Faith

"Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."
- Saint Augustine

Faith seems like a big topic to tackle after a week off and a hectic first few days back to work, but since my intention in starting this blog was to go with what comes and not judge it, today we have "faith"!  I just read this outstanding quote from Saint Augustine (clearly being a Saint involves the ability to quote with laser insight!) and got chills up my spine.  It is this concept - we create our reality through our belief - that has sort of been the carrot-on-a-stick of my personal journey over the last few years.  Getting this concept and being it, are, it turns out, two rather different things.  Deep down inside I firmly believe that Saint Augustine is right, but what shocks the socks off of me is how darn hard it is to get all of me on board with living that faith.  Living from the belief that I create my world, I am not a product of it, is a quantum shift in my lifelong behavior.  I think it is for many of us.

When something bad happens to you, or you hit a roadblock on the way to your goal, what do you do?  Do you immediately say "well, guess that wasn't meant to be", or "clearly it's not God's will for me to do this", or start replaying all the other bad things and roadblocks that have been visited upon you?  From what I see around me, that's a pretty common reaction.  But, if Forrest's mom is right and life is like a box of chocolates, why do we constantly focus on the stuff we don't like rather than the fact that it's all candy?  Heck, you can just lick off the coating if you don't like the filling and go on to the next one!  Why are we programmed to think that if we don't like one thing life gives us, we should give up because the whole box must be junk?  If you got one bad candy out of a box, would you give up and never eat candy again?  Maybe you just have to go through a few walnut chews first so you really appreciate those carmels! 

Assuming that we are not meant to do or have something when we hit a glitch means the Universe would go out of its way to deny us what we want.  But why would we be so mistreated by that which put us here?? We are created of Divinity and each of us has that spark within us, so there is no way Divinity would reject or deny us.  It's like we all have a bit of Superman in us, but the belief system we have been hanging on to is made of Kryptonite - so we don't realize we can just leap those pesky tall buildings, rather than spending our time cursing their presence in our path. 

So, what if the roadblocks and the "bad things" are just distractions?  What if the tall, tall wall in our way is not really made of stone but is just a stage prop?  What if all we have to say to the Universe is "ok, I see you're checking to see if I reeeeally want this, and I reeeeeally do, so could you please show me what I need to do to step over this wall?  Thanks very much!", and then wait confidently for the directions and act on them.  Now we find ourselves in a world where believing is the mother of seeing.  Suddenly, the wall shows itself for what it really is - an illusion.  When we find that serendipity called "faith", suddenly we See only what we know to be Truth.  Where we saw hatred, we can see the struggle of those who do not love themselves.  Where we saw war we see the result of believing that there isn't enough to go around and we must take from each other.  Where we saw ourselves kicking hopelessly at the walls of an impenetrable fortress, we find that the fortress was made of sand. 

For most of us, there is nothing easy about the leap into living in unwaivering faith.  It is so hard to accept that everything we've ever learned about the world might be backwards.  That we might, in fact, have it all wrong.  But why not?  Are we not created in the image of the Creator?  Surely then we too must have the power to create - in fact, we do it all the time, only we tend to do it within the parameters of what we think to be true, rather than what is Truth.  More and more people out there are discovering that when we turn things upsidedown and begin to live in expectation of seeing what we know to be True, miracles happen.  Look around and you'll see books, movies, seminars everywhere.  This concept goes by the name "the Secret", "the power of positive thinking", "consciousness", "enlightenment" and many others, but it is all in essence the same thing.  It is the reward of faith.  To create our world as we wish to see it, not as it gets handed to us.  Each time in my own life that I have been shown a glimpse of this possibility, it has taken my breath away.  How amazing it would be to live fully in the breathless wonder of faith in what is possible, rather than in the drudgery of what seems impossible.  Every day would truly be our birth-day!   Just allow yourself to think about what that would look like for a minute, even one tiny minute - and tomorrow, maybe think about it for two.

Letting Go

One of the hardest decisions we humans have to make with our animal friends is knowing when it is time to let go.  What a strange thing it is to have this power over another life, and a life we care about so much.  Strange especially because in our society, death is often an unsure, scary thing, and we feel immense guilt over the possibility of making the wrong decision for our friends.

I was faced with this decision myself this winter as my cat struggled to leave this life.  She was clearly at the end, but the message she kept giving me was "I can do this, I don't need help yet."  How hard that can be to hear when we watch our friends apparently suffering!  I kept asking "are you sure?"  I even called a communicator friend to double check.  Haley's response to me was "it isn't how it looks to you."  Ok, I'm learning that many things aren't what I think they are in life, but this seemed pretty clear cut.  She went on to explain that there is a process of leaving the body, leaving this earth, that is very important in the animal kingdom.  Most animals view death quite differently from we humans, and for them it is simply a transition out of the physical plane into the etheric - a change of state, something like when a liquid becomes a gas, but is still composed of the same atoms (please don't let my high school chemistry teacher read this sorry comparison!).

The body is a shell, nothing more.. 

The animals have learned what is so very hard for we humans - that we are not our bodies.  We are something much greater.  A Divine spark, a soul, a energetic being so complex that the greatest minds have tried to pin down this essence, describe it, and found words paltry and useless.   

So, if it isn't how it looks to me, how is it??  Transitioning can be tricky, it can involve the tying up of loose ends, the coming to terms with things undone, the setting right, the permission of the human or animal friends to let go, or simply, the readying of one's self to go.  It is an important process, and because humans are someone detached from this process with our scientific and religious "brain information" often leading the way, it is hard for us to grasp.  Or maybe it's just hard to grasp until you've been there.  I think my grandfathers both went through something like this, each in their own way.  It didn't look painful in their cases, but it's not in every animal's case either.  I thought I saw suffering, but what Haley was telling me, was that she had moved beyond physical pain to a great extent.  The crying and movements of her body were her soul's efforts at detaching - some animals seem to be more in their body's than others and find it takes more effort to let go.  It is almost like the struggle of a butterfly to break free from its cocoon or a chick to hatch from its egg, and the journey is different for each soul.

This was radical news to me, but not the only time I've heard it by any means.  It is repeated over and over by numerous animals and communicators, and even in human hospices and hospitals.  Dying is a personal process, and not for us to judge.  The tricky thing is that when it comes to our pets, we sometimes do have to judge.  This is where intuitive communication is such a tremendous gift - it give the ability to tune into what the animal's soul is saying, to move past the anxiety, grief, and fear of our worried human brains.  The animals tell me that we often rush them, our desire to not see them suffer pushes them faster than they'd like to go.  On the other hand, they are usually ok with this and fully understand WHY we rush, they are tolerant of our fear.  I rushed Haley - not too much, but I did. I finally could not take it any more, and asked her again if she needed help, and she said it would be ok to have some help.  I knew it was time, the vet knew it was time, and Haley knew it was time, she was just a little drawn out in the process.  When I connected with her after it was over, several days later, she told me she was very near the end when the vet came, and that it was alright.  She transitioned easily and was doing fine.  If I could give that feeling of relief, of gratitude, to everyone, everywhere, I would gladly do it.  What gifts they give to us, and continue to give, even in another form.  Know that when the time comes, if you have to make a decision to help your friend to cross over, you will do the right thing.  Help is there if you need it, but above all, listen to your heart, it feels what your friend needs, and you will not go wrong.