In this article, available in full on the Cosmophilia website, Cynthia Neil ponders what she considers to be the most powerful and under-appreciated gift of being human: our power to choose. — Amanda P.
by Cynthia Neil
By any measure we are living in tumultuous, even revolutionary times. Religious zealots around the world are slaughtering each other, as well as anybody else with a belief system ‘offensive’ to their own. Multinational corporations are trying to control and manipulate the food supply from seed to table. Plagues are crossing international borders, and ignorance and greed rule the governing processes from one end of the world to the other.
Photo by Danielle Voirin
How easy it is to wonder, “What in the world am I doing here? Did I really choose this? Do I have a purpose? Are we random sparks in an infinite universe?
“Do I really belong HERE?”
The most powerful and under-appreciated gift of being human is our power to choose. A starting point for this conversation is the idea offered by Teilhard de Chardin: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
What a wake-up call this thought can be. We are so much more than the meat suit that many choose to believe is our whole reality. What is your first reaction to the idea that your body is a suit of clothes? One we change when it gets old and wears out? But to know that for sure we have to look for it. Life and our experiences change depending on the state of our consciousness, and our consciousness determines our responses in disturbing situations.
The Hindu Vedas suggest that there are seven ascending levels of consciousness. The more evolved our conscious awareness, the easier it is to see the right answer in any seemingly thorny set of circumstances. And the easier it is to see that there is a lesson we are supposed to learn, in every experience.
The faster we learn the lesson the easier it is to move on to the next one. But if we choose not to get the message — and that is always a choice — the situation surrounding the moment dissipates, goes off the stage of your life for a time and comes back re-costumed and recast to give you another crack at it. The learning never ends, because that is where we are, in an infinitely adaptable classroom.
Beautiful, validating article – thank-you! This is a place/space I find I am finally able to inhabit increasingly as time passes. I am often astounded by the great good I can see flowing from what seem simple acts of kindness & compassion, toward myself & others. I am so thankful!
Lovely article, thank you.
When your choice isn’t working for you, you can always choose again. What a gift!