January/February 2005 Living Now
Choices

by Mark Williams

You wake up feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep; you shower and prepare to greet the day among the rest of the human race. You follow your morning routine through its normal course and by lunchtime you probably can't remember half of what you've done during the morning. You break for lunch or maybe, because you're a little behind, you catch a quick bite and continue working or running errands. The afternoon progresses much like the morning, a whirlwind of activity aimed at achieving goals that may not even be your own. Evening comes and you feel a bit frazzled by the day's efforts and encounters. You unwind as you usually do -a favorite beverage, book, television program, computer distraction or some outside activity that provides escape from what you had to face all day. Real joy mostly stays in the shadows of passing time, only showing through on very special occasions. Days become weeks and months. You're looking forward to your next long weekend, vacation or, better still, retirement. You envision yourself being so much happier once you've broken through to the time when you can interact with others on a non-competitive basis. You know in your soul that this everyday is an alien environment. You sense that there should be more joy and less stress.

You're not alone.

This little scenario, in one form or another, applies to so many of us, in this fast-paced, fast food, microprocessor-controlled place called the 21st century. We get attached to the idea that, if we just work hard enough for long enough and put up with enough, we'll break through the barrier to that easier, happier life we believe so many others are living. The thing that many of us fail to realize is that we are, in large part, playing out our lives from a set of programmed patterns in almost Pavlovian fashion - believing in a material paradise that we can never really lay claim to. We find ourselves, if we really take the time to evaluate, automatically responding to exterior stimuli without questioning the responses or the reasons behind them. This is mostly because our awareness and our energies have become mired somewhere other than in the present moment. It is in choosing to buy into all of the programming we've received since birth that we allow ourselves to become living zombies - sleepwalking our way through this incarnation, insulated from and even afraid of the truly important experiences we set out to find during our passage here. Instead of being a present participant in the creation of our lives, we simply react, almost unconsciously, based on patterns we adopt without ever evaluating their real value in the given situation. Collectively, we really have become so wrapped up in the achievement of 'stuff' and self-gratification that we have blinded ourselves to the more important things of life. It's an old adage that never seems to lose its truth, yet is so completely ignored in western societies today: "You can't take it with you." Nonetheless, we continue to believe in the illusion - insisting that the attainment of 'stuff' or the satisfying of personal desires is the road to joy and fulfillment.

As an example of the kind of event that often finds us choosing from a set of conditioned responses, envision yourself waiting for an elevator. The doors open and the car empties. You start to board and see someone thirty feet down the corridor, moving toward the elevators. You have a choice: wait and hold the door for him or allow the door to close before he arrives. What do you do? Do you take the opportunity to be a blessing or do you react based on some long-unconsidered habit that you've brought with you into the situation? It's sad that many will make their choice based on their history instead of channeling love 'in the moment' - losing the blessing and joy that comes with the truly selfless act.

So - is there a different view or approach to everyday that can bring you to the state where you can be more joyful, no matter the circumstance you find yourself in? In a word: yes! How we come to that new level of awareness or consciousness can be by any of a number of paths, but the thing that you'll find called for, no matter which path you embark upon, is a view of life that diminishes the importance of 'stuff', and enhances the importance of loving interaction with others. This is not a question of good or bad, for those terms are entirely subjective and based on whatever teaching about morality one clings to. The main choice one needs to make is to be consciously present in every moment - making an effort to be aware of what our intention is at every turn. Whether we choose to follow a course of instruction in one of the many spiritual disciplines or simply open ourselves to the knowledge that we are all essentially one, we gain insight into how valuable each moment is and how truly sad it is to miss an opportunity to be a channel of light and blessing to another.

It has been said that 'the devil is in the details'. This holds true in so much of life. Each encounter can be looked upon as another opportunity to either show light, love, and compassion, or withhold it. Driving, shopping, working, dating, living life with a partner - all give us endless opportunities to attempt to enhance our own egos or enhance another's life. Whether we refer to the Bible, A Course In Miracles, or myriad other spiritual teachings, we will find the same ideal held forth - that expressing selfless love is the greatest source of joy, fulfillment, and spiritual growth open to humankind. It is in acting out of fear, ego, and selfishness that we lose the blessing and accrue karmic debt.

The choice is always ours, in every moment of our lives, to be awake in the moment, or be elsewhere in time - past or future. When we're not here now, we set aside our ability to participate in the miracle of the moment, the choices for light and love that are always open to us. We are, instead, stuck in our history or our plans, losing vitality and even our health because we've occupied so much of our energy with maintaining those things. Looking at the general spiritual condition of humanity, it seems we need to do a serious reassessment of how we make each and every choice.

We are miraculous, creative beings, each of us a part of divinity, blessed with godlike abilities. Packing around old hurts, habits, and hostilities or burdening ourselves with too many aspirations and desires is like trying to fly while chained to the ground. The thing that most of us know in our hearts and spirits to be true is this: The material things we want or have are ultimately meaningless. It is the emotional and spiritual content of our lives that goes with us when we pass through the final door of this incarnation into what lies beyond. It's what the Master Jesus meant when he said that we should lay up treasures in heaven rather than here on earth.

Every day we are faced with the same choice - we can view the world around us as a hostile place, to be feared and conquered, or as an extension of ourselves, our creation needing our love and energy to evolve into that place that we envision as better. An eternity spreads out around us and through us, a field of possibilities on the verge of manifesting. What will you bring forth?

Choices, choices, choices.

Mark Williams is a writer, healer, intuitive reader, and lecturer who has, with his soulmate partner, Mariah Hawk, rekindled the flame of the Church of Inner Light in Portland, Oregon. Send comments or inquiries to P.O. Box 721 - Portland OR 97207-0721