Whispering divine answers

Throughout life, we silently request answers to questions emerging from within.  Do guardian angels respond so we may hear? Which events unfold in your life that you desire to see or choose to selectively tune out? Do you attribute significance to experiences where none exists?  You may be apt to make a fuss over things without having good reason.  Would your choices differ if you sensed certain answers enabled you to influence the greater good? Who in your life is like an angel?

My sister and one of her female friends visited me for a week.  They reminded me how people we love, as if by chance, have the potential to renew our compassion and faith in ourselves.  As I took time to show them scenic places, I learned we may instinctively expand on our knowledge, stretch our abilities and resources, and realize we know how to do that. We may take our minds off discouraging situations and simultaneously remind ourselves we actually create these illusions.  No person is forced to follow impulse.  No person is forced to believe strangers or people they know interact as they do with a higher purpose.  Yet, it can be our choice to believe this is so.

An accountant I met during Moombah Festival fireworks was quite a philosopher. He reminded me we all use numbers and discuss ideas that are really on loan and have already been used by other people before us.  His experience further drew my attention to how people who think they experience financial difficulties always have access to faith and avenues to increase their ability to help themselves. Whether or not his clients or anyone else takes advantage of options is a choice. Our discussions reinforced the idea that no challenge is unresolvable.

A rural winemaker and inventor I visited reminded me of the many ways people can help each other by example. His approaches to redefining retirement living demonstrate how lifestyle and purpose are directly affected by our choices. His family has become virtually self-sufficient with its own water sources and he encourages a great sense of self-reliance. I'm reminded of the value of taking responsibility for all aspects of my life, my food and energy choices, my relationships, my intermittent, self-imposed isolation, my sense of motivation and vision of inter-connectedness. I have learned there are no correct or incorrect choices, only what I aim to do.

A country school teacher I met for work reminded me real-life issues relate little to traditional subjects taught in school. How a community would benefit from coming together to form committees and rebuild structures after a devestating bushfire has little to do with math, reading, spelling and health classes. Truly meaningful interactions are grounded instead on issues of patience, tolerance, understanding, equality and listening skills. To discover the fires stem from selfish violence and arson reveals a need to raise new kinds of awareness. Community members of all ages could benefit from different approaches to inter-cultural education.

See, speak, hear, and smell no evil

Higher forces work in mysterious ways. Recently, in the middle of the night,I was convinced that I saw a nose, a pair of eyes, an ear, and a mouth float separately by the end of my bed.  None of these parts seemed to belong to the same person. I watched the spectacle in silent apprehension, unsure if I was dreaming.

The next morning, I reflected back on the idea that I should trust my intuition and instincts about people I had met the previous day. In their own ways, they symbolized guardian angels or helpers who taught me new things about myself.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized my views about myself form my perceptions and shape what I gain from each experience.

I thought of a blond woman I had met seated in a cafe and studying Italian. This student admitted learning new things was difficult and carrying a big dictionary of knowledge was a burden, but also that her struggle was worth it. Turned out this student was moonlighting as a cafe waitress and offered me her table. I realized this was a good vantage point to remind myself who I am. I sensed all that I think, say and hear reinforce my perceptions of myself, my potential and the world.

I thought of a computer technician I had met in the city after a year working abroad. He expressed joy about his new experiences, the struggle to make money and to find another new place to live. He reminded me that I constantly seek ways to satisfy my needs when there is really nothing I have to do but live life.I realized my willingness to engage in each new experiences enables me to meet my needs. My imagination may exaggerate my irregular circumstances yet my growing ability to listen and understand is inestimable.

I thought of an Indian man I met who is concerned about his evolving long-distance relationship.  He has slowly learned he can't resolve his current fears without accepting that each decision he makes is valuable. He reminded me that assuming I ask meaningful questions about my own relationships enables me not to worry about the answers. The point is recognizing I don't know everything about the 'here and now'. I become more thankful about new obstacles that appear because they prompt my increasing self-awareness and understanding.

I sense a deeper significance of, "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil." This phrase is often used to describe someone who wishes a difficult learning phase of a life journey was over. This phrase also reminds you how speaking ill of others may come back to haunt you. Do you wish that?

The saying is typically associated with three monkeys; one covering his eyes, one covering his ears, and the other covering his mouth that may originate in a 17th century temple in Japan. The Nikko Toshogo Shrine, also known as the Sacred Stable, in Japan has a carving of three wise monkeys. Many scholars believe the monkeys were carved as a visual representation of this key principle.

Others believe the saying originated from a Japanese play on words. “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," translated into Japanese is, “mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru." The Japanese word for monkey is “saru", and sounds similar to the verb-ending “zaru". The saying may stem from a play on words.  Curiously, a Chinese Buddhist monk introduced the three wise monkeys to Japan in the eighth century A.D. Their gestures may represent the command of a blue-faced deity called Vadjra.

As it happens, we're all free to see, hear and say what we chose, provided we don't care about the consequences. They will unfold, regardless of our attitude and what we sense about them. It's up to each of us to decide whether we choose to experience any kind of conscious evolution.

Phantom angels

Your mind may tell you things which you're unsure about.  Sometimes you feel as though events unfold to bring you closer to what you want.  Then, sometimes events unfold to prevent you from obtaining what you think you want.  Only with the passage of time and evolving maturity will you realize what you used to think you wanted wasn't really the best thing for you. 

Consider that right now, you may have a vision for the next chapter of your life.  This may include a certain kind of partner, a certain kind of home, a certain kind of job, a certain kind of entourage, a certain kind of religious or spiritual life (or lack of this), and you may be convinced that you know exactly what is best for you.  Yet, how do you really know? Who convinced you that these ideas in your mind are the most beneficial ones for your life? What or whom could cause you to change your views?

