Making Sense Of Life Events
(angela7dreams on flickr)
Before incarnating on this Earth, did you read the fine print in your soul contract? If, in the recent weeks, you have been moping around, feeling depressed, helpless and all – due to the current economic downturn or any other difficulty that you may be presently facing – then perhaps, you have not.
Either you agreed to the terms of a soul level agreement without full awareness of what you are getting yourself into with life on Earth, or you currently cannot remember what you have said yes to pre-birth. Now that you are on Earth, you have been in bitterness, anger and despair over events apparently outside your control. You wonder why innocent people get killed with no “logical” explanations for at all. Well, according to Ajahn Brahm, the fine print in your soul agreement before physical incarnation had the wordings “you can die at any time for any reason”.
Here was a real-life story that he told….
Ajahn Chah, a well known forest monk and teacher to Ajahn Brahm, had a Thai disciple. The novice monk got drafted into the army soon after. He returned home wounded. He was puzzled as to why he was not invincible. After all, he was a monk right? So the novice monk went to look for Ajahn Chah.
He asked the reverend “Why was I hurt?” Ajahn Chah looked at him and replied cryptly “Because you joined the army”.
The Cycle of Life?
According to Buddhism, tsunamis, bushfires, loss of jobs and earthquakes are part of the cycle of life. Hence, there is no point spending too much time asking ourselves why disasters or difficulties happen.
More importantly is how we choose our response to them. If we are not able to see the lessons for what they are, in all likelihood we keep ourselves stuck. This is called karma. If we choose to flee from and not confront our problems, we are also choosing not to transcend above them.
As you walk to go home, you step onto a pile of dog shit. Don’t scrape it off, just yet. Consider wearing your shoes home and then scrape it off under the mango tree. A year later, you notice juicy ripe mangoes on your tree. You pluck and start to eat them, relishing every bite.
But really, what do you think you are eating? A pile of dog shit! It is dog shit transformed. In the same manner, difficulties are “fertilizers” for gaining wisdom, peace and compassion.
—- Ajahn Brahm
Awakening to An End?
Explained in terms of new age spirituality, it is in the collective unconscious that negative events have been brought about. The collapse of the world economy arose from greed and separateness, a departure from love and oneness.
Some spiritual or religious experts also predict that the world is coming to an end. The recent round of natural disasters or the current economic crisis happening around the world is proof, they say.
My Thoughts
Well, I honestly don’t know if the world is going to end or not. Neither do I wish to pursue finding out the answers for such a question. What I do know for sure is that history has shown that life events go through highs and lows. Economic downturns signify the beginnings of a new period. They are often much-needed breaks when things get too heated up. My previous job as a banker gave me a chance to observe the trends of stock market cycles closely. What goes up appear to come down after a while.
On a soul perspective, we have chosen to incarnate with an agreed plan for life lessons. It is of little wonder therefore that in the physical plane, we attract continual experiences for us to learn from. In our lessons, we may have gotten a “passed” grade previously but we are also looking to graduate advanced levels with flying colors.
The Law of Attraction also tells us that we attract like frequencies in vibrations. If energy expands on where we direct our thoughts, I would rather focus my thoughts on useful ones. As such, I prefer to remain positive in the intents that I wish manifested.
What I do agree on, however, comes from my own personal observations, soul readings and experience. If there is anything that is happening to the world, it is that a shift in consciousness is going on. The positive shift in consciousness only points to one thing: Increased Spiritual Awareness.
From a practical point of view, how do I go about “making sense of life events”? I prefer to spend my time in quiet contemplation. Rather than complaining, I am better served by experiencing peace, taking responsibility for my actions and thoughts, transcending my everyday trials and tribulations. I have every hope to evolve spiritually.
Practical Spiritual Wisdom
Slade from Shift Your Spirits articulated my thoughts well with what he said in his latest article. He said “For me, the greatest challenges in producing a blog like this on a regular basis is finding a reasonable middle ground between everyday reality and the mystical — between addressing the panic and pessimism that many people genuinely feel and wearing some crazy Happy Face mask of Magically Delicious News that you can’t relate to.”
Hence, to put things simply and in a nutshell, downtimes are really opportunities for us to become more aligned to our highest path and purpose for this life. They are periods that remind us not to go too far off in our values, if we have done so. They are about reconnecting ourselves to Oneness. There is no denying that humanity has prospered when people got together in spirit and in loving kindness in the aftermaths of disasters, tragedies and difficulties.
Here is a real life story, closer to home, that is inspiring….
A businessman in Sydney picked up his telephone. It was a call from his doctor.
The doctor said, “I have bad news for you. Your medical results are out. You have cancer of the blood. Your condition is basically untreatable. I am so sorry but you are in the final stages.”
There was a pause.
The businessman asked in a cracking voice “How long more, sir?”
The doctor replied sadly, “Max 3 months.”
Upon hanging up, the businessman decided that he wanted to spend his remaining days with his loved ones. He had been stressed out for so many years while building his company. Upon learning that he had not much time left, the businessman sold his company at a price that he thought reasonable (not the highest though). He then bought first class tickets so that his family could travel to Europe, an idea that he often talked about but never had the time for.
Then, while he was on holiday, his handphone rang.
It was the doctor on the other line again.
The doctor cleared his throat and then said, “I am not sure how to tell you this. But there has been a mistake. There is one other person with the same name as you. He is the one with cancer and not you.”
The doctor waited for a full two minutes before he heard a reply.
The businessman said, “I am not sure how to thank you, sir. I am having the most amazing time here with my family. You are a great teacher! You have taught me an important lesson!”
When the businessman returned from his vacation, he started another business with the remaining money. It was one which was far less stressful but which gave him more time with his family. He was a much happier person!!
Your Comments Please
My post came about in part due to thoughts arising from a talk that I attended last week on “Making Sense of What is Happening to the World” by Ajahn Brahm. The topic was tabled in response to numerous questions on why life is handing us a heavy blow recently.
Do you have any thoughts to share? Any thoughts to the observation of a “world crisis” from the string of natural disasters, calamities and bad news? Do you agree that there has been some good that came out from them?
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