Outside the Box

I'm imagining a place where all is serene, peaceful, calm. There is no sorrow, no vice, no fear, no anxiety. Everyone there is loving and cooperative. In this place you feel like you're part of a family. You feel safe, happy, light and carefree.

It's a virtual paradise. Just take a few minutes to rest in this place. It's a place you will want to come back to often.

Now, imagine a box that exists in this place. The box is closed. Nothing inside the box can come out of the box. But the sides are transparent. You can view inside the box. And inside the box is the entire physical world. Can you imagine this? ;D

The world exists inside this box and is completely contained in the box. It cannot affect anyone outside the box. It cannot cause any harm. But it is quite dangerous. Why? Because as you view the scenes in the box, it is easy to get drawn deeper into the stories. You want to wait and see what happens next, you start to prefer a certain character, you want your character to do well inside the box, you want him to get the girl, the job, the house. You want your character to be happy, popular, etc. If someone insults your character you get annoyed and you don't like that character, the one who offends your character. You begin to urge your character to fight back. You urge your character to get tougher, and to be wary, and to be very careful who he befriends. And then your character is about to lose his job so you've got to help him keep it. Then he's about to lose his wife so you've got to sort that out too. Then the teenagers are kicking up and the dog has run away and pretty soon you're so anxious, for your character, that you nearly have a nervous breakdown.

What has happened? Here you are sitting in paradise, watching a scene in a box and you nearly have a nervous breakdown? At some point, you knew who you were and where you were. Then you got involved in the game inside the box and you forgot. You got so involved in the game, that you lost your true identity.

This is the story for us all. We have lost track of our true identity and have started to identify with characters in a box, characters in a scene of the world drama. And this has caused us to forget our true origins, our true selves. All we need to do is to come back to that paradise, spend a few minutes sitting there reminding ourselves of who we are and where we belong. Eventually, the memory is restored and we live the happy, healthy lives we were meant to live.

It's time to start thinking outside the box.

Thank you for reading. For more information on Raja Yoga philosophy see www.bkwsu.org.

Cats and Dogs

It's been raining off and on today - and when it was raining, it was raining cats and dogs. Which got me thinking. About cats and dogs.

I used to have cats myself. One got ill. And ended up in animal hospital. And didn't get better. I had to make a decision - keep paying the high costs of the hospital in hopes that he might recover or put the poor dear to sleep. I let my partner make the decision. We put the cat to sleep and paid off the debt that had racked up in the first couple weeks of care.

I love animals. I grew up with horses, chickens, rabbits, dogs and cats. We also had at one time hamsters, fish, parakeets and hermit crabs. But one thing I learned through all of this is that their life span is shorter than ours. They come and go. And sometimes they go sooner than you would expect. And I have suffered sadness as a result.

At the time, I didn't realize I had a choice. People get so attached to their pets. And when the pet dies or gets ill it creates a terrible sadness for them. It's as if they are creating, fostering and nurturing their eventual great sadness just by getting a pet in the first place. But it doesn't have to be that way. Instead of getting attached to the animal, remain loving yet detached. In other words, know that the animal is with you for a short time and that they could leave at any moment. If I had seen my pets in this way, then I would have suffered less and enjoyed them more. Doesn't that make better sense?

I can see this clearly now with pets (I'm not sure if any other animal lovers can - I hope so), but we can also apply this principle to everything. Wealth (if you have it) is only here temporarily - use it wisely now. Family and friends could go any time - enjoy your moments with them now. My house might not be standing tomorrow - enjoy the warmth and comfort now.

Walking in the rain (which was like cats and dogs) I felt so fortunate that at this very moment, I have a daughter and she is in a good school, and I have a house to sleep in, and food in the fridge, and a family, etc. Today, this very moment, I have so many blessings. And I am appreciative. Tomorrow, I may have none of these things, but I will have had them. And that is precious.

It is a myth to believe I own anything. I don't. It can all be gone tomorrow. But what I do have is my self (the soul), my place in the family of souls and my relationship with the Supreme Soul (God). Everything else is just icing on the cake. And right now it's beautiful.


Thank you for reading. For more information on Raja Yoga philosophy see www.bkwsu.org.