Back in my college days, I had a friend named Jeff, who lived next door and worked on campus in the university hospital at a menial job. He wasn’t a student, had never gone to college, but he was bright and well read. He’d gotten drafted, sent to Vietnam, and deserted. He made his way to India, where he lived awhile, before returning to the States, and facing the consequences of his actions.
He accepted everything that occurred in his life, every relationship, every positive event, every negative event as if it were meant to happen. He talked about his time in India as an important learning experience. But when I asked him if he would like to go back, he said that it didn’t matter whether he was here or somewhere else. “Wherever you go, there you are. You still have to face yourself. The only way to change is by going within.”
I thought of Jeff the other day when I noticed something called The Four Principles of Indian Spirituality that had been posted in the comment section on Marcus Anthony’s blog. The principles are somewhat fatalistic, just as I found Jeff’s beliefs. Yet, the concepts well worth considering, especially because they suggest an underlying reality that exists beyond our everyday world. In essence, while cause and effect and free will are the order of our normal reality, the principles suggest that neither necessarily apply on the deeper level of existence. -R
The First Principle states: “Whomsoever you encounter is the right one.” This means that no one comes into our life by chance. Everyone who is around us, anyone with whom we interact, represents something, whether to teach us something or to help us improve a current situation.
The Second Principle states: “Whatever happened is the only thing that could have happened.” Nothing, absolutely nothing of that which we experienced could have been any other way. Not even in the least important detail. There is no “If only I had done that differently…, then it would have been different…” No. What happened is the only thing that could have taken place and must have taken place for us to learn our lesson in order to move forward. Every single situation in life, which we encounter, is absolutely perfect, even when it defies our understanding and our ego.
The Third Principle states: “Each moment in which something begins is the right moment.” Everything begins at exactly the right moment, neither earlier nor later. When we are ready for it, for that something new in our life, it is there, ready to begin.
This is the Fourth Principle, the final one: “What is over, is over.” It is that simple. When something in our life ends, it helps our evolution. That is why, enriched by the recent experience, it is better to let go and move on. I think it is no coincidence that you’re here reading this. If these words strike a chord, it’s because you meet the requirements and understand that not one single snowflake falls accidentally in the wrong place!
Be good to yourself.
Love with your whole being.
Always be happy
Be Here Now.
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No there IS a dimmer. But the dimmer doesn’t turn off the lights. And as rob noted in a comment, the owner of the yoga studio says the lights are NOT on a timer.
Not surprising at all, Vicki! My older sis lives in MO where there are so many caves all over the place, some of which are tourist spots, some of which are wondrous exploratory caves for spelunkers. When I was younger I went into Carlsbad Caverns with my family, and recently went into several of the caves in MO. The weird thing is that I’m claustrophobic, but not in caves. If I could choose a perfect home, it would be in one of those new “green” type dwellings that are carved into the sides of rock mountains. Of course those do have the creature comforts, but I honestly feel I could return to Nature without those creature comforts in the right environment.
Last night, oddly enough, I dreamed that I was living in a small wood treehouse. The dream was quite vivid. Looking out the treehouse window, I noticed it was in a cluster of similar treehouses. Strange. Can’t help but wonder if civilization may be moving in such a direction….where we create shelters in caves and trees rather than on streets and roads. I suspect some of the homeless who have lost their traditional abodes are already doing that, living in small communes of non-traditional shelters rather than the newspaper and cardboard ones we see in the cities. Many of the 99% are living in their vehicles because their homes have been foreclosed and taken from them, their jobs are gone, their savings are gone, etc. There must be an answer to this. Humanity created the problems, so humanity created a solution. Finding the solution is the issue. Meanwhile, we suffer at the hands of the elite.
Caves….have been in so many throughout the U.S., and they feel like “home” to me. I have a vision of a very large ‘room’ inside a stone cave that is located on the side of a mountain. The only way to access the cave is via some type of rope ladder that can be dropped and retracted. The cave is unapproachable from front, back, or sides, except via that rope ladder. It has a natural ‘vent’ in its ceiling to allow the smoke from fires to rise out of it. There’s tremendous detail in this vision. No electricity or modern conveniences to which we are accustomed, yet it feels incredibly safe, secure, perfect.
