Posted by Raul on October 21, 2010
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
01- “Luck doesn’t exist…it is our own doing that brings us the good or bad things we receive”
-So how then do I influence the action of buying the right Lottery ticket number?
02- “Everything happens for a reason and is an opportunity to improve ourselves in the future”
-Should I tell that to the Jewish men and women that spent several years in concentration camps just to die there after so many tribulations?
-The early death of my child allowed me to learn the deep meanings of life, but how can I tell my child “you had to die so I could learn”
03- “We master our own universe, we are in control and it depends on us how we perceive our reality and how we control it”
-Then the earthquake came and we lost our house and all our possessions.
04- “I choose to be in love with everything and everyone; I love my surroundings and all that is part of it; I see the beauty in all the things and people that are part of this wonderful world”
-Including that wonderful being that happily went on driving after several drinks and run over my child.
I’ve been lucky enough not to loose a child; I been lucky enough not to be in a concentration camp; I’ve been lucky enough not even to win the lottery (which I don’t play). Yes, I’ve been lucky enough…but I’m not blind, and even though I love life, nature, and I do believe there is goodness in people, sometimes when looking around I can’t stop being a cynic for a moment!
A cynicism exercise…to dust off this human capability that protects us from our own, sometimes innocent blindness.
I’m not feeling down or disappointed, I just want to experience the full range of human feelings, at the same time that I taste a bit of reality, so my feet can remain on the ground.
Raul
Posted by Raul on September 23, 2010
I don’t believe in a God’s existence as presented socially, so I don’t have a set of commandments to live by, I am at my own will.
So how can I expect to live my life?
Let’s say that I have two sons.
The first one is always coming to my house and thanking me for all that I have done for him; he talks about me out there; he is willing to kill for me, but he is also selfish and dishonest; he wants power and money; he goes like “I didn’t make things the way they are, I’m just surviving in this world” as an excuse to abuse and act in a self rewarding way without regard for others.
The other never came back. He never calls me and never thanked me; he went on to do his life. But I know that he is a good man, he is a good friend, father and husband, and people can trust him. He is not worried about money and power, he enjoys life and nature; he respects others and tries to be just and honorable.
Which one would make me more proud?
The second one would be my choice and I believe it’ll be the logical choice also.
So, if God does exist, and is like people say: eternally loving and worried about his children’s happiness and in no case selfish, wanting to be worshiped (that would be a religion’s concept) then I will try to be like the second son, to make him proud of me.
If he doesn’t exist, I can still be proud of myself, enjoy life and nature, family and friendship, and even that with this way I’ll never be rich and powerful, I know I’ll be happy with myself.
So I believe it is not important to spend life questioning about if God does exist or not, it is not important to go to church and pray, and of course, is not important to escalate in society and become rich and powerful. I think a God would care a whole lot less what we believe than he cares about what is in our hearts and how we treat each other, so what really matter is to put all our efforts in trying to be better people, become real human beings, and enjoy life in the process.
I know it may sound selfish for some, but after looking at religious wars that killed and tortured so many throughout history, a wealthy church with a Pope that wears expensive hand made shoes and lives surrounded by riches while preaching modesty and giving ways; and even local priests that preach every Sunday the rules to live by, yet scandals and left behind children abound, I cannot believe in their words in other ways than religions are just a man made business for conquering, ruling and profit building purposes.
Contradictions exist in the own words of the teachers when their preaching is compared with their actions.
If when I die I have to face a God that I never believed in and he happens to be the way is taught by religion, eternally loving and understanding, then I’m sure he will understand my motives, smile and say “Come in, make yourself at home”
If I found a God that requires worshiping and supports Holly Wars, then I’m in deep shit!
Raul
Posted by Raul on August 31, 2010
While using the Netbook in the kitchen I caught a sudden movement of one of the plants spending time in a corner of the room.
The plant was just standing there when several leaves quickly moved like if being pushed by an invisible hand. No words came out of my mouth but they did form in my mind (what the f…!) then immediately I remembered those videos in YouTube about ghosts…you know, those where someone claims to forgot to turn off the camera and later, when checking the video, found that things moved in the room on their own, then go on to say “you decide” although the title of the video usually is something like “definite proof that ghost exist” (yes, from time to time I like to watch YouTube videos; you can learn something with the video and laugh with the comments)
I don’t believe in ghosts, even though I am one (Alien Ghost remember?) so trying to find an explanation I checked for air currents in the room…none; then I thought: plants grow and we don’t see any movement…being this plant one of those that hang from a basket maybe the leaves grow until they touch with each other, then start applying pressure and then at some point the leaves just “jump” to a new position when the growth has reached a certain point.
Or something like that.
My only experience with ghosts was several years ago back in my country. When my wife’s father died we were living in the US and couldn’t go to the funeral. About a year later we travel and stayed in my wife’s parent’s house
I used to spend lots of time at the living room doing drawings and usually got there up to 3 or 4 in the morning, when everyone was sleeping in the house.
A couple of times I was concentrated in the drawings when I heard steps in front of me and felt the presence of someone just standing there, watching me; I looked up and saw no one else in the room. The way of walking was the same of my wife’s father.
Later, talking with family members, the only other person feeling the presence of this ghost was his wife, the widow.
Why only the two of us? And especially why me one of them? I know he didn’t like me…after all in his eyes I stole his daughter
Disclaimer: I didn’t steal her, I was just passing by minding my own business when she grabbed me and forced me to marry her! (I hope she doesn’t read this) J
I suppose those “encounters” were nothing more that the contraction of the wooden floor with the temperature changes at night.
