Suffering

Some say, "If there is a God, why does the child in the wheel chair suffer?"  This is an argument against the existence of a creator or god, or whatever you want to call your higher being.  The suffering argument is compelling because, I believe, suffering is inherent with life.  Life and suffering go hand in hand.  How can I say that? Well in the areas of learning, jealousy, and situation, suffering plays huge rolls.  These three areas are experienced by everybody to some degree or another.

Teachers will tell you, that it is common to get academic problems wrong before you learn the right way.  What happens when you get a math problem wrong in class?  You suffer embarrassment and sometimes humiliation.  Your suffering becomes a motivator to learn.  Some martial arts teachers and gym trainers say where there is no pain, there is no gain.  Well, what does the child in the wheel chair do?  How does this motivation to learn help him/her?  Children are marvelous learning beings.  They will learn almost anything you teach them.  The child in the wheel chair can learn how to live in the wheel chair or learn to make a better wheelchair.  Oh but that may not what you were thinking.  You may want the child to live a normal life and able to walk without the wheelchair.   Well, let's look at the next point, jealousy.

What do you want?  How do you get to the point of wanting it?  Jealousy is wanting what others have.  It's often accompanied with the idea that you cannot get it.  Therefore, you suffer anguish and/or rage.  The question often comes up: should you have it?  A man may covet another man's wife.  That is a classic notion.  It's often the case that men lust after many men's wives.  Shhh!  That's a man's secret.  How about being jealous of the rich?  That is extremely common.  The poor suffer and don't think the rich suffer so they figure money will relieve all suffering.  This is not the case.  Rich people suffer just like poor people.  They pay bills and taxes.  They lose money.  They have relationship problems.  They have problems with their children.  They suffer disease.  They suffer anguish.  They also suffer jealousy.  It is very human to want what we cannot have.  So the child in the wheel chair also wants to walk like everybody else but cannot.  He/She can wallow in jealousy or rise above it.  Accepting your situation is important and healthy.

Everybody is in a situation.  You cannot escape.  You will always be in a situation.  The good news is that situations can be changed.  Pain is electronic stimuli to your brain indicating that there is something seriously wrong.  If we go back to the saying, "no pain, no gain," then were inclined to bear the pain.  There are many cultural influences and traditions that may make you bear the pain.  Yet, pain is due to a situation.  Many times you can change the situation to lesser the pain or get rid of it entirely.  Comfort is the opposite of pain.  Comfort is also the opposite of suffering.  Can the child in the wheelchair change that he/she is in the wheelchair.  No, he/she cannot.  Can the child in the wheelchair get more comfortable?  Yes, he/she can.  Change your situation for the better.  Even a little change helps a lot.  Of course, when there is not change to be had, and you run out of options, you would be enticed to seek the ultimate situation changer: death.  Society does not allow this, yet still there are, on average, 30,000 suicides a year in the United States.  I believe they represent 30,000 problems we have not been able to resolve yet.  These people have not found a solution to their suffering.  This is extreme suffering.  It's not their fault that they suffered.  It's our's, society's, fault that their suffering was not relieved.

Why do people suffer?  People suffer whether in great ways or small way.  All people suffer.  The big lie is that you're the only person suffering.  It's not true.  More often than not, there is a solution to your suffering if only your willing to accept it.  You can learn something new, you can accept your situation, or you can change your situation in one way or another.  I believe it is inevitable for physical life to suffer.  I believe that life is scarce in this universe.  I believe that life is a rebellion against the status quo in this realm.  Life is, and therefore life suffers.  Life fights against the entropy of thermal dynamics.  That's because life is not static.  Life wants to propagate life in every aspect of meaning.  Helping the poor, healing the sick, fighting injustice, and making babies propagates life.  Life is always fighting, therefore life is always suffering in some way.  So, going back to the notion that suffering denotes the absence of deity, I say the presence of suffering denotes life fighting something, and the presence of life denotes deity.

Diversity Of Life

In many documentaries I've seen, biologist and scientist talk about how diverse life is on planet Earth.  I find this principle to be true in social situations as well.  Many people I've encountered in my travels have been colorful and unique.

