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| "Whiskers" "LET ME TELL YOU what Whiskers did last night!" exclaimed my friend Ken as he sat across from me at the prison chow hall. He then proceeded to tell me about the latest escapades of his newfound buddy named "Whiskers". "Whiskers" is a tiny kangaroo mouse, no longer than the length of a thumb. This funny looking creature has whiskers that are disproportionately long for his tiny face, and hind legs that are oversized and powerful enough to give him the ability to hop and jump straight up in the air.
Ken rescued his friend recently from certain death and the bond between
them has grown steadily since then. "Whisker's" eyes I couldn't help but notice the remarkable difference this small creature has made in Ken's life. The broad smile on his face and the twinkle in his eyes tell it all. As I held "Whiskers", I was aware of the life force that exists just as fully, just as wonderfully, in each of us, in all of creation. The point is, of course, to perceive it. I find that simply remembering this Truth can bring the present moment into focus. When I am still and attentive, I can sometimes sense the mysterious power that is creating and forming miracles in each moment all around us. It's in the reflection of light from the sunrise as it beams through the glass in my prison cell door laying a bar of light across the wall. It's in the movement of the leaves of the trees responding to a morning's breeze. It's in the heartbeat of a tiny creature named "Whiskers." As I try to hold in mind the idea of sacredness and the divine origin of things, I find that often it's carried away on the winds of my thoughts. Sometimes, though, something inside surrenders, lets go. Then the experience becomes still and natural and I feel a part of an extension of the divine Being. At such precious times, instead of my holding the idea of the divine, the divine holds me. Instead of my trying to contain the Presence, the Presence contains me. The experience of this mystery, of this sacredness, is then an experience of relationship. That which waves the leaves of the trees sets my heart in motion. That which propels light millions of miles from the sun through the window and off the beige-white wall, dances also as the light of awareness in my consciousness of this moment. That which is the life force in a tiny creature called "Whiskers" is the same life force that pulsates through me. It's all an expression of the same creation...a reminder that we're all close kin, closer than we ever, through mind and words, understand.
From Prison To Freedom CLANG! CLANG! The chilling sound of the metal doors closing behind me as I stepped into the Arizona prison system will haunt me forever. How can I possibly relate this experience to you? I felt like an alien who was dropped onto another planet. In that instant my life was dramatically changed. The losses from incarceration are enormous and just a few of the obvious ones are...
Sitting in the solitude of my prison cell and going through my feelings of all that had changed, I found that what was left was what was real. One of the gifts that presented itself was the large amount of time free of the distractions and diversions that I had been busily creating. What an excellent opportunity this provided to go deeper within and focus on the present moment! I found that as I did this, I could feel directly how life is impermanent on every level, and I could let go of anxiety about the past and future and relax into the present... settling lightly into the moment. Out of the misconception that it's possible, I think we all try to make things solid and secure. However, the raw experience of our lives, the basic stuff, is constant change. The real inner journey is about opening, just opening, and becoming free enough to allow everything to fit within it. Ultimately, we can realize that all of life, even prison, disease, death, heartbreak, everything we call negative and positive, all of it is this wondrous, mystical illusion that arises and dissolves in every moment. It's not easy to accept the truth of impermanence, but instead of trying to deny the flow of change and living in conflict, we can gain an understanding of it and learn to live in harmony with the seasons of life. Rather than creating a solid, unchanging world to try to hold onto, we can let go and open to the truth of each changing moment. To come to terms with outer change involves a tremendous process of letting go, but it's necessary for anyone who would live with a wise and peaceful heart in the world.
Let's Get out of Here! A RESEARCH STUDY was recently made about the most frequently used phrases in movies. Many films were studied in order to find the language that's most used. The phrase that won was "Let's get out of here!" I started observing this in TV and movies, and it's surprising how much of it has to do with "Let's get out of here!" People continually seem to be running away from something "horrible" and running toward something "fantastic". We see it with bumper stickers like "I'd rather be golfing", "I'd rather be playing tennis", etc...anywhere but where we are. Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that said, "I'd rather be exactly where I am"? We're always trying to get from here to there, but when we get there, it becomes here. That's the problem... so then we have another here to get to another there. As I sit here writing this in the library of a prison yard, I'm aware that I can have thoughts of "let's get out of here", and yet, at the same time, learn how to be with what's here - that which we've all become brilliant in avoiding. Helen Keller once said, "Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I may be in, therein to be content." It's a life-long process to become patient and make peace with the truth that every person is just where he or she needs to be. When our central aim is to find the "kingdom within", we discover how everything comes to us. We see that every person, place, and event in our lives is perfectly designed to teach us something we need to learn to get free.
© 2006, Tom Brown
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| ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Copyright:
New Earth Publications, 1999-2009. PlanetLightworker.com is published
by New Earth Publications, | |||||||||
were still closed
at the time of his rescue.
Charles "Tom"
Brown
was a successful investor who did very well in real estate, oil, and
the stock market. Friends began asking him to invest for them, too.
And he did. Things went well, and more people heard about his abilities
and wanted to be included in the investment strategies he had devised.
All went well until there was a dramatic change in the market. All
that went up turned down, and Tom wanted everyone to still have a
profit - his big mistake - as he wanted to be well thought of. Tom
was accused of defrauding investors. Although it was shown that he
had never diverted any money for himself other than a modest commission,
through unbelievable mishandling by an incompetent or dishonest attorney,
what should have been a one-year sentence became a 17-year sentence. At
the time of judgment, Tom was 62 years of age. 