Destiny

There is a predominant attitude in many people that goes like this: Whatever seems to be beyond our immediate control must have been God's doing.

I've studied theology enough to understand the difference between fate, destiny, Devine intervention, and discernment. There are a great many things, including what appears to be accidental, that humans, with sufficient foresight, can control.

I don't believe in a philosophy that turns everything around and seems to make it my fault. And that's because I don't like thinking I am guilty of any wrongdoing. Many people say I espouse such a belief. The Work can be viewed as a philosophy that makes everything my fault. In training programs like est (replaced with Landmark Education), Scientology, Mind Dynamics, Lifespring, and Summit (to mention a few), the key feature seems to be self-awareness. Those who aren't aware enough get guidance from those who seem to have a greater awareness. (In Scientology, this gets way out of hand with orders from superiors to "get clear", and all objections and excuses are overruled if you want to remain in the organization. It's a lot like living in the military. I support the technology, but not the organization.)

Getting back to my opening statement, and with great sympathy for those who have suffered tragedy such as a miscarriage, I am always very curious as to what we do that we aren't aware of that sets up the right conditions for a tragedy to "happen". I do not intend that I be misunderstood here. I am not saying that we 'should' be more aware and prevent all tragedies. I smoked cigarettes for over eighteen years. I ate beef and pork most of my life. I ate pounds of sugar in different forms every year for most of my life. I took in caffeine in many different forms for over half of my life. I drank alcoholic beverages, sometimes to extreme (I used to party - I did have a life once, you know). All this without any awareness that it could develop into a body condition that could terminate my life way too early. Actually, I believed I was rather impervious to health hazards because I was feeling so healthy. And I enjoyed those things tremendously. So much so that when anyone even remotely suggested I was doing harm to myself with those things that I either laughed at them (you're crazy!) or shouted at them (stop trying to live my life!).

With my own eye-opening experience of cancer and all that I did to understand it, I have personally experienced the benefits of self-awareness in all that I do. I feel I no longer need to meditate to discover the essence of life. Some people think I have gone overboard with a radical philosophy. But that's mostly because they are still enjoying the pleasures of beef, pork, alcohol, sugar, caffeine, and other things that are on my no-no list. (To be absolutely clear, beef and pork are on my list because of the dangers related to chemicals, such as BGH, and live parasites that can be found in such meats. I'm even beginning to get more selective about fish and foul for the same reason - and I never eat raw fish.)

Well, all those things are related to what I eat that directly affects my physical health. There are other aspects of awareness that directly affects my mental health. Speech has a wonderful way of getting under my skin, so to speak, and in doing so, indirectly affects my physical health. Phrases such as "that kills me", "I can't stand that", "I love it to death", and many others have a direct affect on attitudes, and as I've said before, attitude affects behavior, and behavior directly affects the quality of life. I have read several books on the subject of "you are what you think", but only since my cancer experience can I say how true that is for me. The personal coach that I hired after my cancer diagnosis showed me the astounding regularity of my speech patterns and how they affected my attitude. By simply changing the way I speak about things, I have changed my attitude. The change in attitude shows up in many ways, one of which is a more natural life experience sans the unfortunate miscreants of ignorance.

There is no better way to learn of such things than to develop an attitude that what you know could be wrong. Think on these things: change could be good; the other person could be right; what got me where I am today might not be good enough to get me through this day. What I know for sure is that if what I think about my life as it is today sucks, then what I did to get me here certainly couldn't have been all that right.

I believe in a succession of events. Chain reaction. Stimulus-response. Gravity. Math. I have learned to notice the cause and effect of my thinking. I have learned to notice how the decisions I make about things affects my attitude and my behavior. I have learned to notice how seemingly insignificant thoughts and actions of yesterday have built up into major beliefs and strong behavior of today.

I am more careful how I cross the street now. I notice more things while driving. I "feel" the quality of the air I breathe and the quality of the water I drink. I sense more and more the individual parts of my body. I am enjoying more about life overall than ever before.

I am interested in what others think and do, but I observe with a view to discern the cause and effect of their thoughts and actions. To see how they live is to understand how I live. I take it in and turn it around. What part of what I see in them is in me? How do I know what I believe in? What do I get out of my beliefs? How would I be different if I didn't believe in such things? How much of what I say and do is about attempting to govern the lives of others instead of paying attention to my own business?

So by my own decisions I assist in the creation of my destiny. A true miracle happens when I change my mind. Divine intervention is God's way of helping me change my mind (that says almost nothing to anyone who hasn't personally experienced it). I accept magic as those acts that defy our accepted beliefs in things like gravity and math, and in that sense, magic is nothing more than an application of a law we don't fully understand.

Since fate is the power or motive force behind all things and destiny is the end result, and since like begets like, then my choice is to direct my life with Love, and Love will be my destiny.

For whatever it's worth.