I met a person in an airport.  We both had to wait for connecting flights.  He seemed mesmerized with my accent.  While my accent would seem uncommon to most people, he found it uncommon.  He was able to pick up the diverse nuances in my speech.  I grew up with more than one language and more than one national background.  He was able to pick up some, but not pinpoint all of them.  Since then, on occasion, I come across people here and there who comment on my accent.  I figure that these people have a special gift.  Their gift must be in their hearing.  They seem able to pick apart things they here and analyze them.  I cannot say I can do such things.  While I enjoy music, that's where the magic of hearing stops.  I can't sing, and I can't even keep rhythm.  These people have a special ability.  You never know who or what your going to come across.

I know a person who has never had a broken bone.  She's even been in a car accident but with no broken bones.  This reminds me of the movie Unbreakable.  In the beginning of the movie the hero slowly discovers that what he took for granted in life was remarkable to others.  He did not break.  He would walk away from accidents.  This prompted some self discovery and he found out how else he was different.  I have encountered just a couple of people like that.  I can safely say that they are strong but level headed and quiet people.  They don't seem to have egos to bruise or care to prove themselves to anyone.  These are amazing individuals and they have my full respect.

Some people I've encountered had a very different gift, if you can call it that.  They were unlucky.  Unlucky things would always happen to them.  They were not necessarily devastating, but there were many of them and they happened almost on schedule or time table at regular intervals.  These incidents would be things like a fender bender, or a freak accident.  I used to think that these people just attracted these things to happen somehow.  Perhaps they do, but now I don't think its intentional.  It could be a gift, and if these people would do some self discovery perhaps they may find a way to control it.  If I had to guess, I'd say that they have natural intention that is always active and it is unruly because they have not yet found a way to control it.  Sometimes these people would say things like that they have tried to think positively but it did not work.

Empaths are natural sensitives to other people's emotions and/or pains.  This means that the untrained empath can get into trouble and suffer various emotions throughout the day.  This may seem like a disability.  The trained empath can turn the disability into an ability.  I know several empaths, and I am an empath as well.  Most empaths just want to cope with life day by day.  Others want to use their ability to help others.  I have to say that it was very liberating once I found out how to control my gift.  I was able to shore up the weaknesses and improve the strengths.  I stopped getting in trouble with my employers, and my relationship with all people improved tremendously.

People are diverse.  They have gifts.  It's important for people to find out what their gifts are and how to control them.  This requires some self exploration or self discovery.  Our society only supports self discovery on a limited basis.  It's up to each person to discover themselves.  You just may be more unique and special than you thought.

Being Me

If there is one thing that defines this era since the 70's it's being ourselves.  Since World War II, the idea that individual sacrifice for the good of the group was prominent.  That's why companies have their employees travel all over in blatant disregard of family life.  I don't like that.  I'm not like that.  I'm independent.  I choose to be me and nobody else.  I gave up the responsibility of being anyone to everyone.  That's why I do not follow one established belief system.  That's why I'm make one for me. 

In my past lives, of what I know, I have been a part of Magick.  I resonate with much of it, but I cannot go back to it in its entirety.  The problem is that any belief system has truth in it with a measure of legend and useless theology.  Out of most belief systems the basics tend to be true.  Humans are powerful beings and are for the most part live lives that are ignorant to such power, therefore they need to be taught.  Humans also have the basic choice of doing good or harm.  There are many other belief systems that have similar basics to Magick such as Reiki and others and most Asian martial arts.  The difference is that the Asians hold to building yourself up with these techniques and intent, while Magick tends to focus on the outer world of the human.  Regardless, when a belief system is around for long periods of time, it tends to get corrupted.  That's why I don't adhere to any, though I may adhere to all in one aspect or another.

