A SEASON FOR RE-IMAGINING OUR LIVES

In the world around us, and within ourselves, Spring brings an essence-enhancing newness to the experience of being. It is the recurring oasis in the desert of our existence; at once a season and a place of reinvigoration.

This season of resurgence reminds us that dormancy is not death. It entreats us to take a break from the labors that consume us so that we may find the wherewithal to rise again in an inspired newness of being. The difference between those who live into the newness of being that marks this season and those who don’t, is a consciousness of the essential variety of the times of our lives.

The consciousness of the essential variety of our lives opens our eyes to the opportunities inherent in the challenges of our continued evolution. It fuels the courage we need to embrace the toppling of the status quo in our experiences. To paraphrase a well known piece of wisdom: it teaches us that there is indeed a time to sow, and a time to reap; a time to build up, and a time to tear down; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to die, and a time to be born again; a time to hold on to old things, and a time to let go of such things.

Spring challenges us to reimagine ourselves. We are moved by the breath of fresh air  that comes with this new season to take inventory of ourselves and our lives with a view to the creation of new spaces in which to grow. We are summoned by the promises of another “resurrection” to reconceive ourselves… to see our lives beyond the currency of the contents of our minds and the burdens thereof. The rebirth that calls us forward into a new sense of ourselves is enhanced, among other things, by the unlimiting of our imagination, and the empowerment that can come with the appropriate stewardship of a new sense of Freedom.

Beyond the accrued contents of your mind - with all its joys and sorrows; with all its taught liberties and constraints; beyond the superimposed duties and burdens that we have come to assume in our day to day grind - we have a most sacred duty to recreate ourselves in ways that liberate us from the many influences that would limit our potential.

Our liberation is a work that we must assume. The saving of your life is a mission that only you can accomplish for yourself. It is work that demands a fundamental  reconception of who you are, and the cultivation of a vision of life that is in sync with the reality that we are an essential part of the circle of life. It will only happen when you live into the truth that your destiny is your responsibility; and that your ultimate responsibility is to make the world better by being a better person. It is this consciousness of a connectedness of being that will free us from the disaster of that trite individualism that corrupts our attempts at community.

Many of us spend our lives waiting for a “savior” to deliver us from our corrupted way of being. We want to expiate our many transgressions through someone else’s “sacrifice”, when, truth be told, what we really need is the innate courage to speak the truth to ourselves about our own complacency… about our own lack of the courage to redeem ourselves by taking control of our lives.
Everyday… every new season... has dormant within it the seeds of a new and more righteous us; an us yet unimagined. To awaken each day is to affirm with our every breath the promise of a uniquely more abundant life. Each new sunrise lights the way to a future beyond the horizons that circumscribe and artificially limit our view of life and the world.

Beyond every frustration with which we are confronted on our life journey is a truth tugging at the very core of who we are. It is a truth more potent than the next high, more exhilarating than the contents of the next bottle of whatever, more lasting than the promises of the next injection of poison. That truth is: We should genuinely desire to be better persons in each and every aspect of our lives. If that is not your truth then you are living in a bad dream. Time to wake up.
Our histories should inform us, not define us. Our experiences can serve us by reminding us of the ways and processes that can make us better, instead of scaring us into complacency. The past with all its stored wisdoms and follies can point the way to other possibilities as we re-envision our way forward in our lives.

We must never make the mistake of believing that we are limited to what we have been, or what we have done. We must cultivate the fortitude to rise above the things that have been done to us. We must also work against the tendency in ourselves to hurt others. It is through this process that we will find our salvation… and the wonderful possibilities of our common humanity.