Hold To The Center

    The world of extremes is always beckoning.  We are designed to give what ever has the greatest degree of intensity the greatest level of focus.  If we find truth, we hold it desperately, and judge whatever opposes it as evil.  
    This is certainly true of the recent political season.  Each side vilifies the other.  However, what if finding the truth was not the most important issue?  Perhaps the ability to see all sides is equally important to what is true.  
    Our sense of truth is obviously affected, and in the end shaped by our perception.  We may even be right, and find ourselves wrong at the same time.  How do you inoculate yourself from the arrogance of self-righteousness?  By striving to always see everything.  By being aware of the whole with as little judgement as possible.
    This is even true on the personal level.  We each are driven by elements of fear and shame.  We hide both of these elements from ourselves.  These emotions begin to act as the elephant in the room.  We are acting from them, driving toward a perceived perfection, when in reality often we are simply compensating for the fear of failure, of death, of the shame we live with.  
    This is never more true than for those of us with hidden shame.  The hidden affair, or discomfort with sexual orientation, the hidden alcoholism or drug addiction.  
      We must hold to the center.  We must resist the temptation to focus on that which titillates.  Remember there is a difference between desire and lust.  Greed in the end becomes an out growth of shame.  The hidden obsession eventually gets loose and wrecks havoc.  We find ourselves thinking of it all of the time, but hiding.  The more we do this the more power we give the object of fascination.  The more we hide the true object of our desire, the greater the intensity builds, until finally it does damage.
    See everything.  Keep your awareness broad and pay attention.  Notice the leaves equally as the political drama.  Pay attention to acts of kindness as much as those of disrespect.  See the validity of how others perceive the world.  Do not allow your identity to become a prison.

Death as an Advisor

Carlos Castaneda often spoke of using death as an advisor, and I think it is worthwile, but how?   First, it is important to remember that many of the ancients suggested this same course, with teachers from every mystic tradition saying much the same.  Death tells us to go for our passion, and to do do it now.
 
We have two basic options in facing death:  to be inspired, or to be terrified. There may appear options, but we find in reality only two.  Even those who appear to have an indifference to dying really experience life hiding and not really facing death.  We may go many years living as as though there is no end to this experience.  However reality is instantaneous, and one morning life has melted away and we find ourselves in bed with mortality, an embrace far closer than any lover.

It has been said that that a dying person needs death the way a tired person needs sleep, and certainly this is true.  Death is the central subject of our lives. Every action is really a masked statement about it’s presence.  The Hagakure remarks that the warrior has contempt for death.  We focus not on the fear of what might happen, but in the power of our own actions.  We as warriors act and are reacted to.   

A good relationship with death prepares us for the disappointment that is part of every situation.  To lose the fear of that disappointment is to come to peace with the contradiction of human life.  It is be at peace.  It is to be.