So what do I do?  Like my grandfather said, I steal with my eyes.  I take the basic principles and try them out.  So I take a practical approach.  As an empath, I first had to figure out the chaos I was picking up.  The practical advice from other empaths and empath psychologists really helped.  I've tried different techniques such as shielding, pushing out emotion, and others for my own protection.  I've experimented with intention and started to analyze it with my empathic insights.  I came up with a working model of intent.  I also found things that I think some don't realize.  The difference and struggle the analytical brain has in dealing with the institutional brain is astounding.  I often here radio commentators say things like "I don't understand how but a mother found superhuman strength to pick up a car to save her child."  I wonder how is it that people don't understand that the nature of the analytical brain and its limitations.  So this is what I do, I prove all things for myself.

Being myself is the greatest adventure I've been on.  Sometimes it's hard because of the influence everyone else has in your life.  I find it is worth it though.

Respecting Life

In our materialist society, life is often disregarded.  We are entrenched in our own lives and care little about the life of anyone else.  This is a path of self destruction.  We should work at regarding all life.

In the recent tsunami tragedy in Japan we have seen over the internet some images of people and animals who became stranded and in need of rescue.  One particular heartbreaking image was of a dog trying to care for another dog.  Even in such touching scenes, I came across comments to the effect of "but its just a dog".  Tonight I heard reports of rescuers who have rescued a dog off a pile floating debris in the Pacific Ocean.  In other similar rescues, I've seen where some have questioned why were money and resources wasted on such a feat.  What is your life worth?  Is it worth going to work, eat, sleep day after day to one day die by any number of known diseases or any of the unknown diseases without a caring about another life form?  A character like Ebenezer Scrooge would think in such a way.  Someone who hoards money and resources for their own comfort would also think in such a way.  Some may think that rescuing an animal when humans are in danger is irresponsible.  This is not the case in rescuing efforts.  In rescuing efforts you rescue what you can when you find it because your racing against time.  There is an old spanish proverb that says a bird in hand is worth more than a thousand flying.  You cannot rescue what you cannot detect.  Why not spend some resources on rescuing life, any life, that is in danger?  Were only going to spend it on something else of lesser importance.


What does it say about us if we disregard life that needs help?  Astronomers, space explorers, and space biology scientists have not found conclusive evidence of life on any other planet than Earth.  There are also extinctions of species documented in our history.  Should we take for granted the life that surrounds us on our fair planet?  If there is life on other planets, of which I am hopeful, then we should consider how unique life on this planet is.  We have conquered the Earth.  We are its masters.  We have responsibility to the planet and all its life.  If they are extinguished we have no one to blame but ourselves.  This is our legacy from the great explorers and the technology innovators.  We can alter the weather, but like toddlers trying to be gentle we crush and bumble around having little control over our weight.  We also have learned to create environments like the International Space Station.  If we disregard life and our other responsibilities we are stupid.  We are stupid because we have let the very thing that allows us to live die.  We must regard life for the very simple reason that it helps our very existence.

Respecting life is more than just respecting life.  We eat an enormous amount of meat, beef in particular.  In a New York Times article, Mark Bittman describes how meat factories use many resources and are detrimental to the environment.  There is also a health concern with the eating of factory breed meat.  The Mayo Clinic's Dr. Martha Grogan notes that grass fed beef is leaner than the corn fed factory meat.  The reason why we have these factory style cattle farms is that they produce a lot of beef compared to traditional farming.  With the concern of cholesterol and fats giving us heart disease, the corn fed beef has a bad effect on human beings.  The reason for the need to that volume of beef is the demand for it from the public.  So the large demand of one food type makes for bad health and bad environment.  This is bad and its our fault.  We have to fix it.  If people stopped eating so much meat dinners and started to incorporate all vegetable meals, then the demand for meat will drop.  Then we could go for the more nutritional beef as a delicacy rather than as a staple.  One way I have been able to make easy vegan dishes is to substitute meat with some beans, it happens to be cheaper too.  Respect for cattle will result in respect for ourselves.  Its about resources and its about priorities.

In view of the bigger picture we really need to change our attitude towards animals and all life on Earth.  We are only flying through this space-time on a rock flying through the universe on an unknown trajectory.  Life, its all we got.  Let's respect it.