Almost two weeks ago, I went through the house changing all the clocks, and my wrist-watch. This process is called Daylight Savings Time. In the Spring we set the clocks forward an hour, and in the Fall, we set them back an hour. Some people get very upset by this change, and some are confused about what time it really is. When we were younger, for months after the time change, my sister would ask, What time is it in real life?
Clocks, calendars, and schedules of all types are things we have created to bring order into our lives. We use these concepts as tools to organise our activities. They are real, and they exist, only if we all agree upon what they mean. They are standards. We dont all get to decide for ourselves what an hour is, or what tomorrow means, or when next Monday will be. Naturally, New Mexico is an exception. If electricians or plumbers tell you they will come tomorrow morning at 10:00, that is not meant to be taken literally. I dont mean the 10:00 part, but whether theyll even show up at all. Its part of our Third World Charm. Ive found (being, at one time a very Type-A New Yorker) that if one adjusts, instead of trying to fight it all the time, one enjoys New Mexico a lot more. (Little joke: they call New Mexico "the Land of Manana?" Does anyone know what 'manana' means? No, it doesn't mean 'tomorrow.' It means "not today":lol:
Now, lets get back to time as an artificial construct. Whether we set the clocks forward or backward, it has absolutely no effect upon the dawn or sunset. The earths orbit around the sun is totally independent of any way we decide to measure it. These natural cycles were occurring long before humans walked upon this planet. In the grand scheme of things, human ideas are fairly puny. This doesnt mean that our activities are of no consequence. Quite the opposite. Gandhi once said that what we do might not seem important, but it is important that we do it. In Hinduism, they call this our dharma, sort of like our spiritual destiny, involving our spiritual paths and activities. It is vitally important that we make our path our own, that we walk our own talk, instead of trying to be something that others demand of us. In Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna said that it is better to perform ones own duties imperfectly than to perfectly perform the duties of another person. In ancient India, only those of the Brahmin caste could approach God directly. As Im sure you can imagine, this led to terrible abuses. Then, Lord Krishna came and taught that anyone who approached him with love and devotion, was dear to him. It did not matter what their caste, or position in society was. This teaching is a radical shift away from the hereditary caste system. In a similar vein, Jesus lived in a culture where many people were obsessed with observing the Law of Moses. Their obsession was so strong, that it became more important to observe rules than to treat people with justice and compassion. The religious leaders once asked Jesus which law was most important. They werent really concerned about that, but were using the question as a way to trap him, and accuse him of blasphemy. Jesus got the better of them when he answered, Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. All the law and teachings of the prophets revolve around this. He was telling them that when we love God and treat people with justice, then we naturally observe the rest of the law. During Jesus time, the Jewish religious leaders taught that Jews were required to treat their fellow Jews with justice, but they were not obliged to treat non-Jews with justice or compassion. In fact, they referred to Gentiles (non-Jews) as cattle and dogs. Jesus was a rebel, who told them that everyone was their neighbor. He taught that they were required to treat everyone with justice, that all humans were sons and daughters of God. This was a revolutionary idea. Actually, it is still a revolutionary idea in this material world. How many people do you know who are willing to treat everyone in the world with justice and compassion? How many people do you know who truly forgive others, instead of seeking revenge? How many people do you know who pay their employees a just wage, and treat them as fellow human beings, rather than as objects to enrich themselves? Despite the high spiritual teachings of Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, and others, how many people do you personally know who attempt to put spiritual principles before financial, political, religious, national, ethnic, racial, or any other concerns? These spiritual principles are real, and yet we pay far more attention to clocks and artificial constructs like time, than we do to God and the things of Spirit.
I have written before that according to the ancient Vedic literature of India, the purpose of human life is to establish and maintain a proper relationship with God. This Vedic literature is filled with suggestions on how to live a life that is conducive to this goal. Many of the Vedic suggestions are cultural in nature, but the spiritual themes are ageless, and beyond culture, time or space.