There are smaller tunnels running off the main large area. I have no clue if this is past or future, only that it pulls me and, again, feels “home”.
Your comment brought back a memory . when I was a child we lived down the street from a beach with cliffs and I dug out a small cubby/ cave that I used to climb up to and hang out in. I loved it and on Sunday my husband and I were walking on our beach in an area that has cliffs and I told him about my cave.
Interesting synchro don’t you think? Although having a synchro with any of you but especially You math, is not surprising to me at all!
Good one, Vicki!!
i don’t see these tenets as fatalistic really – i think how one perceives them individually and applies/follows them in the literal sense may be fatalistic as perhaps in your friend’s case – but i do certainly agree that every person we encounter is encountered for a purpose – they come into our life for a reason and our experiences teach us/show us “some” thing – the second listed is one that i may not fully agree with because it does seem to take away the thing of free will – the decision/choice to create our world/our life as we wish it/imagine it – not sure if that makes sense to anyone else – but….
a very thought-provoking post –
Interesting principles, almost a law of non resistance. I remember reading about how nothing can resist an absolutely non-resistant person. Whatever happens happens. This doesn’t stop us creating our lives though. We can send out our requests and they will happen and be returned in a perfect way – as long as we don’t interfere with the process.
As long as we don’t interfere: that’s the thing to remember!
Interesting ideas, but I can’t say that I agree with them.
I believe timing is everything and you can miss opportunities. I think of the waves when it comes to surfing. If you don’t catch one wave, you’ll have to wait for the next wave. If things happen smoothly, you’re “in flow” or “riding the wave”. If you meet resistance, you’re not in flow and need to work on something else for a time. But if you wait too long, you can miss out on opportunities altogether.
Resistance/non-resistance. They create an axis, don’t they?
Adele, great comments. I read yours several times and this occurs to me: we have allowed ourselves to be fully and completely brought into an electronic age where even paper is rapidly becoming or has become obsolete. The U.S. snailmail system is about to submerge and drown as a result of computerized, paperless business transactions and social communication, including electronic greeting cards. Google is one of many other “kings” that plays a major role in this electronic age that rules our lives and unfortunately without which we lose our doors and windows and every access to the world. So what do we do? Social Security goes paperless on 12-31-2011. There will be no more checks. Instead, we must choose either a government-owned MasterCard onto which our SS will be downloaded each month, or, we can have our SS money automatically deposited into our bank account. Considering the state of flux that the banks are in, and how many of them are caving and disappearing, I chose the card. But this entire scenario speaks to where we are in our society….when we are under the total power of gurus, (such as the owners of Google, etc), in this electronic world, and we have no choice unless we decide to find a cave and live in it. I’m considering that as an option….no kidding.
A cave with electricity and a comfortable bed.
my brother and i used to talk about a cave home in the mountains of arkansas where there is family land and a stream – and i’ve seen many very beautiful cave homes – renegade homes – in a number of magazines – very workable in many ways –
In the hunger games trilogy, that’s what people in district 13 do, live underground.
Many years ago I did a regression and my community lived underground and in caves. When I recently saw on TV a story about an entire city which was built underground and had been found by accident several years ago in Turkey, I realized that it was possible.
Mass dreams of the future addresses this as one possibiity, based on thousands of future progressions that helen wambagh did.If you put mass dreams of the future into the search box on the blog, it’ll take you to that post.
WOW ! My struggles with the Gods of the computer powers sure brought a response. So I am not alone. I’ve been thinking a lot about my issue with Google that is not resolved – perhaps writing an article about what I can’t prove but am feeling, is the Cyber Mafia. Or is it the Virtual Mafia? I am now being asked to pay for protection against the crooks. If I don’t, they kill me.
Your issue with google probably won’t be resolved, adele. We had someone impersonating us on blogger and they never did anything.
Some of this reminds me of the Celestine Prophecies, especially the first agreement.
Personally I have found that when “I Follow” in my life rather than try to “lead” my life everything goes much smoother. It is a form of giving in.
Thank you for the always interesting posts!!
Great advice for living in the NOW. Although I do think the choices we make are part of the equation. It is how things change and evolve, by the everyday choices and decisions we make. However, I agree that everyone who comes into our lives do so for a reason. Lessons are learned, grace is accumulated, and the Universe expands through our experiences.
