Opposites attract

Opposites Attract

Throughout the universe we have innumerable examples of polarities of objects, forces and energies, all of which have their exact opposite. A positive for a negative, light and dark, male and female, big and small, hot and cold, up and down, right and left and so the list goes on. Yet there are plenty of examples of circumstances that come into our lives, some of whom we are most displeased about. It is to this phenomenon  I have tried to explore and shed some understanding. 

Sickness affects everyone, and no one is spared. Yet it is in sickness that only then we can appreciate the qualities of good health . We cry over anything that does not go our way, yet we are overjoyed and elated when things do. When we fall it hurts, only to learn to stand up once again. We are filled with sadness when our hearts are heavy, and happy when our  hearts are lightened. We are afraid of the darkness, and bold when we are in the middle of the light. We look for weaknesses in others, when it is the strength within that we truly seek. We are tortured by the cold only to hope that winter ends bringing warmer and hotter days. 

The issue in my opinion is not about one or the other. I feel it is more about seeking out the balance and the equanimity that brings out the peace and serenity and the eventual indifference to the polarity. That is where the awakening occurs. The negative influence is extremely important so that we can then appreciate the opposite effect, else how could we define one without the other.  You cannot understand life without its equal share of death. How can you possibly fathom the concept of love without the feelings of animosity and of hate . We cannot understand the ideas of sorrow and loss with out the defining moments of happiness and gain. When one comes to the steady state of uniformity and non judgement of either side of any force or emotion, then we actually let go. When this happens we are on the road to bliss. Notice I did not say the destination of bliss, as every time you come to a steady state, there will be something that rears its head to slap us on the wrist and bring down our ego a notch or two so we reevaluate our positions. 

When we face a major disappointment, it is usually vindicated by a success. When we are cut off in traffic by a speedy car, that is when we learn the concept of respecting others. Faced with a struggle, it is only the sweet taste of victory that defines this term. If you see a child trying to learn how to walk for the first time, and note the tough times he or she has to understand the concepts of balance and gravity, is when you yourself appreciate patience. Frustration with co workers or family members who do not follow your thought pearls is in dichotomy with the opposite of when you accept them for who they are and what they  are trying to express. Letting go of an idea that has been festering within you like a thorn in the side, is as liberating as welcoming a more positive notion into your heart. 

The beauty of the system is in its simplicity. Opposites attract. Both directional opposites do come together and enable the understanding to unfold, the experience to manifest and the awareness to permeate your consciousness, allowing your own personal evolution. It is said we come into this world crying while everyone around us are laughing. So too should we not leave this world laughing while everyone around us crying? The irony of opposites here is that we have touched more souls with our existence than we care to count, yet do we bother to count how many souls touch our lives on a daily basis. Do we even realize or are aware of the number of opposites that we face at each moment, each day and each year as we race through our lives without ever touching that trophy of tranquil balance. 

Feeling blue on a rainy day? How do you feel when the sun comes out? 

Being a lightning rod

Being a lightning rod

Lightning, natures swift sword is  wielded without prejudice on anything that is big or small, tall or short, in an open or closed space, regardless of consequence. It is created by polarity of charged particles positive to negative and the literature is filled with examples of lightning striking more than once despite the rumors to the contrary. It is quite the show as the lightning brightens up the night sky with its awesome terrifying spectacle.

Lightning strikes are very much akin to the negativity that we experience as fiery bolts of  anger, hate, jealousy spew out from us in forms of bad thoughts, ill  speech and consequential bad actions. Darting about as quick and as powerful as lightning, our reactions hurt others quickly and fiercely. Similarly we find ourselves the recipients of similar strikes when we have negative thoughts and then get overcome with feelings of guilt, despair and  hatred. We are struck by these emotions and respond in kind. We become the lightning rod for negativity. With out the use of proper grounding tools lightning will prove to us that it does not in fact" not strike  twice" as we continue to get bombarded with these bolts of negativity. 

Dedicated daily  meditation enables the grounding of oneself in humility, patience, and resolution such that we have the fortitude to not be destroyed by the negative impulses that come our way when we are in the unfortunate path of someone else's aim of fire. Lightning occurs randomly even though it appears almost pattern like, as it is always looking to ground itself. So too is the shout out of negativity in its innumerable forms reaching a destination into the recipient. One must develop the grounding rod mentality and be within total peace and calm so if the lightning rod of negativity does hit, it is immediately dispersed away leaving no residual bad energy to enable ill effects. If your grounding rod is full of positive energy then you might be able to in fact repel the lightning altogether since positive to positive charged particles do not conduct any current be it electrical, spiritual or emotional in nature.

Many a time the physical rod is sold in the market with a guarantee and warranty up to a certain wattage and up to a certain financial burden cost in case of damage. The more the cost of these rods the more likely the better insurance they provide, ergo the more likely the protection they offer. So if one is able keep a positive attitude and keep oneself in a state of positivity with grounding of one's Self, you are less likely to sustain damage nor require the use of the insurance policy in the form of your emotionally drained currency. 

How sturdy is your lightning rod? Are you insured?

What is in your rear view mirror ?

What is in your rear view mirror?

Driving along we stay focussed on the road in front of us, and periodically glance at the rear view mirror and the side mirrors to check  our spatial orientation along the flow of traffic. Yet sometimes we get so focussed on checking out the car or the drivers behind us in the rear view mirror that we forget to see the car in front and brake just in time. Or sometimes we forget to even look behind in the rear view mirror, and miss the police cruiser on our tail !  Having a close connection to the past is fundamental in enabling us to move forward into the future. 

