Painting by Cathy Delanssay
"Made of stardust, we share the same cosmic history as the
lions at the savannas and the lavenders on the fields. We are all
connected through time and space, and thus connectedly interdependent.
Just breathing links us to the rest of humanity - the billions of oxygen
molecules that we inhale with each breath have some time or other been
inside the lungs of each of the 50 billion individuals that have live on
Earth. This cosmic and planetary perspective emphasizes not only our
interdependence, but also how vulnerable our planet is, and how isolated
we are among stars."~ Trinh Xuan Thuan, Professor of Astronomy at the
University of Virginia
We are all relatives
We are made of sunlight, particles, water and so on. Of course we are also made of the food we eat, our parents, our friends and our experiences.
Like the weather, we constantly change. Sometimes it´s winter inside and our thoughts are cold and unfriendly, but the thoughts will melt down and new one will rise...
New experiences will start new habits - some parts of you are still a small child, but as an adult you can take care of that inner child.
But, like a flower, it's good to have a rich soil and a lot of sun sunlight and water - because we ARE that sunlight and that water, and we ARE the oxygen that we inhale which produced by the plants.
We have a name and a personal history, and it's good to have that and sometimes tell the memories to other people, because, that's our identity.
But in a deeper sense, we are not our name and history - we are more like the flower in my window; radiated by light - the light has for a while manifested itself as a flower together with water and so on - so the flower - and you - ARE light. And do you know that you and the flower share about 50% of the genes with each other.
The light inside
Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed of yourself. Sometimes this life is tough, really tough. It is meant to be, meant to be experienced the hard way. But in the end everything is going to be okay. Let the light guide you. In the end everything will be okay - if there is an end...
When life is tough, you learn, so you probably will learn all life. But you better watch out not to be pessimistic or bitter, there will always be happy moments - intermezzos between the learning time.
Try to do the things you like to do, try to be thankful. Try to think that life is rich of experiences. Try to be aware of every moment, even when you are just walking. Feel the foot meeting the ground. Feel the wind in your face, hear the dog barking, the bird singing ....
Trouble and dark moments will come again, but with awareness, even of your own thoughts, you can handle it with care. You can take care of the dark moments and thoughts as if it were a crying child...
Contrast
Life is built by contrast; black and white, sorrow and happiness, long and short, right and left, and so on. And of course, the contrasts are dependent of each other.
Thich Nhat Hanh use to give an example by a piece of paper; if the right side of the paper has not been there, the left could not exist. And happiness, symbolised by the white colour could not be seen without the dark colours.So don not be afraid of the dark times, they are needed for the coming happiness.
But be prepared to change. Sorrow is a sign for that something is wrong. Perhaps a belief that no longer is needed. For the times are really changing, and you better follow it or turn to a stone.
Religious doctrines and fundamentalism are really old age, so are the belief that we are the masters of the earth. The earth will be all right some thousands of years after we have polluted it too much - but probably we will not ...
Tomas
