Monday, April 13, 2015

EWJ # 75 To Kill, or Not to Kill


©2014 Rev. David Seacord, Untitled, 20" x 28" Acrylic on Paper

Everyman's WEEKLY Journal #75
© 2014 Rev. David Seacord
June 1, 2014

To Kill, or Not to Kill…

This obviously 'deep' subject started out inconspicuously….with the UPS arrival of a small black-light flashlight which I recently ordered because I had learned that scorpions are florescent in its light…. but of course, as everything is related, it has expanded.

Using the black-lite flashlight for the first time the other night was a revelation… as, where I had imagined I might be living amongst a handful of the creatures, with the black-lite suddenly making them instantly and bright-yellow/white visible, I discovered that in reality I was amidst many dozens.  Luckily, I had done some reading about scorpion habitat preferences, and the places where I was finding them mostly fit that information (wood piles, in the compost bin, near water sources, etc).  So, besides renewing my commitment to never wearing open-foot sandals outside at night (as had been the case the time a few years ago when a scorpion had stung me), I simply pondered 'what to do'?  

When Mom had lived here, the family protocol was to commercially pest-control spray the place every three months with a scorpion-toxic chemical.   It wasn't my desire (to live atop a chemically treated earth) but I went along with it, as it wasn't my property and it wasn't my money being spent and it was 'for Mom's safety'.  After Mom moved into assisted living, and the pest-control bill was now going to be falling upon me, I reassessed and decided to do nothing for a while…. until I read enough to order the black-light.  

The Master Jesus is quoted as saying 'the truth shall set you free'.  I, discovering the truth of my scorpion presence, also discovered the truth that there is a place inside me that is programed to be a killer.  You probably know the same place… it is the place that swats flies, steps on spiders, poisons mice, and kills scorpions… and while doing so considers it as a normal and unthinkingly natural act of right living.  As I have walked this spiritual journey however, I have noticed I am not so comfortable with causing suffering and/or death to other living things, and I have desired often to find alternatives….especially to the first reaction response of just quickly killing something… it is a place I do not wish to unnecessarily grow.  

Confronting my scorpion neighbors thus drew me into some self-inquiry.  Just why did I have the immediate reaction of killing?  Obviously, fear. I saw that I was afraid of being stung (again).  But what did I actually know about scorpions?  The truth was I knew almost nothing… just that 'they were dangerous, that they were venomous and painful'.  I decided to read up some… and it turns out that they are, in many ways, beneficial to the desert ecosystem.  Once I understood that, I began to observe them… meaning that at night I have gone out with the black-light and done a census of populations and population locations.  Understanding that some locations presented more risk to humans than others, I decided to begin capturing the scorpions there, and then releasing them out in the desert.  I was clumsy a few times with my sissors-like barbecue tongs in the capture/grab, and some 6 or 7 of the nearly 30 that I have captured did not survive.  However, the others did, and I don't feel like I am being solely a 'ruthless killer' by choosing these actions.  

While my actions feel like 'an upgrade', the deeper insights I am given from this experience has been to see that there is not that much difference really, in the way we/I reactively kill off many things, possibilities, and other humans too.  It's pretty visible to me that in terms of the 'war on terror' (for instance) that we as a nation have not done much self-inquiry as to why we are so intent on killing our Muslim-faithed adversaries.  Just like when in the rapid-response killing act of swatting a fly, it is not a subject of much truly honest self-examination.  Nor do we/I normally hold ourselves to a very high standard of impartiality as we kill of the possibility of multitudes of the available relationships in our communities based upon profoundly superficial instant judgements of pre-programed likes and dislikes.  Normally, we just walk through our day denying any relatedness to anyone our filters judge negatively.  

I am seeing that all of this carrys a deeply  unconsciousness karma, and costs us much more than we/I can imagine.  In most cases, we never know what we have lost, because we/I stay ignorant of whatever the avoided other might have offered our lives.  Today, as if on cue for helping my thinking, my friend Christopher (who is currently visiting) read me a few paragraphs from a book by Adi Da (Da Free John) called Not Two Is Peace (specifically from Chapter 11, Humanity is Literally One Family). In it Adi Da busts as completely false the prevalent idea that Mankind is fundamentally differentiated by the many apparent visual and cultural adaptations we have taken on as we have migrated and populated this globe.  What is the truth (he writes) is that there is an inherent indivisibility based upon a prior (in the beginning) unity.  Further, that we do not recognize this fundamental unity--- that we are actually all brother and sisters--- is why we do not have peace.  He offers an equation for peace:  C + T = P.  Cooperation plus Tolerance equals Peace.  And he notes that this equation is applicable between all humans AND all other 'earthlings'.   

Ah… let us return to the scorpions…as earthlings.  Yes, I see, that equation could work there also.  :-)

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I recently made the long trip north to the Bay Area to visit my Mother.  The thing that I am left with is the memory of the last couple hours.  She is sitting in her recliner and I am laying on the carpeted floor beside her with a pillow under my head, resting.  We are not being overly talkative, but when there is no talking, it is very comfortable.  I am feeling a deep peace, like a good dog must feel, lying at the feet of its master.  It seemed to be very mutual… that my presence also gave her a deep peace, that there was a rightness in her  world because I was just there.  It was a blessed and precious moment, one I will cherish.  I realized later that (though it will certainly come in its due time) I do not look forward to becoming a parentless orphan.  I've had a couple of conversations recently with people who are, about what that feels like to them, to be 'on their own' completely.  It certainly reveals that the quality of a life can come down to the quality of the relationships that one has.  I personally accept as true that all relationship to others is a function of my relationship to myself.  Thus, there is no escaping 'the spiritual journey' no matter how deeply we/I may choose to try to avoid it….  in fact, Guy Finley recently sent out a beautiful article about how the very things we try to avoid are actually offering us the very lessons we most need in order to awaken.  What I see is that everywhere life is inviting my surrender.   One simple definition of 'ego' might be 'whatever resists' that surrender.    

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What is there to surrender to?  What else but 'the challenges of life', whatever they are, in this now moment.  For me, I again and again find that my truest strength and ally is the always available power of my heart to give and receive love. My daily life pretty much comes down to choosing how to do it...

Namaste, and Sat Nam, 

David

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Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

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