All Blog Articles, arranged here by Year and Month.

The real Miracle is frequently overlooked by everyone

I received a letter recently which led to a lot of thinking. The handwritten letter was addressed to me personally and came from someone in the next village along to where I live. This person was a Jehovah's Witness and judging by the writing, relatively young. It contained the usual do you know God and I'd be happy to tell you more about Him.

 The letter went in the bin, but I started to fantasize how the conversation would have gone if that person had been here talking to me. In addition, in a recent conversation with one of my relatives, it was mentioned that they didn't believe in God, which surprised me as I know they are regular church goers. And that led to the following scenario in my head:

Whenever I have doubts, I stand in front of the mirror and look at my reflection. I look and ask the question who am I? What am I? How come I'm here? The answer is actually quite spectacular. 
I know I did nothing whatsoever to be here. Suddenly, there I was with not even an idea of here or of existing. Not a single thought happening - can't think without language. Sensations which I have no way of interpreting. The organs that I don't know anything about are delivering information to which I have few means of responding as I don't know anything yet. The feeling I later learn is hunger or pain or discomfort I can only respond to with what those around me interpret as crying. When none of those are there, everything is alright and that will eventually lead possibly to a smile and contented gurgling. But I understand nothing, I know nothing except these sensations.

And yet, here I am, whatever I am. And that, people, is the most amazing miracle that any of us will ever experience. And it's not just the miracle of birth, it's the miracle of life. The first thing all the people in the birth room want to see and hear is that first breath, that sign that an independent being has successfully arrived. What gender the baby is is not relevant without that first and subsequent breath coming and going.

That miracle takes place for the rest of one's life. If it was up to us to consciously take each breath, we'd be dead in the shortest time; there wouldn't even be a first or second breath. We are breathed. 

Looking at the reflection in the mirror, I am overwhelmed. I did nothing but I am here; My breath goes in and out despite my lack of consciousness. And on top of all of that, each one of us is unique! Never has anyone exactly like you existed in the past or the present or the future. Just you. It is totally beyond imagination that I could be and yet, here I am. 

It's because all of these factors that I am able to experience all the possibilities which having a body like ours offers. Good, bad, indifferent - all only possible because of that miracle occurring with each breath, right up to the last one. 

Do you think your parents could have created a human being? All parents can do is initiate the growth of the container and do their best to enable the healthy growth of that container. But neither your parents or doctors and midwives present at birth can make that life breath start and keep going. The secret and miracle of life are in you, within each human being. And that life force on which we depend, is what I call God and that power is most assuredly real as real as I am.

Where does that leave me? Thankful. I am truly grateful for the possibility to experience life as a human being with all our senses. You couldn't come up with an idea like that and be able to execute it. I put effort into being conscious of the gift of life which I've been given, because the most valuable gift I will ever have is more than worthy of my full attention. The specific things that happen, the ups and downs we believe is life are trivial in comparison to that ongoing miracle. Water to wine? Trivial. Not a miracle to compare with life. In fact nothing we call a miracle deserves that term in comparison to miracle of life.

The kind of God most people seem to believe in, is this rather unpleasant old man with a white beard who is a control freak who offers all kinds of goodies, but linked to threats. Stick and carrot. The goodies are also only really available when you're dead - mind you, so are the threats. That old man also apparently has favourites and doesn't treat all equally - especially women! 

When I look up at the Milky Way in the night sky and know that I am only seeing a fraction of everything there is in the Universe; when I know so little about that Universe, not even what is happening inside my body, which is closer than anything else; when you realise that we are all made up of just a few elements and we will never be aware of all that is going on at atomic level, it makes me wonder how anyone ever came up with the idea of that Old Man in the Sky as having that level of detailed interest in this little dot that's me on a blue dot in the farthest reaches of this galaxy doesn't make any sense to me at all. The same force that lives me, lives the universe. The fantastic thing is, that I can experience that life force within me, with the tools this body contains. And that is the most wonderful experience anyone can or will have in their life time. That's what I find is truly worth putting every effort I can into; just to experience the contentment, the love, the peace which that feeling generates. I definitely recommend it!

Wake up tomorrow and be aware that you have woken up, that you are still here, that you have the chance again to enjoy life and to be conscious of that.

