It Makes Me Wonder

"Love is natural. Cynicism is learned. Come home."
-- Alan Cohen

Are we really so completely natural, when we are born? Are we the "clean slate"? Or do we carry within our genes or elsewhere some of the traits of our predecessors?

Some would say they believe we reincarnate after our transition from this life. If that is true and we have many lifetimes, would it follow that we carry from one life to another our "learnings"?

Well, we can’t prove reincarnation and we haven't been able to prove many other suppositions we might entertain. But we do know and have proven that genes carry traits from generation to generation such as eye color, hair color and so forth. And certain diseases seem to run in families.

So how "clean" is our "slate"? We do know that ideas are passed from one to another and that children seem to learn certain behaviors, ideas, ways of thinking and reacting from parents, friends, teachers and so forth. So we can be conditioned.

Where does that leave us?

Reading the quote this morning I found myself liking the idea that love is natural and that we are taught to hate or to be cynical. I can't prove that one either but I do know that love feels "right". I do know when I choose love, I seem to be "at home". And, I do know I seemed to choose that in my early years but learned that others don't always choose love and that I had to protect myself from the lack of it around me. I also found myself reacting in unloving ways as time went on. Always, though, the theme for me was to return somehow to love and therefore in my mind at least to Love/God/The Way.

Whatever the situation, love is a choice it would seem and we can choose it or not. It is our birthright.

The IDEA of Easter isn't just for Christians.

When souls have been seeking answers or as understanding of their own existence or in the case of many religions, they have been seeking "God", there have been two schools of thought most prevalent. To know or find the answers through: 1. knowledge or intellect which is more "external" to mankind; 2. experience, or an inner knowing of the essential Spirit within whether it be called God or Higher Self or what have you.

So, we have "outies" and "innies" so to speak.

Some people are more "wired" for the inner experience it seems; while others are more prone to see from their intellect or outer knowing and accepting which would include the more scientific, "prove-it-to-me" point of view. Yet this latter group will often admit to one's needing faith to some extent.

Many of us are more one way at times than others but we often borrow from both points of reference. I know I do. In my own personal journey I have found that the knowledge without the experience isn't quite complete and the experience or more feeling, internal reference point is not quite complete without the intellectual, more practical one. I would conclude from my point of view that both are necessary for progress and balance.

What's this got to do with Easter? Easter is a time of renewal, a time for NEW life to sprout, a time for calling forth that part of us from the TOMB that has lain dormant. One does not have to be a Christian to grab a hold of this concept and bring alive within them all the goodness and teachings of Jesus the Christ which is already within them. For I believe what he came to do and came to tell us, has nothing to do with any particular religion. The same holds true, I believe, for the Buddha and other great teachers and souls who have come and gone in the centuries before us. If we can listen deeply enough and let go of preconceptions and we are honest in our seeking and searching, I believe we will find Truth everywhere. It is to be found in the kernel or core of the original ideas and thinking and teachings of those great souls.

So as I have one foot in the immediate circumstances in which I find myself and all the responsibilities I have right now, I am also keenly aware of the Easter season and my continuing along my spiritual path. This is what is essential to me. And I can do both for I am as you are, spirit and matter.

May this Easter season bring a renewal in Spirit for you. May your path be just rocky enough to cause you to stay awake yet smooth enough to not discourage you. May your Spirit within leap for joy and announce the coming of the wondrous, fantastic, shinning, beautiful soul that you truly are.

HAPPY EASTER