When we attempt to follow a spiritual path, problems arise. Here in this material world, we experience duality, cause and effect. We come here to work out karma, which is sort of like having a long cord with knots tied in it. Releasing karma is untying the knots. Unfortunately for us, our consciousness is so covered by the illusion of maya or materiality, that for every knot we try to untie, we tie three more next to it. In attempting to release karma, we acquire even more in the process. This is why we need spiritual teachers, and why the Vedic culture of India developed the system of gurus. Again, unfortunately, the guru system has become so corrupted that there are far more bogus gurus than actual spiritual masters. The Vedic literature predicted this sorry state of affairs as a result of the Kali Yuga, or the Age of Kali, characterized by a decline in human civilization and the environment in general. To counteract this decline, Krishna incarnated about 500 years ago in India, as Lord Chaitanya. The spiritual movement of mantra chanting which he began, is still flourishing in India today, indeed, around the world. I am not a preacher, or a devotee of any organization, nor, really, a Hindu, but I have found that chanting the Vedic mantras has brought me an inner peace. Thats what makes something valuable, isnt it .the fact that it works for you? If you have all the knowledge in the world, follow the rules perfectly, and it doesnt touch your heart, what use is it?
I am hesitant to recommend things, because I am personally so imperfect: I can be quite unpleasant at times. Im often impatient, and sometimes I say cruel things to others. Apart from those obvious faults, I have a job where I rely upon people doing what I tell them to do, and immediately, otherwise people will die, and that kind of decision making tends to make one imperious rather than humble-in fact, I pretty much wouldnt be in this position if I werent imperious, and damn sure of myself. To assert that I am a work in progress would be extremely kind. Therefore, I dont ever want someone to use my personal imperfections as an excuse to dismiss the spiritual principles and teachings I write about. Im a searcher, a pilgrim on the path. Im not preaching to you, telling you what you should do. Im only sharing with you some of what Ive seen and experienced. Indeed, Ive tried to discourage people from some of the more rigorous American Indian practices I participate in. I suspect that if youre reading this post, you are interested in spiritual topics. Thats a good thing, and I think that puts you ahead of the crowd. I encourage you to keep searching, reading, questioning, and using your heart as your guide. When you find a spiritual practice that causes your heart to sing, that is a treasure. You will have found the Pearl of Great Price, so celebrate it. Personalize it. Make it your own. The greatest spiritual gift you can ever give others is the endorsement of your own life in balance and harmony. Human life is about much more that the lower material activities of eating, mating and defending. A human lifetime is a precious opportunity to awaken to the truth. I, for one, am really, truly having fun on my spiritual path. I believe we all have that option. Today, I prefer fun over drama-though, admittedly, sometimes fun at the expense of other people's paradigms, in an effort towards enrichment....May we continue to enrich each other as we walk our individual spiritual paths.
Clocks, calendars, and schedules of all types are things we have created to bring order into our lives. We use these concepts as tools to organise our activities. They are real, and they exist, only if we all agree upon what they mean. They are standards. We dont all get to decide for ourselves what an hour is, or what tomorrow means, or when next Monday will be. Naturally, New Mexico is an exception. If electricians or plumbers tell you they will come tomorrow morning at 10:00, that is not meant to be taken literally. I dont mean the 10:00 part, but whether theyll even show up at all. Its part of our Third World Charm. Ive found (being, at one time a very Type-A New Yorker) that if one adjusts, instead of trying to fight it all the time, one enjoys New Mexico a lot more. (Little joke: they call New Mexico "the Land of Manana?" Does anyone know what 'manana' means? No, it doesn't mean 'tomorrow.' It means "not today":lol:
Now, lets get back to time as an artificial construct. Whether we set the clocks forward or backward, it has absolutely no effect upon the dawn or sunset. The earths orbit around the sun is totally independent of any way we decide to measure it. These natural cycles were occurring long before humans walked upon this planet. In the grand scheme of things, human ideas are fairly puny. This doesnt mean that our activities are of no consequence. Quite the opposite. Gandhi once said that what we do might not seem important, but it is important that we do it. In Hinduism, they call this our dharma, sort of like our spiritual destiny, involving our spiritual paths and activities. It is vitally important that we make our path our own, that we walk our own talk, instead of trying to be something that others demand of us. In Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna said that it is better to perform ones own duties imperfectly than to perfectly perform the duties of another person. In ancient India, only those of the Brahmin caste could approach God directly. As Im sure you can imagine, this led to terrible abuses. Then, Lord Krishna came and taught that anyone who approached him with love and devotion, was dear to him. It did not matter what their caste, or position in society was. This teaching is a radical shift away from the hereditary caste system. In a similar vein, Jesus lived in a culture where many people were obsessed with observing the Law of Moses. Their obsession was so strong, that it became more important to observe rules than to treat people with justice and compassion. The religious leaders once asked Jesus which law was most important. They werent really concerned about that, but were using the question as a way to trap him, and accuse him of blasphemy. Jesus got the better of them when he answered, Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. All the law and teachings of the prophets revolve around this. He was telling them that when we love God and treat people with justice, then we naturally observe the rest of the law. During Jesus time, the Jewish religious leaders taught that Jews were required to treat their fellow Jews with justice, but they were not obliged to treat non-Jews with justice or compassion. In fact, they referred to Gentiles (non-Jews) as cattle and dogs. Jesus was a rebel, who told them that everyone was their neighbor. He taught that they were required to treat everyone with justice, that all humans were sons and daughters of God. This was a revolutionary idea. Actually, it is still a revolutionary idea in this material world. How many people do you know who are willing to treat everyone in the world with justice and compassion? How many people do you know who truly forgive others, instead of seeking revenge? How many people do you know who pay their employees a just wage, and treat them as fellow human beings, rather than as objects to enrich themselves? Despite the high spiritual teachings of Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, and others, how many people do you personally know who attempt to put spiritual principles before financial, political, religious, national, ethnic, racial, or any other concerns? These spiritual principles are real, and yet we pay far more attention to clocks and artificial constructs like time, than we do to God and the things of Spirit.
