to enter into communication and harmony with the universal mind is the secret of personal power.