When I was a child, my mother took me to visit my grandfather's graveyard.
"Grandpa is not dead!" I said to her. She seemed surprised. She took my hand and
walked me away from the burial site.
"What did you say?" She asked.
"Didn't you read the words on that big stone 'Rest in Peace?' Grandpa can't be
dead," I insisted," We are still talking to him, we are wishing him well."
She seemed a bit shaken by my observations. She tried to convince me that he was
definitely dead, but I did not believe her.
It was only recently that I began to understand how much we fear the thought of
eternity, and true love.
To rest means to be awake, to be totally aware of who we really are. When we are
at peace, we are alive; we are aware that we are not separate from a unified
thought system. We may not even be conscious of this "whoneness." But, deep
down, within us, we've calmed down and switched our perception from being alone
and separate to being united and whole.
Being dead means nothing; it is our greatest illusion and needs to be corrected.
How do you achieve this correction? Do you need religion, or science or a
politician to show you the way?
YOU MAY THINK YOU NEED ALL OF THE ABOVE. BUT, IN THE END, YOU ARE THE
ULTIMATE SOURCE OF INFORMATION.
Every day of your life is a lesson on who you are. You may choose to be a
doctor, a taxi driver, a housewife, and so forth, until you realize that your
real profession is to be a student of life.
The sentence "Rest in Peace," should be repeated silently by each of us, as
often as possible, specially during busy and painful times. Our interior
dialogue is a constant war from which we desperately battle to free ourselves.
But, to free ourselves from what? From our wives, or husbands, or jobs, or shall
we give the children for adoption?
Where does the idea of freedom come from? Certainly, our thoughts do not come
from "out there."
Manhattan, for instant, exists because we built it. Our minds choose the road to
follow.
WE ARE ENDOWED WITH FREE WILL.
Many of us do things in this world because society tells us so. We torture
ourselves with relationships we don't want because we think we need them. Once,
I met a woman who told me she had to have children because all her friends had
kids.
OUR INTERNAL WAR WILL GO ON UNTIL WE REALIZE WE'VE TO FREE OURSELVES FROM FEAR,
HATE, ANGER, GUILT AND ABOVE ALL FALSE LOVE.
We've to put ourselves in the other person's shoes, so to speak. We've to see
all of us in the same boat. This does not mean that we let others step on us.
We've to learn to understand that, in the end, all of us are desperately
searching for TRUE LOVE: this is our mission while here on earth.
It is this understanding that frees us from the fear of
eternity.
WHAT IS TRUE CANNOT EXIST 'OUT THERE'; IT CAN ONLY EXIST WITHIN US AND NEVER
GOES AWAY; WE SIMPLY FORGET.
There are two kinds of peace; inner and outer.
"Mine is a policy of peace."
Benito Mussolini
"What a beautiful fix we are in now: peace has been declared."
Napoleon Bonaparte
"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved
by understanding."
Albert Einstein
The first two quotes refer to fake peace; a peace in the world
outside our minds, the kind of peace that is imposed by others. The quote from
Einstein can be interpreted both ways. We all know what happened to Mussolini
and Napoleon, but we've yet to realize how much damage we do to ourselves by not
understanding who we really are. Since the thought of war begins in our minds,
it is in our minds that peace must be built.
Everyone we encounter provides us with a lesson in the art of living. You may
decide to divorce your wife or husband, or change jobs but, are you really free?
Was that separation done with true love and understanding? Did you ask your
'Inner Self" to help you?
We've been trained to see the world, and therefore, our problems
"out there."
As long as we do not solve the problems in our mind, there will
always be wars out there; they are a reflection of the war going on within us.
Article written by author
Odete Martins Bigote
Copyright, October 2002
Article available for publication. Please contact author.
Odete Martins Bigote Author: "You Can Remember Love: Contemplations on
Science and Spirituality." Discover that you are a powerful hologram and
rediscover a new you. http://www.portugueseprincess.com
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