Six day ago my I Ching Meditations Blog was hacked and Google put up a notice on the font page advising not to enter. I can’t get in. I immediately called tech support at Blue Host. They explained that they could see the file that was attacked and even knew that it came from a group of Russians that had attacked in August when it was cleaned up. We deleted the evil file.
Google has not removed this annoying obstruction from my web site. I followed their instructions asking for a re-review. Their post says it can take up to two weeks. This is ridiculous.
What is the difference between the Russian hackers and Google controlling my site?
To get back to this post which is an excellent one – just taking the following quote
“Every single situation in life, which we encounter, is absolutely perfect, even when it defies our understanding and our ego.”
Does this mean my ego should just assume everything will work out here? It doesn’t feel like that and I don”t trust that it will. I feel that it is the little guy – meaning me – who is being unfairly picked on. Can Google ban the big money making sites? I have never seen such a case.
My ego is frustrated and furious. Google has too much power. I no longer believe their motto, “Do no evil.”
google certainly does have an element of big brother. when we were on blogger, they said we had infringed on a copyright – we hadn’t – and would have to remove a post, so we did, otherwise they would shut down the blog. When we were hacked and impersonated, they didn’t do squat about it.
Thanks for sharing this. I was under the impression that if you were on Blogger that your site would be protected by Google because they own it. Up until now I thought of Google as the good guys. I was truly unaware. But we’re stuck. Google, FaceBook and Apple own the universe. I’m just less than a grain of sand in Google’s powerful machine and there is nothing I can do about it if I way to “play.” Meanwhile, my site is unavailable with a really mean sign attached to it that will keep people away for how long? ?
Wow!!! It’s like we’ve just hit the same crossroads together here.
I feel like I’ve jumped into one of those flume rides where the water is rapidly moving through a series of plastic pipes and you grab your mat or floaty thing and jump in and you have no choice really but to ride the current all the way to the source at the end.
You think you have a choice,but really you are at the mercy of the flow.
But you did choose when to enter.
It’s funny you mentioned Marcus,because when I got back from the Byron Bay Writer’s Festival I couldn’t help thinking what the odds where of meeting him there.He had just arrived and I was just leaving.But a thought kept repeating in my head that I was always going to meet him,it was not the coincidence that it seems.
We meet at the a talk involving Barry Eaton (that’s where I snapped the photo of Marcus…outside that tent) .I felt an immediate connection with Barry when I looked into his eyes when I got him to sign a copy of his book “Afterlife”,that I had bought (Marcus bought the same book,he told me.) and I must say I felt a similar connection with Marcus (but I felt that connection a while back while reading his book and watching Marcus on You Tube).
I have literally never felt that before,accept with my immediate family and a few close friends.It was like I knew Barry,but not in this lifetime…if that makes any sense.
I felt like an Alzheimer’s patient when I met him.I felt like I knew him,but try as I might the memories would not come back to me.
This post really does resonate with me when I think back through my life to the regrets I’ve had to the way some things have turned out and the things I wished had of said and done for people who played a large part in my life,but have now passed on.
But then I think,look at the pace and pressures of life,you try to do your best,but life is like a flume ride.If you miss something on a turn,it’s too late,and maybe you were never meant to complete that task properly anyway…you just have to go with the flow until you enter the source at the end of the ride.
If you were not satisfied with that go,maybe you get to do it over again until you are?
I think life is a little bit like that show where the contestants race around the world from destination to destination as a group seeing how well they can run the race while interacting with other group members and putting up with their mood swings and tantrums,while trying to keep their own under control and playing the game as best and fairly as they can.
What beautiful ideals! I don’t find them in any manner to be fatalistic, but rather to be encouranging and acknowledging of the rightness in our lives, understanding that on our highest soul level we have used our free will to exprience whatever we may be experiencing. For me, these don’t negate free will at all, but are aligned with it. I think I’ll print them out and read them each morning, to remind me that Life is good and that whatever happens is, when all is said and done, Good. It seems to be another way of expressing that the Universe supports us in each and every experience….or much more simply, we can make lemonade out of lemons! (Not being flip at all!) 🙂 A lovely, loving post.