The Wheel of Karma -- and here is why:
The Dalai Lama explains reincarnation as proof that compassion is not only necessary, but really the only intelligent choice. He does this by citing a mother's love of her son.
Well, for reincarnation to pa-roooove anything, we must first get on the same page about what it is.
Regardless of the mechanics -- whether it is a rebirth from the grave, or simply one stage of your life blossuming into the next -- regardless of the language of your understanding, if you accept that life is very much like the seasons, then you get it. This is reincarnation. Simple.
Life is indeed like seasons, and it is not hard to make such a comparison. Some periods of life are definitely more abundant with opportunity, youth, and lovely weather abound. Other periods are stormy and glum. And eventually, yes, we know a winter must come that puts everything to sleep until spring comes again. The process can happen quite efficiently without our consciousness of it, which is why reflection upon it can often very much enlighten your state of being.
So reincarnation, in some sense, is happening to us constantly. Now, what about it?
If you abstract this simple notion -- that even sleep and awaking in the morning is a form of reincarnation -- to the asymtotic extreme, you arrive at the conceptual model of the soul: Some aspect of you that is born, born, and reborn, and lives complete lifetimes...countless times...over the course of who knows how long.
The Dalai Lama proposes that eventually, everybody you meet has, in some lifetime or another, BEEN YOUR MOTHER. (Which just about splits my head in half, even though I first read this premise over five years ago!)
After I begin considering it, however, I found myself with every person I met, despite the conditions of my introduction to them, considering them as someone put in the unfortunate position of edumacating my misbegotten and terrific spirit.
It felt like I had discovered a new way of relating to people. For, as with all of us, some people seem to handle us with a gentle comprehension that makes our hearts ache with appreciation...while others seem to be in a great degree of discomfort...possibly all the time, or just while we're around? Hmm, hard to say! But so much so that I necessarily wonder with such people if I ought to change myself, so as to make this person -- this spirit who has been my mother -- feel better about me!
This is the behavior of every child who seeks to make their mommy happy. No matter mommy's reason for being sad, if the child can discern a way of helping, oh Lord, you know they will try, even at their own expense.
But MANY TIMES, people, MANY TIMES it is the PARENT WHO IS THE CHILD!!! It is the parent who needs parenting! And though the child has the capacity, truly, has the capacity to change themselves in light of their elder's stance -- when the lessons are messed up, well, you end up with another generation feeling much like we all feel: sort of disenchanted and not particularly jazzed about it all.
What happens when you meet, through reincarnation, a mother of yours? Well, depending on who they are at that moment, your spirit is taken back to the experience you had during your lifetime with them as your mother. If your head is clear and stable enough to surf in the astral plane long enough to thread together the thoughts/intuitions/and premonitions, you will re-experience some powerful emotion that has long since been put away. You will learn something about yourself.
This happens with every encounter, with every glance, and even with inanimate objects, the earth and the sun. Everything, not just every person, has been your mother.
And since the human relationships are so charged with volital frustrations, misunderstandings, and discontents...try instead making a pilgrimage to Sequoia National Park in California, finding a tree that you are drawn to, and considering HER as your mother. Then, when you go back to the people meditation, you will have have some insights regarding patience.
Eventually, as you grow more and more savvy with all of these mommies, it is my belief that the roles begin to sort of flip-flop, and you begin to realize that all of these souls have also been YOUR CHILDREN. You forgive, as you have forgiven your mother for the complications of the past, and you get on with trying to set an example of what it is to be a decent human being.
WAH-LA!
Well, for reincarnation to pa-roooove anything, we must first get on the same page about what it is.
Regardless of the mechanics -- whether it is a rebirth from the grave, or simply one stage of your life blossuming into the next -- regardless of the language of your understanding, if you accept that life is very much like the seasons, then you get it. This is reincarnation. Simple.
Life is indeed like seasons, and it is not hard to make such a comparison. Some periods of life are definitely more abundant with opportunity, youth, and lovely weather abound. Other periods are stormy and glum. And eventually, yes, we know a winter must come that puts everything to sleep until spring comes again. The process can happen quite efficiently without our consciousness of it, which is why reflection upon it can often very much enlighten your state of being.
So reincarnation, in some sense, is happening to us constantly. Now, what about it?
If you abstract this simple notion -- that even sleep and awaking in the morning is a form of reincarnation -- to the asymtotic extreme, you arrive at the conceptual model of the soul: Some aspect of you that is born, born, and reborn, and lives complete lifetimes...countless times...over the course of who knows how long.
The Dalai Lama proposes that eventually, everybody you meet has, in some lifetime or another, BEEN YOUR MOTHER. (Which just about splits my head in half, even though I first read this premise over five years ago!)
After I begin considering it, however, I found myself with every person I met, despite the conditions of my introduction to them, considering them as someone put in the unfortunate position of edumacating my misbegotten and terrific spirit.
It felt like I had discovered a new way of relating to people. For, as with all of us, some people seem to handle us with a gentle comprehension that makes our hearts ache with appreciation...while others seem to be in a great degree of discomfort...possibly all the time, or just while we're around? Hmm, hard to say! But so much so that I necessarily wonder with such people if I ought to change myself, so as to make this person -- this spirit who has been my mother -- feel better about me!
This is the behavior of every child who seeks to make their mommy happy. No matter mommy's reason for being sad, if the child can discern a way of helping, oh Lord, you know they will try, even at their own expense.
But MANY TIMES, people, MANY TIMES it is the PARENT WHO IS THE CHILD!!! It is the parent who needs parenting! And though the child has the capacity, truly, has the capacity to change themselves in light of their elder's stance -- when the lessons are messed up, well, you end up with another generation feeling much like we all feel: sort of disenchanted and not particularly jazzed about it all.
What happens when you meet, through reincarnation, a mother of yours? Well, depending on who they are at that moment, your spirit is taken back to the experience you had during your lifetime with them as your mother. If your head is clear and stable enough to surf in the astral plane long enough to thread together the thoughts/intuitions/and premonitions, you will re-experience some powerful emotion that has long since been put away. You will learn something about yourself.
This happens with every encounter, with every glance, and even with inanimate objects, the earth and the sun. Everything, not just every person, has been your mother.
And since the human relationships are so charged with volital frustrations, misunderstandings, and discontents...try instead making a pilgrimage to Sequoia National Park in California, finding a tree that you are drawn to, and considering HER as your mother. Then, when you go back to the people meditation, you will have have some insights regarding patience.
Eventually, as you grow more and more savvy with all of these mommies, it is my belief that the roles begin to sort of flip-flop, and you begin to realize that all of these souls have also been YOUR CHILDREN. You forgive, as you have forgiven your mother for the complications of the past, and you get on with trying to set an example of what it is to be a decent human being.
WAH-LA!
posted by Just Greg at Sunday, November 12, 2006
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