Meet Soul, Karma & Ego

In spite of many entries explaining what it really means to BE in the moment, I forgot to mention the obvious – the main reason why  learning to BE Awake and Aware and of our own energy in any given moment is essential for the one interested in genuine spirituality.

We do not see for looking.

We do not SEE the many flags waved at us and, sure enough, we soon get another

opportunity to say, “What the …” for it is only by looking through our soul’s eyes –

from an elevated position – that we can create meaning out of our life’s landscape.

Messages – in the form of signs and symbols, names and thousands of words and

images – swirl around each and every one of us, all of the time, in our wakeful

moments and in our sleep.

Because these signs are not dramatic signs such as apparitions or strange

manifestations; because we, as a civilization, have lost the ability to recognize them,

they remain unnoticed.

And the first things to do in order to begin noticing such *soulful* messages in to stop multitasking and to stop the monkey chatter that creates static in our thoughts and, of course to be Awake and Aware enough to actually NOTICE that’s AROUND us – instead of only noticing what’s a few inches or meters ahead in our line of vision.

As a way to introduce the simple but pervasive nature of symbols in our day-to-day

lives, I will recount a moment shared by Jayne, a cyber friend of mine.

Weeks and weeks earlier, I had recommended to this young woman that she find a

copy of Elizabeth Haich’s book, “Initiation”. Unable to find a copy locally, she spotted

the book’s listing on Amazon.com and, as she said, she could have ordered the book

there and then. Because she was in the process of moving and could not be sure of

the delivery date, she didn’t.

Then, many weeks later while out to meet with a real estate agent to view what

would soon become her new house, Jayne arrived early and whiled the time away in

a café. Opposite this café, she spotted an old second-hand bookstore, so she

wandered across to have a look with, she said, “Elizabeth Haich’s book specifically

in mind”.

As Jayne walked through the door, she found herself in a small room divided down

the middle by a bookshelf. She looked at the books nearest her.

“Lo and behold, it was the spiritual section,” she said, “and I scanned the shelves for

the white spine of the cover I had seen on Amazon and BAM – literally in under one

minute after I had entered the shop, I was pulling a copy of “Initiation” from the

shelves.” Perhaps tongue in cheek, Jayne added, “I took that as a sign that we had

indeed found the right house in the right area etc.”

This lovely story indicates how Karma works: nothing *timely* can move forward or

be cracked open until we are ready to make a time and space for it. We can only do

that by being aware of the small and deceptively innocuous moments that present themselves under our feet.

If we blink or blank out a second too long, we’ve missed out.

Dalai Lama in NY– why pay some US$400 to hear him speak when what he says is no diff from what any spiritual/religious person would say?

Don’t our *genuine* local parish priest, our local rabbi, or our local iman talk about tolerance, forgiveness and acceptance – and humility?

Surely, he does not need them for reassurance, so why does the DL need to be surrounded on stage by 200 monks?

I imagine that maintaining such a retinue on the road would eat in a few 1000s of donated dollars.

Would it be fitting for Obama or any other *luminary* to come on stage accompanied by such a cohort of their own people? I wasn’t there myself, so were these monks the entertainment factor? Did they chant and dance? Uh … do monks dance?

Why are we, in the West, so mesmerized by the DL?

In spite of a lifetime of hand shaking with a myriad of presidents and CEOs and crisscrossing the globe to fundraise for the Tibetan cause, what has he achieved besides inspire a few thousands of devoted converts in the West and 100s fo honorary conferments and major awards?

If charity starts and home, as the saying goes, I believe so does *enlightenment*.

Are the run-of-the-mill monks and Tibetans in the Kangra valley, around Dharamshala, more genuinely deep down caring, deep down accepting of their karma and enjoying inner peace, deep down in the moment, deep down forgiving of the Chinese, deep down more altruistic than any other people?

If not, then shouldn’t the Dalai lama stay home and enlighten his people first?

Dear Reader, all these are honest questions and I would love to hear back from you – in peace – deep down