To my way of thinking, birth and death amount to the exact same process — that of passing through the ‘portal of animation’ in order to change form. Pass through from one side and you experience what we call birth…pass through from the other side and you experience what we call death.
I wonder if, before we were born, we were as afraid of life as we are now of death?
I just don’t know, but I love pondering the question.
While perusing the blog of a commenter, I came across a link to this piece by Cherie Carter-Scott (thank you, A). This list of 10 Commandments outlines the actual charter for being a human, and is more useful to every day living than the original (unless you’re murderous or covetous inside–but then, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog).
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. “There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.
Posted in Everyday Wisdom
Tagged choice, enlightenment, experimentation, growth, lessons, life, listen, questions, trust
