Embedded in our interactions with others are the ghosts of who and what came before them. The impression of the previous encounter overlaying what came before that, and what came before that, like the image of a mirror within a mirror echoing out to infinity.
How do you meet another human being and maintain a discreet impartiality? Our genetic code belies us to sum up another in a mere 30 seconds or less. We are hardwired to judge so that procreation of the human race remains a viability rather than a liability or a factor to be ignored and etched out like a Photoshop edit.
Last week I had 3 encounters that could easily be labeled as “disturbing.” However, due to the nature of my work, I am compelled to sit without judgment, like justice, blind to the stories and imperfections of what occurred in the past and to simply weigh up the facts in the stark light of day, without embellishments, pomp, ceremony or drama. It is a still and quiet place that I reside in. Looking deep into the eyes, peering into the spirit of those that sit in front of me I catch a glimpse of who they truly are and the possibility of what lies ahead.
There are times where I see an impression of a bleak future and others where hope and faith stand out. I watch it like a movie that flashes across the façade of my consciousness like watching a shooting star blaze across a night sky for a brief moment, intrepid and brilliant before it vanishes without a trace.
The trails of the stories hanging like a lingering scent that previously one would not be able to reconcile, now float in an orderly form that is inextricably interwoven into the fabric called life where one is not able to differentiate where it begins or ends but rather it is now absorbed into compassion and forgiveness.
“To err is human to forgive divine.” – Alexander Pope
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
– Martin Luther King Jr.
We have all been a perpetrator and a victim at some stage in our life. When all is pulled away, what we are left with is pure being.
There is a place, a perspective that exists without judgment. It is in the human heart.
The last bastions of anachronism blur and dissolve into one wholeness, a unified field of pure creative intelligence. The heart has the ability to bring two opposing forces together and make them as one. It is where grace resides. Without the Divine grace found in the heart, there is no reconciliation. With grace, anything is possible.
We have all made mistakes, these however provide the rich and fertile soil of feedback so that we can create stepping-stones or a bridge to the outcome we do desire.
“Don’t bother to be better than your contemporaries or your predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” – William Faulkner
“He is a wise man that does not grieve for things which he has not but rejoices for those which he has.” – Epictetus
The past is done. It gives us a historical marker, a reference of what existed and is important to be aware of AND it is not the only thing that we need to focus on or be aware of. It is not a definition of who we are now, nor do we have to be bound by the expectations associated with what we were or what happened.
It is a baseline, a starting point. It is not the end point the vision nor the outcome. To have an impartial view, there needs to be the exploration of the questions:
“How did I/we get here?”
“What else is possible?”
“What am I not aware of that if I were to implement it I would have a completely different outcome?”
Resentments, ego and expectations keep us anchored to old thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviors that keep us stuck in a perpetual cycle of misery and suffering. In an instant we can simply let this go and look forward to opportunity, possibility and inspiration.
The heart does not hang onto deoxygenated blood that is lifeless and dead. Instead it instantly uptakes fresh oxygenated blood to flood us full of life and life force. With this as our reference point, what else is possible? If we were to have a fresh clean perspective, where we rejoiced/ were grateful each time we viewed a situation what else are we capable of?
