dedication and
NO excuses
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An article from livingstonemusic.net >
"I submit that if a man hasn't discovered
something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live"
[Martin Luther
King, Jr.]
Do you know what you want to achieve with your life? If you do, then how bad
do you want it?
In the world I circulate in, music is the main Eartly focus. I am a musician.
And the world of music contains many people who purport to possess the necessary
commitment to become the best musicians they can possibly be. But I continually
wonder how many of them realise the depths contained within the task of excelling
at music? And that same question I extend to everyone with regards to whatever
they aspire to. In other words, to what end are you
doing what you are doing?
Thapan Puri
One morning over twenty years ago, at the time of writing, Thapan Puri
arose from his bed in Bihar, India. He raised one foot in the air and from
that day to this that foot has never touched the ground again. When he moves
from place to place he uses a crutch. He never sits down. He never lies down.
He remains standing on his one terrestrial leg leaning on a swing rigged up
from a branch of a tree. When he wants to sleep he simply leans more heavily
on the swing and lays his head on his forearms. Even on trains or buses he
remains standing. On the day he raised his foot from the ground and vowed
never to sit he also took a vow of silence and committed himself to never
eating solid food again. Harsh as these self imposed disciplines are, Thapan
Puri is not a masochist nor is he insane. His decision to spend his whole
life as a silent, hungry, one legged man was one born of deep conviction that
these acts would aid him in his meditations on the human condition.
Amar
Bharti
Amar Bharti had decided to devote the rest of his life to Shiva. In time
his beard grew long and his hair became matted into thick dreadlocks. Despite
the harshness of his existence Amar Bharti felt that his spiritual quest was
still weighed down by earthly comforts and pleasure. Three years after leaving
his whole life behind, Amar Bharti made a second decision. He decided to raise
his arm vertically in the air as if he was a small child begging to answer
a call of nature. Once his arm was raised it was never to come down again.
That was in 1973.
Simeon
Simeon
was born in Syria around 389. He started life as a shepherd.. Aged 16, moved
by a sermon, he became determined to enter a monastery. Refused admission,
he lay on the ground outside for five days, until the monks relented and took
him in.
Simeon found out eventually that a life of solitary devotion was
what he really wanted. For some years, Simeon lived on a mountain top, eating
only once a week and standing upright to pray for as long as his limbs could
hold him. He acquired a reputation for sanctity, and started drawing crowds
of pilgrims. To get away from the visitors, Simeon moved further into the
wastes, but was unable to avoid the faithful throngs. His solution to the
problem was inspired.
He had a pillar built, with a platform a metre-square on top. It
was only three metres high initially, but after several renovations, reached
a height of at least 15 metres. There was a small balustrade on the platform,
but nothing else. Simeon remained on his perch for an incredible 36 years.
In 459, after Simeon had been kneeling motionless in prayer for three days,
disciples noticed he was actually dead. His life inspired many more 'Pillar-Saints'
to follow his example in the generations that followed.
You
Those examples of dedication and commitment puts our seemingly mundane
aspirations for wealth and trash-materials very much into perspective. We
will be so weak as to state that "I can't stop smoking because....."
or "I'm depressed because.....". How trite. How infantile. How gutless
for us to offer excuse after excuse for not accomplishing something. At the
end of the day, barring death or serious injury or disablement, there is no
excuse which will satisfy the true Judge of your life - YOU. It is
you and you only who will have to live with the internal person that is housed
within you. When we all make an excuse to someone for not doing something,
we get relief if the other person accepts our shallow attempts at reasoning.
But those moments, when you are alone
with you and yourself, can you convince the one who sees all, with your half-baked
tales of misfortune? Don't forget, that the all seeing eye in your life is
yourself.
I'm reminded of a song which went
"I could have been a Political Leader, I could have been the Third World's
feeder, but I'm just a drunken old bleeder......."
I
will resist from mentioning the plights of political hunger-strikers who took
their dedication to the absolute - to their death. This is not a political
article. This is text about our individual selves. Each one different, but
all confined within the same fundamental concepts of the journey of life.
We are born. We live. We die.
Revelations 20:12 - And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in
the books, by what they had done.
This is the teaching of the Christian Bible. When viewed in in allegoric
terms, we stand before our God and we are judged. This God who you will face
will be the fiercest critic you will ever have to humble yourself before.
Tremble at the thought of that day, for that judge is YOU.
Regardless of what the world around thinks of you, whether
you be a Holy Man or a Roadsweeper, you will have to answer to your own Self.
We all should consider the duty (and need) to Honour that One, Great, Eternal
Being who is the Master of your world - YOU.
By blaming the world around you for your 'misfortunes'
severely sidesteps the main reason for what you have so far become. Each incident
in our lives is a working within a complex and infinite universe. The universe
that is you. Not me. Not anyone else.
If your dream consists of you becoming a millionaire,
then go to it, although very strange behaviour in my view.... If it doesn't
happen, then so be it. It wasn't right. You weren't committed enough. And
that's okay. Now find the niche which is YOU.
If your going barking mad with working at a desk job, then simply STOP
IT. GET OUT......And NO excuses. No tales of "I have bills to
pay...." or "I can't live without the money...."
Money, like everything else in this life is merely ILLUSION.
[a previous livingstonemusic.net article 'kill yourself for money which
never existed' might shed some
light on this].
For whatever area of life you end up in is really irrelevant.
What is relevant is how you view yourself, because ultimately that
will shape how you see the rest of the world.
If you do not like the person you are, this
will give you a more negatively based perception on how you view the rest
of the world. We paint our mental pictures of others within the confines of
how we see ourselves. If you're a liar, you will think that most people are
liars also.
The
key to you is the solitary, secret you that you keep hidden away from the
rest of the world. The little inner self that only YOU know about. The person
who is fine and good. The little person who is afraid to come out. Instead
he sends out an image which is non-reflective of the true, brilliant being
that is hidden from all eyes but one - Itself.
Although we may be individual, we are an image of the One thing simply
viewed in an infinite number of ways. Nothing more.
You owe it to yourself to release that prisoner, held without charge,
against his own free will, into the world where he belongs. You are committing
a crime against Nature and most of all, against Yourself by not doing so.
Who the Hell wrote this?
I did. Have I got something to dedicate my life to? To die for?
Yes. And time will tell if I am true to my will or a frightened schmuck.
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