Tag Archives: society

The Day Humanity Decided

An excerpt from The Day Humanity Decided:

This tree exuded a demeanor relentlessly proud. In a strange way, the tree gave the people a feeling of hope that there was something beyond smallness. Over many generations, small had become quite wearisome. It was boring, and well, small. Of course it was against the rules to think about anything outside of small, so it was best to keep those feelings to one’s self.

The biggest problem with the tree (for Tyrannicus) was, of course, that it was altogether contrary to The Rule of Small. Here was an object that defied The Tyrannicus Rex Official History of The Land of Small (kept in a special hall, separate from The Tyrannicus Rex Family Record Book for safe keeping), which stated that everything in The Land of Small had always been small, and in fact, small was the most natural thing in the world. What other way could or should it be? If the history books said it was so, then it must be so.

The narrative of small may have stuck ad infinitum, except for that darned tree. For reasons Tyrannicus could not fathom, more and more the people were beginning to question it. If everything had always been small, and it was natural to be small, then why was that mysterious huge tree in the middle of the square? Where did it come from?

It was not man-made; it was a tree for heaven’s sake, and a tree (being of Nature) was about as natural as you could get. Beyond that, why were the Tyrannicus Rexes so obsessed with removing it? Secretly The People of the Land of Small loved that sad, big tree, so it did raise questions.

To say that this whole situation was very irritating to Tyrannicus would be a massive understatement. He just wanted to live the easy life, but when the people questioned, this required making up new rules. Rules took time to make and enforce, but what else was one to do? It was exhausting, really.

Tyrannicus decided to delegate some of the rule making work. At first it started small, just a couple of people to oversee The Records of Rules of the Land of Small. They’d come to work and pore over the existing records, and then they’d put their heads together to suggest some new rules for the King to edict.

He was very pleased with their work. What he noticed right away was that as The Committee of Rules for the Land of Small made up new rules, it was pretty much impossible to publish them daily. The People of the Land of Small would dutifully wait for the next proclamations, but if they happened to miss an announcement and accidentally break a new rule, it wasn’t his fault, was it?

He hired more rule advisors, and rule making took on a life of its own in the kingdom. The people were now more fearful, which worked in Tyrannicus’s favor. They were so preoccupied trying to keep track of the new rules and the fines they might get if they broke them, they almost stopped thinking about the big tree in the square. Almost… but Tyrannicus would soon discover that in another part of The Land of Small, Nature was conspiring against him…

This has been an excerpt from The Day Humanity Decided. It’s a free download as both PDF and EPUB in my ebookstore. Here is the link.

Or if you just want to read the PDF online, try this link.

Just Let Go, and Fly!

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Do you have a stranglehold on life? Most of us do, to one degree or another. Our stranglehold stems from our fears, our judgements, our need to be right, our focus on self. These place immense limitation on our growth and progress.

Life can become very small and petty when we dwell in this behavior. Living in such a troubled world has this tendency to drag us down, reducing us to little balls of worry and stress. We suffocate our own happiness when we succumb to it.

The challenge is to be brave enough to just let go of it all… and fly.

Inspirational Quotes:

“More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“Love is the absence of judgment.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.” ~ Marilyn Monroe

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart. ~ Roy T. Bennett

P.S. Hello! I’m back from a break from writing. Sometimes the well feels like it’s starting to run dry, and when that happens, you know it’s time to replenish it.

The past few days I’ve been wrapping up some new ebook work. I’ll post about that soon. Most importantly, I’m happy to report a little miracle. You may remember that I posted Jan. 5th about a very sad event, the sudden illness over Christmas, and passing of our black cat Mocha on Jan. 2nd. See my post How Can It Be?

Due to several vivid dreams at the time, we’ve been on the lookout for his return in a new little gray body. As it turns out, Shadow was born a couple of days after Mocha’s passing, and a mere couple of miles away. At just a little over six weeks old, she was posted for adoption, and the universe conspired to help us meet up. She is so like Mocha in personality, it is startling!

The universe really does work in mysterious ways. Never forget that when you’re intending what you want to come to you in life. 🙂

“Hello world! Here I am.” (Again.)

Diversity vs. Conformity

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One big melting pot for humanity? What a shame it would be to lose the beautiful diversity of various human cultures and history.

Yes, there is great value in mixing, appreciating the sameness and differences, learning to live with each other in harmony. The biggest lessons may be cooperation and universal love.

But in order to do this successfully, respect for each other’s uniqueness and cultural differences is essential. If we ourselves, and our world leaders, require that everything and everyone be “all the same”, then where is that leading us? Conformity is a soul crusher. Observe the world of nature around you. It displays diversity to the nth degree.

