Creator, creation and us

Here's how I think it goes, is going, has gone, will forever go:

There was a mote on a wave, another mote on another wave nearby. The waves became one, the motes coalesced. Was there a bang? A whimper? Probably not, but there was a something. And the pressure built and built, and the stress grew greater and greater (perhaps now a whimper); and the +mote and the wave and the something and time perhaps, perhaps folded or warped or condensed past bearing. And it all flew apart in a thousand million directions.

But it never forgot it had once been One Thing, any more than your finger can forget being part of your hand. Not memory so much as: it just IS.

Since matter is neither created nor destroyed, all things were in the +mote: Saturn and her rings, The Beatles, the iMac, beach sand and horses; the stones of Calvary and the stones of Stonehenge; the gold in my wedding ring, the silver in a coin, the iron in blood, the salt in sweat and tears; you. Also: all the breaths we all have ever taken, all the milk we have made, we have drunk, we have spilled; cows and cowpox; boomerangs and boomers; orangutangs and oranges; ants and antebellum gowns.

When we have those liminal flashes of oneness with the Universe, it's because we are.

When we feel as though our Creator is smiling on us, delighting in us, and smoothing the path before our feet, it is because we have, for a tiny moment, felt the connection of ourselves, the cells of us, with the air around us, the moisture and breeze, and the path itself, reaching toward our feet.

I believe the story of Adam and Eve, and the other stories of becoming human, are a race memory of awareness growing, of breathing in, inspiration of the life in us and around us.

Anyone who has had a lover has known the moment when it is unclear where one stops and the other starts. Anyone who has held a child has felt a fragment of that same unity. I think we are meant to feel that way all the time; it is our refusal to surrender our "individuality" that makes the space between us.

Finally, I believe the true message of all prophets and seers is not only that god loves us; it is that each of us contains a piece of god-stuff, part of the +mote; that we are one with god as we are one with every thing, person, breath. And to love as god loves, as your cells love / adhere to / collaborate with / use and are used by each other, all of us, one thing.

That's how I think it goes, is going, has gone, will forever go; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

"We are stardust.We are golden..We are billion year old carbon.And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden." - Joni Mitchell, Woodstock

Lessons for Life

Hard-won wisdom from too many years of getting it wrong.

1. Show up on time and prepared. This spares you a lot of embarrassment, stress and explanation. Think about it: do you like being the last person to arrive at the meeting, movie or party, breathless and disheveled, while everyone else is standing around, genial and relaxed, smiling and talking? Or would you rather be standing there smiling and talking, waiting for the late arrivals?

2. If you did it, don't say you didn't; and a corollary: if you didn't do it, don't say you did. It's surprising how many times we think no one is watching, but they are. Or videotaping, or eavesdropping ... Really, it's much better (professionally and personally) to take responsibility for actions or inactions; sins of commission or omission.

3. Don't lie, even about the stupid little stuff. If you blow off a meeting with your friend because a hot date turned up, just say so. Don't say, "I have a stomach ache," or "I have to stay home and study." You'll never be able to brag about the hot date! Worse, you'll become known as an opportunistic liar, and will lose the trust of your friends.

More later ...

Freed from the need for speed

About this speed limit thing: it's not really just a suggestion, or a rule for "those" people who aren't well-trained athletic drivers with panther-like reflexes and almost eerie ability to predict the movement of other vehicles ... like us! Nope, it's actually a law.

More than a year ago (perhaps more than two years ago), a man I like quite well stated publicly that he drove the speed limit. Because it was the law. I resisted the urge to sneer, snort with derision and point my finger at him, but just barely. Because at that time, if the speed limit was 30, I drove 35; if it was 40, I drove 46; if it was 50, I cruised at 57; if 60 was posted, I was making 68 out of the gate; if 70 was the limit, as near to 80 as I could get was where I set my cruise control. Who knows what I would have done if there was no limit!

One day I started thinking about it.

This was precision scofflaw; well premeditated violation; I always did this. Always. Only 3 possibilities occurred to me:

• I was really in a hurry (totally contrary to the rest of my life);
• It was a sort of childish rebellion (ha hah! I'm being baaaaaaaad!!!); or
• It was a much darker contempt for authority: suitable for you sheep, but not me, the Most Important Person on the Highway Today!

You can imagine how this made me feel (well, perhaps not). I'm a lifelong believer in Law: we are a nation of laws, we rely on the Rule of Law to keep our wilder impulses in check. And here I was, flouting it all.

I drive the speed limit now (well, most of the time; I try not to obstruct traffic!). I'm not above the law. I'm not a better driver than everyone else. I'm not more important. More importantly, I want to live in a country where law rules, not personal preference; where the rules are for everyone, not just people who want to follow them.

I won't say, Don't speed. Only you can decide whether to obey the law, or treat it with contempt. But at least think about the implications.