But those thoughts and memories got me thinking…how many stories and beliefs start with the jump into a conclusion without the search for a more logical explanation?
Do you believe in ghosts? Do you have a story to share with us in the comment section? Maybe after several different stories and approaches we can come to a different conclusion. Please share with us your memories.
Raul
Posted by Raul on August 19, 2010
The canoe is gliding over the fresh, cold waters of this magnificent morning; the quiet lake surrounded by beautiful trees while the sun shines by the side letting the natural colors bright with their maximum intensity.
I can hear the gentle noise of the water as I slowly paddle my way through the center of the lake. Some birds I cannot see let me have their morning songs that go in perfect synchronicity with the air, the smell of fresh grass and new flowers in the distance.
Some brownish leaves floating in the lake, waving with the gentle movements of the waters that hold them and let them be a different kind of shining spots to complement the beauty of the place.
My heart is complete with joy as I experience the beauty of nature and the simplicity of being. No complex thoughts, no worries about civilian life, just a human being in nature, as part of nature, being connected with the whole, the universe
My spirit finally free so I can be, instead of the struggles we self impose by our built society. Free to be, free to climb, free to experience the moment as it should always be. At this point I am one with nature and the universe!
Finding the connection of an intelligent and sensitive being, born out of a powerful specie among the many that conform life in this beautiful planet, among the many that conform the universe, with the universe itself.
Connections that present us with the truth of a master plan, a purpose, a reason to be here, to be born; nature and a human being, synchronized, being part of each other, connected, to make the whole.
A piece of wood floating in the waters; I didn’t see it, I hit it and the sudden movement of my body by the surprise makes my canoe move quickly and tip to one side, I loose balance and fall to the waters.
Cold waters that shock me and cut off my breathing, I can’t breath and my arms and legs instinctively stretch instead of moving to swim back to the canoe; water reach my mouth, nose, ears and eyes; grasping for air I swallow the cold, bitter water while I can’t see anything and a rumbling noise surrounds me.
I fight, I start moving my arms and legs, but no air that I need, so it’s drowning instead of breathing and the more I try the worst it becomes, so the pain in my chest, that feeling of exploding from inside, my lungs burn and I completely loose any control over my body.
Then the pain recedes and my body calms down, stops moving, I float just a couple of inches under the waters, and I can see.
My family, my little child playing and laughing, my spouse’s face smiling, the house, the mountains close to where I lived; the ocean with the sunset that was part of my life so long ago. The struggles and dreams for so many years.
Then nature around, life itself and the universe that I learned to be part of; another magnificent creature connected that I came to be, now being absorbed and destroyed; all the memories, all the experiences, all the knowledge accumulated, the thoughts, the questioning, all that became a part of this human being, all being quietly destroyed by Mother Nature while some little birds sing their morning songs and the sun gives the colors around a vibrant shine.
The feeling of being disposed of, discarded, reduced to just new soil or dust, the nothingness, while all nature’s creatures and nature itself remain silent in complicity of the murdering
I was, or I thought I was; connections or pretensions? Vision or happy, ignorant blindness? No cold, no perceptions other than a vague vision of the waters and just floating in the nothingness.
I could, for a brief moment, convince myself of being in harmony with the whole, of being a part of the whole, under a controlled situation where I got to have the power, the decisions, the faith, until the whole claimed its power back and showed me how insignificant this physical body can be.
A brief moment, just a second of an entire life, from the powerful being to the disposable element, like a brownish leave in autumn, like the piece of dead wood floating lifeless by the lake, just like a dead bug on the ground…so is the time…to say good bye…
Raul
Posted by Raul on August 16, 2010
When I was about 16 years old I was living in a different city than my parents and used to go visit them on weekends.
One Saturday morning, when arriving at my parent’s house, I found my father ready to go hunting with a shotgun, he invited me to go with him and I accepted because, at the side of spending some time together, I was curious about the firearm.
After walking for a couple of minutes my father asked me if I wanted to give a try to the gun and I accepted; how tempting to hold the gun, aim at something and pull the trigger to see and feel it in action!
With the gun in my hands I looked around to find a target and saw a small bird standing in a high, wooden pole, so I aimed to the little bird and pulled the trigger.
The small bird didn’t fly with the sound of the firearm, didn’t even start to flap its wings, it simply fell off to the ground without any movement, lifeless, dead.
While falling, even before it hit the ground, I was already feeling remorse for killing it. It was doing nothing, just standing there, being, alive, but because I didn’t think ahead of the consequences, I just aimed and shot, the little creature ceased to exist.
I felt really bad!
I remember giving the gun back to my father and telling him that I would never hold a firearm in my hands again. We walked back to his house in complete silence and had never talked about that situation.
I don’t know what my father’s feelings were at that moment and I don’t know if he knew what my feeling were, but I believe it wasn’t important then and is not today; nothing changed between us.
I don’t know if he remembers that moment but I do, and decide to write about it here in my blog.
More than 30 years have gone by and I kept my word, I’ve never held another gun in my hands and I still don’t like them.
Because of that moment I had the opportunity to think about people and guns and come to the conclusion that, not only guns are for destruction, but also how fragile life can be and how important is to protect it.
I was a 16 years old kid, curious about how a firearm would feel when fired and by making a stupid mistake I learned to respect life, anticipate consequences and stay away from guns.
Raul