Alive and Conscious? What happens at birth and after

I was chatting to someone the other day and they said that they didn't believe in God. I know there are a lot of atheists and agnostics, so this little article is aimed at them :-)

How do I know I'm alive? Well I am conscious of my life in this body and that wouldn't be the case if I hadn't been born. I also know that I had nothing to do with that happening. Suddenly, I was here, that's all I know. Of course, you may well say, well, my parents have that responsibility, they are the ones who gave me my life and this body. I have had the privilege of attending the birth of two of my children and I can assure anyone reading this, that I had nothing consciously to do with those lovely little babies arriving in good health and complete. Yes, I provided the sperm that started the process in conjunction with the egg and womb of the mother. But after that, what was my involvement? The mother provides the environment in which that baby can come to term, but she isn't busy doing anything in there, she feeds herself and that provides nutrients to the foetus. None of that process in which we are involved determines the character and experience of that child. One day it is here and the real process of becoming a human being starts. I can help with that process or I can hinder it, but in either case it will take place inside that little being for which I take responsibility to try and ensure the child will be able to cope with life on planet Earth with all the other beings it shares the place with.

And that is where the real work begins: becoming a conscious human being. To me, all I have to do is look into a mirror and I know that I had nothing to do with being born. My parents didn't give me life, that was the present that would either be given or not. It was given in my case. And if I didn't do it and my parents or the doctors or midwives didn't put life into my body, who or what did? When a baby is born, everybody who is in attendance at the event waits for that magic moment when the first breath enters that body and independent life begins from that moment on. That power which gave me life, which ensured that first and each subsequent breath up to the very last one, is what I call God. It is what keeps me alive. It is not some old man in the sky who rewards and punishes from on high as the whim takes him. No, it is the same power that underpins everything and I am very, very grateful for that precious life.

If it was up to us to keep us alive, we wouldn't have got much past that first breath. It is estimated that a person takes approximately 20'000 breaths a day and that for say an average of 80 years, adds up to  about 584 million breaths in a lifetime. If you had take each breath consciously yourself, how long do you think you'd last? So who or what is breathing us? 

OK, I'm alive, that bit is clear, so what is the "conscious" bit? I describe myself as a person who is motivated by feelings. I love whatever makes me feel good and I try my best to avoid the things that don't make me feel good. For example, I find that the Swiss are the most self-centred and egotistical drivers of all the countries I've driven in. So much so, that I would get road rage almost every time I had to drive anywhere, especially on the motorways. I really didn't like that feeling and as it was obvious to me that the other drivers were not going to change their habits, I would have to change mine. So I gave away my car and used public transport. That for the last 20+ years. I have never regretted it at all and now, if I really need a car, I rent on and that I can cope with fine.
What has that got to do with consciousness? Well for me to change my habits I had to be conscious of them first and then I had to consciously consider my options and make a choice that would support me in distancing me from that specific feeling. The additional step which has to be made, is to accept responsibility for my feelings - not blame everyone else and hope they would change, but to realise, the problem was the feeling which I had and which I didn't like and that therefore I would have to change something in me.

This is true of all feelings. If you don't like the feeling you get from a situation or person, remove yourself from it and see what you can do to avoid it in future. Becoming conscious of yourself is hard work and is a lifetime occupation. We are subject to change all the time. Every breath is a new one and will never be repeated, so if I want to experience the world consciously as it is and not as others ttell you it is, you have to let go of all your prejudices and opinions and allow the world to be without the pink or black or blue glasses on, just simply as it is. Let yourself be aware of your surroundings, not with tinted spectacles, but as it is, the colours, the sounds, and especially the feelings the natural and real world offers you. 

The insanity in the world currently, stems from this lack of consciousness. If a person is really aware of the value of this one-time gif of life, you automatically realise the value of each life for that being. Each on of us is a unique being. There has never been anyone exactly like you or me ever, neither in the past, nor will there be in the future. People will pay millions for a unique but lifeless painting, but are happy to kill another human being for free. 

The world is full of unconscious people who see themselves as unimportant and without any rights unless they have serious amounts of money. Those who have serious amounts of money see those without as unimportant and whose rights can be ignored. Both of those views demonstrate a clear lack of consciousness, both are wrong for the reasons I've mentioned above. Currently the stupidity associated with the belief that one can own something - you own what you brought with you into the world: nothing - and so we draw borders and tell others "this is mine and entry is only possible if I say so". And from that we get the hatred and theft and wars that we see currently taking place or about to take place. This primitive attitude is killing the species (and not just ours) and driving people insane. Read any newspaper and you know the world is not conscious. 