I have written before that according to the ancient Vedic literature of India, the purpose of human life is to establish and maintain a proper relationship with God. This Vedic literature is filled with suggestions on how to live a life that is conducive to this goal. Many of the Vedic suggestions are cultural in nature, but the spiritual themes are ageless, and beyond culture, time or space.
When we attempt to follow a spiritual path, problems arise. Here in this material world, we experience duality, cause and effect. We come here to work out karma, which is sort of like having a long cord with knots tied in it. Releasing karma is untying the knots. Unfortunately for us, our consciousness is so covered by the illusion of maya or materiality, that for every knot we try to untie, we tie three more next to it. In attempting to release karma, we acquire even more in the process. This is why we need spiritual teachers, and why the Vedic culture of India developed the system of gurus. Again, unfortunately, the guru system has become so corrupted that there are far more bogus gurus than actual spiritual masters. The Vedic literature predicted this sorry state of affairs as a result of the Kali Yuga, or the Age of Kali, characterized by a decline in human civilization and the environment in general. To counteract this decline, Krishna incarnated about 500 years ago in India, as Lord Chaitanya. The spiritual movement of mantra chanting which he began, is still flourishing in India today, indeed, around the world. I am not a preacher, or a devotee of any organization, nor, really, a Hindu, but I have found that chanting the Vedic mantras has brought me an inner peace. Thats what makes something valuable, isnt it .the fact that it works for you? If you have all the knowledge in the world, follow the rules perfectly, and it doesnt touch your heart, what use is it?
I am hesitant to recommend things, because I am personally so imperfect: I can be quite unpleasant at times. Im often impatient, and sometimes I say cruel things to others. Apart from those obvious faults, I have a job where I rely upon people doing what I tell them to do, and immediately, otherwise people will die, and that kind of decision making tends to make one imperious rather than humble-in fact, I pretty much wouldnt be in this position if I werent imperious, and damn sure of myself. To assert that I am a work in progress would be extremely kind. Therefore, I dont ever want someone to use my personal imperfections as an excuse to dismiss the spiritual principles and teachings I write about. Im a searcher, a pilgrim on the path. Im not preaching to you, telling you what you should do. Im only sharing with you some of what Ive seen and experienced. Indeed, Ive tried to discourage people from some of the more rigorous American Indian practices I participate in. I suspect that if youre reading this post, you are interested in spiritual topics. Thats a good thing, and I think that puts you ahead of the crowd. I encourage you to keep searching, reading, questioning, and using your heart as your guide. When you find a spiritual practice that causes your heart to sing, that is a treasure. You will have found the Pearl of Great Price, so celebrate it. Personalize it. Make it your own. The greatest spiritual gift you can ever give others is the endorsement of your own life in balance and harmony. Human life is about much more that the lower material activities of eating, mating and defending. A human lifetime is a precious opportunity to awaken to the truth. I, for one, am really, truly having fun on my spiritual path. I believe we all have that option. Today, I prefer fun over drama-though, admittedly, sometimes fun at the expense of other people's paradigms, in an effort towards enrichment....May we continue to enrich each other as we walk our individual spiritual paths.
