Listen
to Your Soul
“Once we
believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous
delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
e.e.
cummings
One of my favorite e.e.
cummings quotes is, “The world is mud-licious and
puddle-wonderful.” This morning, after the storms over the
weekend, Alabama is truly mud-licious. I've noticed a strange
phenomenon in my small dog, Liza. When it comes to going into the
back yard to do her business, she plasters herself against the wall
of the house, as though she will melt like the wicked witch of Oz if
her feet touch mud. But when we go out to walk, she bellies into
muddy, sopping-wet drifts of leaves as though they hold the secrets of
the universe which she must discover at once. Who can know the mind
of a dog? For that matter, who can know the mind of any living thing?
But we try all the time, don't we—at least, I do. I fancy that I
know what someone is thinking, or what they believe to be so, and I
judge them based upon what I think they think. Perhaps you don't have
such foibles. Just as a dog-mind is a mystery, we also can't read the
mind of even our closest other. When we assume that we know best what
is right and what is wrong for them and about them, we are simply
misguided.
That being said, it's
important to know what your own values are; to know what you believe
to be true and just. Not what someone tells you, not what our
hyper-biased politicians swear is true, but what we ourselves know to
be so. It is especially important now, in this time of division. In a
world where there seem to be no agreed-upon facts, it becomes
essential for us to take seriously our own considered judgment. If we
do not take the time to think things through for ourselves, to truly
find and stand on our own sense of right and wrong, we become
gullible followers. We are easy targets in a battle of false claims
and outright lies.
When we know ourselves
well, then we are assured that no matter what outside influence comes
our way, we stand on solid ground. We stand on the ground that we
have built for ourselves. What a freeing realization that is. We
won't be washed this way and that by counter claims and opposing
“facts.” We can rely upon our own gut-instincts, as well as our
soul's ancient wisdom, to guide us. They both know right from wrong.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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