Never
born never died,
only
visited this planet Earth
between 11 December 1931 and 19 January 1990.
~ On the
tombstone of Osho, contemporary mystic
This morning I
read a Huffington Post news story of an amazing 99 year-old man. Dobri Dobrev,
a resident of Sofia, Bulgaria, is a saint in beggar’s clothing. Every day he
takes to the streets to beg, but he gives all he collects—plus his monthly
pension—to churches and orphanages. He once gave a single gift of $24,000! Dobrev
says he once did a “bad thing” so he is trying to make up for it.
It has been a very intense inner week, and reading this
story of Dobrev’s life of service just magnifies what is going on inside me.
Some weeks are like that. Seeing the snow melt, learning of a loved-one’s
death, tossing away some moldy bread. Everything in my world is reminding me of
impermanence and the desire to make a difference in the world. So I ponder…
In the midst of my pondering, this email Thought for the Day from Aaron popped
in:
To me, the most important thing that the Buddha
taught was that we all have the capacity to awaken. This is our innate nature.
We are all Buddhas ready to awaken. In awakening, we become free, liberated
from this cycle of birth and death. In other words you are all of the nature to
awaken, ready to open your eyes. Freedom is not something that will come to you
somewhere in a thousand lifetimes. Freedom is right here and right now, in this
lifetime, in this moment.
I wrote to Barbara Brodsky, who channels
Aaron, asking her for additional insight. “This one made me wonder what it means to be
released from the cycle of birth and death. As I anticipate my future, I have a
sense of being eternal, but wonder if you can say more or point me toward
something in the archives to satisfy my intellect's desire to know more.”
Barbara’s
simple reply was soothing on many levels: “What he means is that we are no
longer pulled karmically into the cycle of rebirth. We can still choose to
return, for service and with love.”
In 2011, as I was anticipating surgery to remove a “very aggressive
growth” in my abdomen, fear of death was dancing in the back of my mind.
Although I had not told many people about the experience I had participating in
a workshop in 1999, I had seen my timeline end at 2012. The
workshop facilitator wanted me to go in and extend my timeline, and was very
upset when I chose not to do so, saying, “If it is my destiny, I will face it.”
So in those last few weeks of 2011, I was wondering if I was witnessing
destiny. I did not feel ready to die, I did not want to leave this life, and I was very relieved
on New Years Day to still be here!
For sure, we have all done something we might think of as having been “bad.”
Maybe we will be blessed to live beyond 99 years like Dobrev, but since we do not know when
we will leave this planet earth, in the meantime, I guess you and I have some
service to be about….