A quick glance  in the rear view mirror is needed to keep us centered as we focus on the road ahead. Similarly in life we can spend our lifetime looking back at mistakes made, roads not taken, missed opportunities, ill words spoken in heat and anger to loved ones. It was once told to me that a "moment's regret of the past is a moment stolen from the future." How true when you are driving on the road of life. All too often we spend our days looking in the rear view mirror of our lives with a negative perspective at a variety of experiences that have impacted us adversely. Or at least we perceive them as having affected us adversely, not realizing that many of those experiences and encounters could have been for our good and propelled us forward through the adversity towards a better end. We dwell in the rear view mirror so much that sometimes the only thing that will get us out of that mode is a head on collision with the future. 

The past and the future are all connected by the present. If you are not in the moment then remaining in any of the other time zones will not serve you well in fulfilling your purpose. In other words not being in constant conscious awareness of your self in the present moment  will not help you let go of the past nor will it bring you in to the future. Sometimes being so focussed on what is in front of you while driving and not noticing the rear view is also to your peril. You will miss the speeding car on your tail for which you could have planned ahead and moved into another lane, or judged your speed more appropriately. In this way knowing where you have been is as important as where you are going. 

A friendly mental acknowledgment of the cars next to you also are important as you can gauge your position in time and space. Interestingly you will notice that if you have matched your speed and position with the car next to you, the experience of timelessness briefly unfolds. Very different than the experience of moving forward or noting what is behind you. Ergo get to know your life circumstances at your level, be it in the form of friends, family, or life in general. The windshield is big for a reason, so you can stay alert and be fully aware of your navigation into the future. The rear view mirror is small also for a reason, in that you know your past but are not so stuck in the past that you do miss what is in front. The police car waiting to catch you for speeding should be yet another reminder that on the road of life, the universe will intervene to slow you down, slap you on the wrist and have you reset your accelerating heavy foot. 

One eye on the front, one eye on the back and your third inner eye on the moment is one way of driving. Just don't drive with all your eyes closed. 

Pulling weeds

Pulling weeds

Out in the garden  early on a Saturday morning before the sun's blaze gets me down, I am out there pulling weeds. Some are easily removed with a single tug, and others are quite desperately lodged that require considerable effort. By the end of my tour of duty in the battle of the weeds, I am quite tired, hot and sweaty. What a work out, I think to myself, and what an accomplishment, a garden landscape with out weeds. The following Saturday I look out side my window only to  discover another vast accumulation of the weed population. With dismay yet persistent resolve  my battle in the grand war against weeds starts once again. 

During one of these Saturdays while I was trying to find my balance between communing with nature and the mad dash to finish this chore, I realized that the "pulling of weeds" is not unlike pulling out negative qualities from within myself. With each thought, utterance, or action we generate these fabrications within our mental self. Let us explore this a little further with a few examples. You are bitten by a tiny mosquito. Your nerve endings sense it, and inform you of what has happened. You immediately try to swat the bug, and then can scratch the affected area. With the itching, comes irritability, with this emotion comes anger. The thought of anger then brings forth perhaps an angry word or two. So in this way a fabrication is formed within yourself. Another example. Someone says something overtly careless about your appearance. Thoughts of insecurity, vanity, anger all emerge, leading to negative emotions, then words and sometimes even bad actions ( you hit that person). You have created yet another negative fabrication into your consciousness. And so life goes on as you accumulate infinite formulations into your consciousness, then into your subconsciousness.  These eventually will come back to haunt you in some fashion, after all you are building a foundation to support your psyche.

It takes a lifetime to generate all these conditioned determinations, and it may take an entire lifetime to get rid of them. We are so quick to react, we have no idea how many accumulate within a minute, an hour or within a day. The more negative the formulation, the harder it is to pull out of your Self. Through meditation and becoming Self aware you are able to let go of many ills that are plaguing you. As you let go, you let live. Instead of just Saturdays to pull out your weeds, perhaps daily pulling for just 10 minutes will help you not making this an endless or overwhelming chore. Hence the daily pulling out the fabrications within your mind becomes easier over a lifetime.  The more you pull out the more will spring forth to take the others' place, such is the nature of weeds and mental fabrications. Nature abhors a vacuum. Yet the more efficient you get at the pulling of these mental  fabrications through meditation the easier they become to pull out, and at some point you get ahead of the battles of pulling your negative consciousness issues. 

One might say putting a black tarp on the landscape helps prevent the weeds form. This is very true for the ordinary variety of weeds, yet in my vast experience of wasted Saturdays this is a temporary measure and there are always tougher, heartier weeds that break through the toughest of tarps. Despite the most disciplined minds you can still have very old mental and past fabrications spring up when you least expect it to torture you when you have to remove them through the tarp as they have ripped it up. You can use weed killer but that is still a temporary fix, since each weed has thousands of spores that will generate further weed-lets that can survive the toughest of weed killer agents.  There is no great solution to weed control except burning down the entire landscape region, but then you miss on the beauty of the garden. You can look at this as a total annihilation of all your mental fabrications and  negativity generating thoughts yet hope you are experienced in using fire to help you. 

You can always hire someone to pull out the weeds, yet they will come back.  You just end up keep paying more and more over the course of time to a landscaper. On some occasions you need the landscaper to help you with valid and warranted advice on techniques. Hence you take classes or courses on meditation. In  the end these are your weeds, your mental volitions, your negative ideas, so take ownership of them and keep your garden and landscape weed free as best as possible with a clean positive attitude.  Daily and frequent meditation is the answer to maintain a glorious and splendid garden for your soul to live in. 

How tough are your weeds?