Division

The clouds are floating across a wide open and blue morning sky.  The temperature sits at 66 degrees fahrenheit and the air feels warm.  Today is Wednesday.

To know you are blessed allows one to easily move to gratitude as a place to begin a a day.  This is where to start.  

Too many begin the new cycle of a day with pain, sadness, worry.  This is the reality for those who do not have a place to rest body and mind, or a meal that will nourish the soul, or relations with those who care when things are broken or lost. When one's karmic journey brings the chance for being in gratitude in today's world, it is truly a blessing and something not to miss.  

When there is division, whether in the mind or among people, there can only be one end - fragmentation, confusion, and in the worst case, violence.  The divided mind, the divided heart, the divided action will surely bring separation that can turn into sorrow.  So the way to clarity is always to see the whole, not just one's own view of things.  This is a most challenging way to live, at the start of such a practice.  The ego, the desire, the tendency to be "right" is at the center of the division in whatever form it takes.  Over time, it becomes less of a challenge to see the reality of one truth; but then, the challenge shifts to living in a world that is filled with divisions.  Take a few moments to think about your own life and there will be no problem in identifying all the places where divisions exist.

Humanity has found a way to make division a part of every aspect of our common existence and on a global scale, this has resulted in more than 30 conflicts/wars on the planet today.  There has been no ability to bridge across language, culture, historical events that brought cruelty and then extended the suffering beyond those events.  Division is key to maintaining misery.  The hardest thing is to do is to let go of the things that might provide a justification for staying in a divided state of mind and being.  One is right, the other is wrong.  One knows, the other does not.  One sees black, the other sees white.  

Discernment is different from division.  The ability to discern allows for contradiction, vulnerability, acceptance that one's view may be limited.

Lately, our mother earth has been urging people to pay attention and to find more ways to work together, stop making stories that will cause divisions, doubt, and insecurity.  The message seems to be that we don't have time to waste; and there is a common destiny that awaits all life residing in her arms.  She has tried to give us beauty in so many forms - yet, the chance to encounter such beauty is lost for many who are too busy, too far into the shadows of depression, too lost in their sorrow.  At best, there may be a chance lifting of the eyes to a beautiful sky on a given day or to experience a chance encounter with a flower in full bloom.