We all come together in community to support each other in our worldly needs.  The fruit in my hand came to me via the grocery store down the street.  Some lovely individual stocked the shelves, others helped to check out my order.  People came to clean the store, deliver the food, build the roads, grow the fruit, prepare the field, build the machinery, mine the raw materials for the equipment, manufacture parts ...and the story goes on and on.  There is not one thing in this room that I can't trace back to the beginning of creation.  Everything is somehow and someway connected to everything.  This to me is community.

Many minds
who share one heart
and one home.

I kind of like the way A Course in Miracles addresses that question.  To paraphrase, ‘...you are only free to choose when you will learn the curriculum, not if.'  And, in my experience, once we accept the gauntlet, there is no turning back.  We learn ...or we suffer because we do not learn.  

So, is there really such a thing as personal freedom?  In the past, I was inclined to think not.  Sure, I had the freedom to follow my inner guidance, or not; but if I chose not to I would suffer.  Is that really freedom?  

Then, just recently, I was given the opportunity to choose as I will.  At first, when I began to contemplate this opportunity, the usual suspects showed up.  You know ...a life of leisure and all that jazz.  But I knew that would not do.  I realized that if I desired a truly rewarding experience, then I would have to choose a life of service.  So I turned my heart and mind in that direction and made a choice.      

Again, however, I wonder ...Did I really have a choice?  Or am I simply agreeing to follow through on an old promise.  The jury is out.  

I think this fits into the paradox of freedom and responsibility.  With greater freedom comes increased responsibility.              

The idea rarely rises in my mind, at least not in traditional terms.  If I walk into a situation with an agenda, then I'll experience the condition called confidence or lack thereof.  If I believe I'll be successful in fulfilling my agenda, I'll feel confident.  If I'm unsure, I'll experience a lack of confidence. 

On the other hand, if I walk into a situation with an open mind and simply respond to what occurs as it occurs, I trust that I'll know what I need to know when I need to know it.   So for me, it's not about feeling confident or not, it's about trusting or not trusting.

Let's get real.  If I had my druthers, I'd like to go back and relive my youth beginning in college, only I'd like to do it with the heart and mind I own now!  

I don't have to; I don't want to and you can't make me!  On the other hand, if God said, "You have to found a museum as a pre-requisite for graduating from Earth School," I would found a museum to beers and wines of the world.

This question reminds of a story that is told in many ways by many cultures.  The way I first heard it involved an Indian farmer and his troubles.

Seems the farmer woke up one day and found the horse he used to plow his fields had up and died.  When his neighbors found out, they came over and fawned over his bad luck.  "That sure is unfortunate," they said.  To which the farmer replied, "Maybe."

The next day, upon hearing of the farmers troubles, one of the men from the village came over with two horses he no longer needed and gave them to the farmer.  This time, the neighbors all said, "That's really good fortune farmer!"  To which he replied, "Maybe."

Two days later, his son went out to hitch the horses to a wagon when one one the horses reared back and kicked him in the shin.  The force of the blow broke his leg.  Now the farmer would have no help in the field.  Hearing this the neighbors again cried, "Oh my, what horrible fortune!"  To which the farmer replied, "Maybe."

The next day, the local warlord came to the village to conscript every able bodied young man to fight in his upcoming battles.  Only the young lad with the broken leg was spared.  Upon hearing this, the villagers again sighed, "Oh, what wonderful good fortune!"  To which the farmer again replied ...maybe...

I'm like Hawaii.  The weather is unpredictable.  I usually have a sunny disposition and a warm embrace, but the weather is subject to change at any time. 

Laughter!

Hahaha

 

Power is one aspect of wholeness.  There is power, form and function.  Think of it this way ...vacuum cleaner, electricity, clean carpet ...or car, fuel, transportation.  When it comes to human beings I change that slightly to read, form, feeling and function.  The feeling is the power that supports the form (body) in its function(s). 

This haunting cover of the Nine Inch Nails Song Hurt, by Johhny Cash, is the last thing he recorded before passing.