Category: Thursday Tidbits

Thursday Tidbits: Unconditionally Easy

Posted on by KM Huber in Consciousness, Thursday Tidbits

Welcome to Thursday Tidbits, choice bits of information that celebrate our oneness with one another through our unique perspectives. It is how we connect, and it is how we have always connected but in the 21st century, the connection is immediate.

It occurs to me that in exploring peace I am also exploring unconditional love, whose existence we freely acknowledge in animals but when it comes to humans, we grow very quiet very quickly.

Yet, what if the connection between peace and unconditional love lies in the law of detachment, like a bridge between the two? 

Deepak Chopra describes the law of detachment in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success as: 

“In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty… In the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. 

“And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.” 

Therein, lies the rub, trusting in the wisdom of uncertainty, free from the conditions of our past or what Pema Chödrön calls “The Dream of Constant Okayness.” 

“It’s not impermanence per se, or even knowing we’re going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. 

“When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness. 

“Another word for that is freedom—freedom from struggling against the fundamental ambiguity of being human” (Heart Advice, Weekly Quotes from Pema Chödrön) 

And finally, from the Mundaka Upanishad:  

“Like two golden birds perched on the selfsame tree, intimate friends, the ego and the Self dwell in the same body. The former eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree of life, while the latter looks on in detachment.” 

These are favorite quotes of mine that I read so frequently I can recite parts of them from memory, which is not to say that I live them, only that my memory is in constant retrieval mode. However, there are moments I visit Michael Singer’s “Seat of Self,” where I am aware of the world coming through my humanness but alas, I do not yet sit for long.

How about you? Are you familiar with the golden birds of the Mundaka Upanishad? Do you struggle with the inherent ambiguity of “constant okayness”? Is there wisdom or freedom in uncertainty? Are humans capable of unconditional love?

If questions are not what you seek, then here is a north Florida treasure, Hot Tamale, singing “Easy,” a song for all of us wherever we are in our awareness.

Thursday Tidbits: Posting for Peace

Posted on by KM Huber in Oneness, Thursday Tidbits

Welcome to Thursday Tidbits, choice bits of information that celebrate our oneness with one another through our unique perspectives. It is how we connect, and it is how we have always connected but in the 21st century, the connection is immediate.

Peace seemed the obvious choice for the first Thursday Tidbits because peace resides within the infinite field of possibilities, one person at a time:  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” (Margaret Mead).

Each of us is the one person that we can do something about—in fact, we are the only person we can change, and in changing who we are we change the world. It really is the way it has always been; moment by moment, we give to the world what we are.

Imagine my delight when I discovered a small but growing group of bloggers who have committed to blogging for peace forpeace6during 2013. Once a month, these bloggers will post on peace for peace’s sake. Everyday Gurus is the blog that launched the movement, and I am proud to be participating. The peace posts are fresh, bold, each blogger’s perspective on yet another way to view the world we share.

There are other peace perspectives on the blogosphere as well, of course. Matthew Wright, a blogger that I read regularly, recently published a thoughtful post on the possibility of 2013 as the year of kindness. I was especially taken with Matthew’s suggestion that we remove the ego from our lives and replace it with kindness; “we must ask not how do others threaten us, but how can we help them.” Inherent in peace are four emotions that are not ruled by the ego: gratitude, compassion, love, and joy.

Poet Ann E. Michael recently published one of the most intriguing essays on “blame and fear” that I have read. In particular, I found Ann’s insight on scapegoats illuminating; “fear also keeps us from finding resources of our own.” If we lack inner resources, fear does very well.

Thus, we begin with the one person we can change, one’s self, and we begin in kindness, without blame or fear, grateful that in every moment, we have the opportunity to begin again. It is the opportunity we have always had but now, the connection is immediate.

Finally, here is the forever young Eva Cassidy singing her unique arrangement of “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” For me, the song provides yet another perspective.