Humbled and Grateful...

I do not have a problem with people dying - disease, or accidents or natural disasters. In a way. I think there are too many humans on this planet to sustain a healthy balance and that we prove this every day. I happen to think of humans as just another species and do not think that we should expect to continue as species indefinitely. So, actually, i am OK with the entire human race being wiped out in a flash by a meteor. Why? Because, I don't think we are entitled to life and we are definitely not entitled to life forever. We are just organisms on the face of a planet which is hurried through the Universe at 67,000 miles per hour to imminent destruction. These are the facts of life.

But there are other facts, which are equally present. The fact that suffering exists. The fact that the higher the nervous system, the more developed the brain, the more developed the ego, the deeper, stronger and inevitable the suffering. So, as humans we hold first place in being able to experience suffering. No other creatures on this planet can make themselves so miserable as we can. Mainly because no other creatures on this planet has the well cultivated egos that humans have. That being said, i have nothing but compassion for ALL beings but especially for the beings who experience the greatest suffering daily, hourly and by the minuted - humans.

Outside of being parasites on the face of the Earth, humans are also magicians and creators of the highest order. We are the only species who can imagine and manifest from that imagination. This is nothing short of amazing. This is Godly attribute. And what makes it more amazing is that we always, almost certainly fail to recognize that, so we devote our time and attention to building identities, acquiring things - beliefs and objects that will re-enforce those identities and then we spend a lot of time asserting those identities, fighting over our differences and defending our selves from folks who challenge our identity. Meanwhile, we are cooking delicious meals, creating art, inventing technology, raising kids and not even noticing.

So, I find here and there something i can do, like teach yoga, not eating anything with eyes, support the American Cancer Society...to perhaps alleviate some of the suffering, even though i know that suffering is nothing more than the experience of an ego who cannot accept the way things are. Pain is definite but suffering is optional - as we are told by the sages. If we reach a place in time when cancer, or other disease are no longer anyone's concern, we've solved our political dilemmas, or figured out how to build nuclear power plants that don't explode, it is likely that suffering will still exist because humans are masters at finding reasons to suffer.

At the end we shall all be returned to dust and it won't matter. Meanwhile, Ghandi and Mother Teresa showed us that helping people without judging them is a noble pursuit and makes a huge difference while we are around. Humbly, I try to learn from them and others and count my blessings every day because i realize that life is a bitter sweet phenomena, temporary, unreasonable, unfair and that it will never be reasonable and fair, because reasonable and fair are not adjectives that should be used with the word life. Life is consciousness manifested in form.

For me to live something dies every day. But does it? Consciousness is never born, and it never dies. "One man believes he is the slayer, another believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant." teaches the Bhagavad Gita. Chew on this for a while. Enlightenment is when one realizes this truth and after that....as the Zen folks would say "Chop wood. Carry water."

So, i choose to dwell on the marvel of being here and the opportunity to experience life as this form in this moment and look forward to crafting the next moment equally consciously.  I am grateful for the life forms that are "lost" everyday for this life form to continue it's temporal existence. I always ask "what should i be creating" knowing full well that the answer to this question would, at best, contain only a relative truth with relative significance that makes all the difference in this space-time reality of illusion. This heart beats the words of Ramana Maharshi: The World is unreal. Brahman only is real. The World is Brahman.

And tomorrow is another day and time for a cream cheese croissant, listening to birds, painting the bathroom, getting into arguments and wondering at the stupidity of politicians, why my phone battery only lasts a few hours, when will we finally have the teleport..."chop wood, carry water."

Yours truly....
Valentina Petrova. Call me if you want to know how things are :)))