Life's Direction

I understand why so many people want to hide away from the world and not seek to be aware of the ills of society. There are big problems 'out there,' overwhelming conditions, situations seemingly beyond our control. For most of us -- those who will likely read this post -- home is safe. Home is good. Home is where we don't have to think about how what we do affects those unknown masses around us. We can live in a cocoon of protection. 

I believe it is not apathy or indifference which most often keeps us from trying to do more than we do. Most of us care a great deal about others, about the world. We want to make a difference. My theory is it is more usually a vague fear of not being able to do enough. We think we will do something small and it will be insignificant. Or maybe we'll try to do something big and we'll fall flat. People might even make fun of us for making an attempt.

On days like today, when the leaves are various shades of perfection and the view outside my window is about as heavenly as I can imagine, it's easy to not think about problems, far and near, about the future of our country or our planet. Here and now is enough. Perhaps my family is all I need. I consider sinking into isolation and just being still. But then I think about my daughter and her children and the world they'll be living in when I'm gone. Will it be worse than now? Can it be better?

Not everyone is wired the same way. A quiet life of reflection and living at peace with others is a good life. For some, that is how they change the world. It is not for any of us to judge what is the right course, what is the best way for anyone else. What I know for myself is at this point in my life I can't unknow the things I've discovered. I can't stop thinking about how maybe I can help change things for the better.

So, I suppose what I'm saying is this. I'm not shy about giving advice, but when I sound preachy, when I write about what Jesus would do or what our obligation is to the world, I hope anyone who reads my rambling will frame it in the way which is best for individual circumstances. None of us know what is the best course for others, certainly I don't. Sometimes I don't even know if what I'm doing is the best course for me!

But any hesitation I'm feeling this morning will pass, I'm sure. Be looking for a couple of  announcements which will be coming in the weeks ahead. One thing is something fun a friend and I are thinking about doing and another is something pretty crazy I'm planning to do. It's a big venture, it will require lots of help and I'm hoping maybe some of you will want to go along for the ride.

What Is Right With People?

What is wrong with people? They are loud and obnoxious. Their phone manners are terrible, especially now that cell phones intrude everywhere. Their driving habits are infuriating. They seem determined to be disagreeable and their goal must be to make us unhappy. Sound a little familiar?

Of course in laying out those complaints, the question should be turned around to ask, “What is wrong with ME?” Because when it comes to talking about people, “they” are “us.” (Or "we" to be grammatically correct.) For every behavior by those around us which annoys and irritates, we are inflicting some irksome behavior (maybe several!) on others. Even for the most saintly among us, everyone is likely making someone else’s life less enjoyable than it could be. There is always room for improvement and the improvement lies within the rule called golden, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

We’re all in it together, this imperfect and sometimes downright crazy world. Our lives are intertwined and connected. Sometimes we have a bad day. Sometimes we have a long, rough week. Sometimes life hits a sour stretch with happenings beyond our control. It’s easy enough to make excuses for ourselves, but are we willing to give others the benefit of the doubt?

Only occasionally is someone trying to make us miserable. Most everyone is focused on his or her own concerns. Often there's no time to concentrate on what's going on with everyone else. (Which is sad in itself.) Many are struggling just to get by, wrestling with issues of health or having trouble in relationships. But in spite of that, most everyone is also striving to do better, to be better. 

Maybe the question should be, “What is right with people?” There certainly is always good to be found. For everyone you meet who seems to be unpleasant, remember there is always something you don’t know about him or her. Maybe they’re carrying a heavy burden and their heart is weary. Pain often comes out in ways which seem as though someone is  merely trying to be disagreeable.

And for every truly unpleasant person out there, who really is just not very nice, there are many, many more who are kind, compassionate and helpful. There is a lot wrong with the world, but thankfully, there is an awfully lot which is right. Look for the good and find it.

Proof

I don't ordinarily offer book reviews/recommendations as a blog topic, but I've just finished reading "Proof of Heaven, A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife," by Eben Alexander, M.D. and I found it to be a fascinating read.

In it Alexander recounts his amazing experiences during a week-long coma brought on by a rare for adults (less than one in 10 million annually contract it) E.coli bacterial meningitis. The mortality rate is more than 90 percent and those who do survive are usually in a persistent vegetative state. Yet he not only miraculously survives, but regains all of his faculties.

He begins the prologue with an Albert Einstein quote, "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." It's an apt way for him to start to describe how, as a scientist and physician, he had his mind changed in a profound way about the possibility of an afterlife. Spoiler alert: he now strongly believes that physical death is not the end of our human consciousness. Well, given the title, that's probably not much of a surprise.

He also speaks of the existence of the connection of the two realms. From the book:

"To experience thinking outside the brain is to enter a world of instantaneous connections that make ordinary thinking (i.e., those aspects limited by the physical brain and the speed of light) seem like some hopelessly sleepy and plodding event. Our truest, deepest self is completely free. It is not crippled or compromised by past actions or concerned with identity or status. It comprehends that it has no need to fear the earthly world, and therefore, it has no need to build itself up through fame or wealth or conquest."

I believe in the heart, the soul, of every human is a desire to understand what lies beyond, to know bits and pieces about that which has been deemed unknowable. People of faith, men and women of science, believers, skeptics and those who are firmly undecided about the meaning of life or the existence of a realm which comes after, we all are curious about exactly what happens when we die.

I certainly have my own thoughts on the matter. Alexander does too. Like any other book on this topic, there are detractors. But I would suggest his "proof" is not as easily dismissed as some would claim.