So, the question is: do you want to be conscious or would you rather carry on blaming the whole world for the perceived mishaps and fight and kill to survive? If the former, there's plenty of hints in this blog, which is my attempt at becoming more conscious. As said, it's a lifetime project, and so far it's taught me to be grateful for the life I've lived - and there were plenty of downs, not just ups - and cannot be thankful enough. Every day I wake up is another opportunity to feel how life pulses within me and to enjoy all the feelings the day will offer. Make the effort - it's well worth it.

Balance is always important . Easy to gain, easy to lose.

When an object is not moving, according to Physics, it's in a state of balance. Any forces on the object are balanced by forces in the opposite direction. The thing is, nothing is ever really in a state of equilibrium, because there are always forces acting on everything, either pushing or pulling or twisting. The Universe does not stand still, even if it seems that way to us, our perspective is a very small proportion of all that is taking place at any given moment in time. So what, you may well ask?

 Balance has entered my consciousness lately and I've been thinking a lot about that. If everything is balanced, it can also be tilted in a specific direction and for human beings that direction is the result of choice. The image I've chosen for this particular note, shows heaps of stones towering over the bare patches and other pebbles lying there. Balance here is not just in terms of the piles not falling over, but also in the instability of the piles - anything could knock it over. And look at it's creation: to build it, the stones had to be taken from somewhere else, so now we have bare patches where the stones once were.

That illustrates to me the effect of greed in the world. In order for a person to accumulate financial wealth, someone else has to pay for it by loosing wealth. Disagree? Well just look at the ridiculous distribution of financial wealth in the world. Millions have almost nothing while a few have staggering amounts. Is that good or bad? Given that good or bad are very relative, I suspect that is the wrong question. As with most of life, it is a matter of choice what we do within the limits of our circumstances, but what is the point of that accumulation, which causes deprivation somewhere else? Enough history books have been written, to demonstrate the instability of our action, both towards each other and towards our home planet. For example, the wealth of western Europe and North America is entirely based on the ability to create goods and trade them, with only minimal costs for labour, i.e. through the use of slavery. We like to think of ourselves as enlightened and progressive, but forget the cost that many nations have paid for that.

And now another idiot wants to accumulate by stealing from others. And how do we react? Certainly not be reviewing which choices led to that state of affairs and what is my contribution to that situation? The biggest single contribution we individuals have made towards war and greed, is choosing the representatives we voted for. Vote for a greedy self-interested person who promises you everything you want to hear but delivers almost nothing of it whilst accumulating for themselves at the voter's expense. That's the usual contribution we make. The USA, it seems to me, has lost all perspective of what's important and is focused on blame and finger pointing in an ever more nasty way. The elected representatives are a real problem. Add to that religion. The one Christian organisation which is backing the current aggression is the orthodox one. When I read how Jesus was one for peace and joy, it makes me realise that that is not what the organisation is about, but what Jesus was all about. It's no different to the Muslim beliefs that see God as the Almighty, Creator of all, but women do not count except as baby machines.

We know that the planet is out of balance and that we could do something about that, but instead of focusing on a real objective affecting all, we focus on the loss the Greedy have to accept in order to help the planet back into balance. At least, everywhere I look, our elected representatives are trying to help those of us with no power, but not at the expense of those with the power. Suddenly this current war in the East brings Energy back into sharp focus, but instead of realising the great opportunity to really get behind alternative and safe energy sources, we start talking about nuclear power, when we still haven't sorted out how to deal with the waste products of the existing power stations. I suggested 30 years ago that a law be passed that no new building will be built that can't provide most of it's own power needs through solar energy. It's still not being supported, although there is clearly a great deal to be made with that technology.

If we truly realised how vulnerable and short-lived we are, would we spend our brief time accumulating stuff we can't take with us? Do we need several homes for the few nights we visit somewhere else? Do we have to travel around the world when all that we really need is on our doorstep? I understand human beings less and less. But I do know something: balance will be restored. That's the laws of physics. If we don't understand that and that we can help the direction of that balance, we will be ground down to nothing by the mechanisms behind the restoration of balance. I rather suspect the collective stupidity of the human race will determine our future as a species.