This is the challenge that faces us in building new societies: To orchestrate a harmonious blending of humanity, but also retain the valuable diversity. Appreciating the uniqueness of others helps to make life an expansive and rich experience. Travel is a valuable tool for building this understanding.

Inspirational Quotes:

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.” ~ Wade Davis

“Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.” ~ U. G. Krishnamurti

“Being different will always threaten the institution of understanding of a closed mind. However, evolution is built on difference, changing and the concept of thinking outside the box. Live to be your own unique brand, without apology.” ~ Shannon L. Alder

“The second way of finding a meaning in life is by experiencing something – such as goodness, truth and beauty – by experiencing nature and culture or, last but not least, by experiencing another human being in his very uniqueness – by loving him.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl

Why Would I?

Why would I want
to be like
everybody else?
By some miracle
of Creation,
I am unique,
I came here to
make my own
contributions to
the world.

If you and I
think like
everybody else,
we all become
a goopy,
boring,
stagnant,
uncreative,
unproductive,
homogenized,
mishmash of
conformist
hive minds
wearing the same hat.

Why would I?
Why would you?

Poem Why Would I? is from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life. (It’s a free ebook.)

Grow Your Soul

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We have all experienced discouragement, sometimes to despair. These feelings are part of life. Without obstacles and disappointments, our souls would not learn and grow. When I look back on my own difficult challenges, I would not want to do them over. But when I evaluate the growth in myself, it is tremendous. I am grateful for those soul lessons, not just because of the wisdom gained, but I also became a stronger person.

When we are struggling in darkness, it can be difficult to see light. Other people can extend a loving hand, either with a different perspective, or, hands-on assistance. But in the end, we must own our inner journey. It is ours, and it is we who develop the fortitude and mindset to deal with whatever life throws at us.

During one particularly tough time many years ago, focusing on gratitude helped me not only to get through it, and but also to develop a different perspective about myself and life. That’s right! Really seeing and acknowledging all of the blessings, big and small, that surrounded me. Going forward, I built on that. It created a positive mindset in which I could then conceive of hope and possibilities and solutions.

Light begets light, and that which we focus on expands.

Here is a good article about how seemingly small, simple actions can bring us closer to happiness: 10 Simple Ways to Find Happiness

Inspirational Quotes:

“A quick way to overcome your despair… is to go out and help someone else overcome theirs!” ~ Timothy Pina

“Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

There Are Moments

There are these moments
that will haunt me forever,
distant, but distinct,

the same lessons learned
again, they won’t be denied,
important imprints,

but the regrets are
indelible too, embedded
in bittersweet light,

born out of moments
that will haunt me forever,
distant, but distinct.

Poem There are Moments is from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life.

Save or Savor?

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“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world, and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” ~ E.B. White

I know exactly what E.B. White means…

Must it be a choice? Perhaps the answer to E.B. White’s dilemma is to savor the world every day, while we save it. Or maybe savoring it, in actual fact, saves it? (Gratitude and reverence.)

It’s a very delicate balance. I believe we are here to do both.

What do artists and writers have to say about the world? Speaking as both, I think they fall into two main categories. They either want you to see the beauty, so you’ll savor it. Or, they want you to see the ugliness and pain, so that you’ll help to make it better. I think there is value in both approaches. My art (drawings and paintings) have always been about the beauty. In my writing, I try to walk a line of showing both sides of the coin, because life is hugely complex, and we cannot truly appreciate anything without tasting its opposite.

On days when the state of the world gets me a little bit down, I come back to thoughts of purpose. This is a very beautiful world (the Earth and we humans who inhabit it), one to be savored (life is a gift), and therefore one worth saving from that which craves to destroy it. Part of my personal journey has been one of finding the correct balance of save and savor, because if one is not careful, “save” can begin to overtake.

I hope you have a beautiful Sunday, however you spend it. For me, Sunday is purely a savor day, one of rest and to focus on the beauty.

Inspirational Quotes

“We’re not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.”
~ Joseph Campbell

“What I’ve come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion.”
~ Chris Abani

“Books are letters in bottles, cast into the waves of time, from one person trying to save the world to another.” ~ Amal El-Mohta

Life Is a Gift

It’s a blue-sky day,
one of those
beauteous blue-full,
joyously jocular,
splendidly splashy,
exceptional days –
I long to shout
LIFE IS A GIFT
in unmistakable
letters across the
blue shiny yonder,
to imprint them
indelibly on your
mind, so you’ll –

Remember when
the dark clouds roll
in, on a day when
life feels pissy and
oh so problematic,
to take a deep breath,
and close your eyes,
and gently pull the
gray gloom aside,
to see those big
oh so true words
I etched on blue
for you, so that
you’d never forget –

Life is a gift.