I know it's been forever since I have written, but I have accomplished so much in the last few months therefore I can't feel too terrible about it. And now with the winter months, I am able to enjoy some time where I can sit at the window, watch the tankers float by while the geese migrate. As I get a chance to relax, I feel like there is something in the air. An awareness if you will. It has a tinge of the uncomfortable, and a smack of reality - definitely a shift - one that doesn't feel good but still necessary. It has the smell of global and universal implications - but what is it? Is it one thing or everything? What I do know is that whatever it is, it is meaningful. It's also interesting that I am watching it play out in a more individualistic way not only with others but personally. And aren't we just pieces of the total cosmology?
This was driven home as I walked away from a situation where I know someone felt badly about a repeated disappointment in their life. I am not to say what another human being's lessons are. That is their personal journey. My lesson is to remain aware of my part and to remember that whatever happens, it was due to my actions and I have no one but me to blame for it. What I put out into the world is what will come back. Some examples are the pickpocket who believes everyone is out to get their hands in his pocket. A liar thinks everyone is lying to them. Someone that uses people believes that they are or will be used. If a human being believes the need to compete than everyone becomes competition. It's human nature. What you are, is what you see, is what you get back. I am coming around to my own accountability and with that have asked myself some hard questions. I have come up with some answers that seem satisfactory and will continue to work on the issues at hand. But as I was dealing with my own story, I thought -isn't this the same journey that we as a species need to undertake?
If as individuals we learn to take our own advice, then so must the human race in our global development on this planet. While reviewing, there seems to be one thing that can quickly make a difference....and that is to stop being a victim. What is a victim? In my opinion a victim compels others to rescue them by making them hostage to their alleged circumstances, dragging them into the abyss of their own making. Did I say of their own making? Yes, I did. No matter what your, mine and our circumstances, we are responsible for our actions from this point forward. Where we are now is a result of our previous decisions and actions. Regardless of what has happened in the past,we have the power to change our situation now. If we don't like what is happening on this planet - whos fault is it? We get what we deserve. This mess is a result of what we either asked or settled for.
When we play the victim and expect others to come to your rescue, we are shutting ourselves off from that tremendous power of personal accountability, the power of "you'. You are creating a self-limiting environment for yourself. You are failing to be 100% responsible. Do I deny the reality of circumstances good and bad? No, but I do deny the benefit when you or I or anyone else focuses on them from a victim's perspective. For every whine, somebody has a better case somewhere else. No matter what has happened to you, something worse has happened to someone else. If you demand people focus on victimhood, you owe it to others less fortunate to focus on them and not yourself. You'll never win this losing battle of being the biggest victim. Every minute you spend playing the victim, is a minute you spend not doing something about it. Aside from that, nobody else wants to hear it. You are just spreading the misery unnecessarily.
Right, so what are some of the characteristics of the victimized masses that got us here? Greed? Fear? Partially, and much more, but I am going to deal with the result of competition, since that is what I see firsthand being in the music business.
Ah, the world of competition. We get so focused on our daily routine that it never occurs to us how dirty we sometimes play. Society has always been competitive, but today life is perhaps more competitive than in any previous era. Since childhood children are taught how to show that they are the strongest, the smartest the very best. This is where competition starts. People are used to thinking that their lives, possessions, belongings are the best, the biggest the most attractive. That keeps us wanting for more and we continue to never be satisfied. Race, financial, or social status doesn't matter. When we are accused of playing dirty, everybody tries to prove the jury wrong even if the jury is them.
Is there an answer to this. I say yes there is. Let us consider the world of collaboration. A world where we see what our part is and then join together with others to accomplish the dreams of the individual, group and mass. Realizing that no one is better than anyone else. We all have our strengths, our weaknesses, our talents, our neurosis - it is what makes us interesting or challenging. With these characteristics in tow, are any of us really that different than anyone else? Do you deserve more than the human being you are standing next to? I think that many of us think so and I say, shame on us.
We will never move forward if we are victimized by our own desperation and dreams. We will never see eye to eye if we are not living in the collective consciousness about who we really are and what we all really want. I don't think we have to think too hard about what truly makes any of us happy. I am sure that being accountable will lead us to it. I know that I have never met anyone that didn't do better my trying to achieve it. And what would that be? That my beautiful human family would be the pursuit of love.
From my garden to yours.....