What if you met a stranger on public transit and struck up a conversation about your life? What if this individual drew your attention to options you hadn't thought of? Could a chat with a stranger be enough to cause you make life changes?

What if you suddenly discovered a flat tire which prevented you from attending what you thought would be a very important meeting? What if by taking a detour to a garage to change that tire, you discover that the dealership that recently sold you your car had swindled you by giving you faulty tires? Would you consider the mechanic be a guardian angel? A friend of mine thought so.  The mechanic advised the man to request completely new tires from the dealership. If that doesn't get the desired results, the mechanic offered to do it.   

Would a person who drew your attention to details you'd missed change your attitude enough to rethink your auto dealer? Rethink your future choice of car? Rethink your attitude about a particular lifestyle? Rethink the purpose of attending the meeting that Forces beyond you might have hinted you don't really wish to attend? Imagine the domino effect. Remind yourself that each person you meet has the potential to enable you to change your life for the better.

Consider to whom you spoke recently and whether they could be angels in disguise. 

Invisible wings that enable you to fly

If you travel, or know anyone who does, you hear about the fiascos that go on in airports. Security has been heightened all over the world. This means identification is now manditory when crossing borders. Many people are familiar with paper tickets and electronic tickets and how you're required to have the paper ones in hand before you can get a boarding pass and board a plane.

One businessman friend of mine arrived at the airport only to discover he had forgotten his passport. Imagine his dismay. He had a crucial meeting scheduled in New Zealand that couldn't be postponed. There was no way he could get back through Melbourne city to his home to get the document and return to the airport without missing his plane. With many odds against him, he discovered he had unexpected powers of persuasion. He managed to board that plane and do what he had planned to do in NZ on the condition that someone would have his passport at the airport upon his return. In times of high security, this occurred without a hitch.  He questioned whether his guardian angel had entered the minds of the airline officials who let him board his planes, and whether the angel took human form to bring him his passport and allow him to pass back through security.  He couldn't help but laugh when he found himself driving behind a convoy of Hell's Angels on familiar motorcycles all the way back to his home.

I had a heavenly experience where I arrived at an airport after a plane had already headed down the runway.  Something possessed the minds of those pilots and they came back and pick me up! As I boarded that particular aircraft, I admit I wasn't sure if the glares of fellow passengers revealed they knew a guardian angel had intervened on my behalf? I smiled at them and saw a girl wearing a t-shirt with an angel behind my seat. Funny, her mommy wasn't smiling like her.

Another experience I had was to discover I had forgotten a paper ticket when I had arrived in a busy international airport. This was a multiple destination ticket which required boarding passes and authorisations to land in multiple countries. Part of me thought the itinerary changes had been made electronically, but I had made a mistake and admitted it. At the same time, because of tight connections and events in different places, I prayed that Higher Forces would forgive my short-sightenedness and somehow intervene. It didn't take long to convince me that multiple members of that air carrier were collaborting with my guardian angels.  Not only did the ticket sales manager rebook my itinerary through 8 countries, but he gave me a voucher for a free drink to reduce my stress and didn't charge me for the booking changes. I received an escort through security and my bags were personally delivered to the baggage handlers. My own experience is that positive thinking and inviting desirable outcomes can indeed be very effective, and I'm unconvinced I do these things on my own. 

When I think to airport experiences, the place itself represents a desire for freedom.  We're ready to take off for some destination, and yet, part of us has already done so even before we board a plane.  We may like to visualize angels when situations work out and make us feel good.  At the same time, Forces beyond us may offer us signs to remind us events can unfold in our favor.  Invisible wings may in fact enable you to fly more often than you think.

Fluke or fate

Tonight, I met a business man who told me he is rarely at a loss for words.  Yet, recently, when bush fires burned out of control in rural Victoria, Australia, that all changed.  He ventured out to an area under threat because it was near where he owns property.  His instinct was to save it.   Most people he knew thought he was crazy. Rather than run away to escape, he chose to walk right into the fire. If you've ever known anyone who has said anything like this when bush fires are raging out of control, then you know that this could mean taking one's life into one's own hands.  Firemen do what they can, but at a certain point of no return, when fires blaze out of control, staying or leaving is ultimately a property owner's choice.

This man to whom I spoke is in his mid-sixties and he owns a general store in a particular remote town. Its a historic site and has much sentimental value for him and his family. As he was making his way there, he struggled to breathe in thick smoke.  He heard about people in the community losing their homes amidst 230 degree temperatures. He was aghast at the cinders he passed, yet he adamantly continued to travel toward his property. He saw firemen backburning along the way.

He remained convinced that if he let fear take over, then misfortune would be imminent. Somewhere in his past, he remembered hearing that a coward dies many times before his actual death.  This would be a mental suffering. His temperament refused to permit him to think that way. Instead, he extinguished his fear like he envisioned the firemen would extinguish the fires.  He told himself nothing would frighten him. He moved forward when most people turned back.

To this day, he has no idea how he found courage to forge on when people were fleeing.  When he finally arrived at the site of his general store, everything around this structure had burned down. This property was the only thing left standing.  Many people look at the situation and feel it was impossible. The owner decided angels must've intervened. Inside that store were priceless family albums and items of sentimental value which could never have been replaced. Now, he won't have to make the effort. He is more grateful than he ever was. He believes in miracles.

The owner of this store doesn't consider himself a spiritual man. However, this experience renewed his faith in Forces beyond him for which he has no explanation. He is pleased to still run that general store that has been in his family for generations. Funny how the old town is being rebuilt around it already when originally, it had emerged later after the people, the other way around.