Have you studied the picture at the header of this blog?
What affect does it have upon you?
Does it do anything to you at all?
Speaking personally, it impacted upon me almost viscerally. I was moved to tears. For me, the image oozes tragedy and pathos. Although I know it is merely a picture, an imagined representation, for me it is real. It illustrates perfectly the bond I experience with our animals. The words exactly express my sense of futility at not doing enough to change the cruel injustice that costs billions of helpless animals their lives. I want to hug the cow. I want to tell the human “I’m with you”. My overwhelming reaction is that I am not doing enough to make a difference.
Yet in spite all that I’ve just written, this is not a blog about veganism, or helping other beings. It's for you.
It’s about the way things affect us, and the importance of how we manage our responses to things that affect us. So read on.
When I saw the picture, I was shocked by how a simple image could move me so profoundly and generate such a powerful internal response. I decided to see if it was just me, so over dinner, I showed it to Sharon and asked for her reaction. She gazed at it for a few moments in silence while tell-tale flickers of uncomfortable emotion passed across her face, like fleeting clouds. Then she announced that she found it “very disturbing”.
I was perplexed by this response. I thought it seemed 'tame', so I explained that it made me feel that we weren’t doing enough and questioned why she did not feel the same? “I did feel that at first” she said. “But then I thought about what we’re already doing and all of the animals we have, and I realised that we can’t do any more at the moment. We simply don't have the resources. It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that we can’t. If I allowed myself to think about all that the picture means and let it get to me, it would just be too upsetting”.
At that point, which could have been the end of the discussion, AA Michael decided to proffer a comment to Sharon. Here it is, only very slightly paraphrased. You may agree that its implications are vast, for all of us:
“When something has an impact upon you at such a deep level that you experience it within the core of your being, it has stirred within you an emanation of a vibration of immeasurable force and magnitude. Within this emotion there lies the spark of creation; the seed for manifesting an outcome based solely upon the magnitude of the feelings that you have given birth to. Given free rein, such a state of mind is the substance of a beginning. It is as if a stone has been cast into a pond, from which the ripples begun may go on in perpetuity.
However, you [Sharon, in her comments] have overlaid the magnitude of your feelings with a limiting logic, that in its very inception, stifles the possibilities that could emerge. Whilst appearing to substitute the fanciful for what is practical and reasonable, you have instead caused a cessation of a reality that might have evolved to serve the highest good of all. Rather than being energised, you have become enervated in your thinking.
Within the 4D reality, there exists endless possibility. The essence of what you experience and what you may bring into being is within you own control, and of your own making. Denial of what may be, will only ensue endless limitations that restrict your contribution to the expansion of the parameters of the possible. Only by fully opening your mind, without reservation or hesitation, to explore potential, will you achieve all that you may for the highest good of all.”
Sharon got it straight away. Do you?
There is enough crushing ‘realism’ in the world to dash all of our hopes and expectations for what could be and what we may achieve, without us introducing a limiting (even destructive) mindset of our own. We should all strive to let our imaginations work with our subconscious to maximise our ability to create and bring about what we most desire. If we audit our dreams and live our lives full of “Yes, but”, those dreams simply may not come.
What affect does it have upon you?
Does it do anything to you at all?
Speaking personally, it impacted upon me almost viscerally. I was moved to tears. For me, the image oozes tragedy and pathos. Although I know it is merely a picture, an imagined representation, for me it is real. It illustrates perfectly the bond I experience with our animals. The words exactly express my sense of futility at not doing enough to change the cruel injustice that costs billions of helpless animals their lives. I want to hug the cow. I want to tell the human “I’m with you”. My overwhelming reaction is that I am not doing enough to make a difference.
Yet in spite all that I’ve just written, this is not a blog about veganism, or helping other beings. It's for you.
It’s about the way things affect us, and the importance of how we manage our responses to things that affect us. So read on.
When I saw the picture, I was shocked by how a simple image could move me so profoundly and generate such a powerful internal response. I decided to see if it was just me, so over dinner, I showed it to Sharon and asked for her reaction. She gazed at it for a few moments in silence while tell-tale flickers of uncomfortable emotion passed across her face, like fleeting clouds. Then she announced that she found it “very disturbing”.
I was perplexed by this response. I thought it seemed 'tame', so I explained that it made me feel that we weren’t doing enough and questioned why she did not feel the same? “I did feel that at first” she said. “But then I thought about what we’re already doing and all of the animals we have, and I realised that we can’t do any more at the moment. We simply don't have the resources. It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that we can’t. If I allowed myself to think about all that the picture means and let it get to me, it would just be too upsetting”.
At that point, which could have been the end of the discussion, AA Michael decided to proffer a comment to Sharon. Here it is, only very slightly paraphrased. You may agree that its implications are vast, for all of us:
“When something has an impact upon you at such a deep level that you experience it within the core of your being, it has stirred within you an emanation of a vibration of immeasurable force and magnitude. Within this emotion there lies the spark of creation; the seed for manifesting an outcome based solely upon the magnitude of the feelings that you have given birth to. Given free rein, such a state of mind is the substance of a beginning. It is as if a stone has been cast into a pond, from which the ripples begun may go on in perpetuity.
However, you [Sharon, in her comments] have overlaid the magnitude of your feelings with a limiting logic, that in its very inception, stifles the possibilities that could emerge. Whilst appearing to substitute the fanciful for what is practical and reasonable, you have instead caused a cessation of a reality that might have evolved to serve the highest good of all. Rather than being energised, you have become enervated in your thinking.
Within the 4D reality, there exists endless possibility. The essence of what you experience and what you may bring into being is within you own control, and of your own making. Denial of what may be, will only ensue endless limitations that restrict your contribution to the expansion of the parameters of the possible. Only by fully opening your mind, without reservation or hesitation, to explore potential, will you achieve all that you may for the highest good of all.”
Sharon got it straight away. Do you?
There is enough crushing ‘realism’ in the world to dash all of our hopes and expectations for what could be and what we may achieve, without us introducing a limiting (even destructive) mindset of our own. We should all strive to let our imaginations work with our subconscious to maximise our ability to create and bring about what we most desire. If we audit our dreams and live our lives full of “Yes, but”, those dreams simply may not come.