The Desiderata, written by American lawyer and poet Max Ehrmann, is a simple yet powerful set of ideals. It is absolutely non-religious and can be written down on one piece of paper. I believe it to be an excellent starting point on the path to spiritual enlightenment where all good-hearted people of the world can unite; join us now and we can all walk the path together hand in hand...
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Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
(c) Max Ehrman 1926
Pause For Thought:
1. When did you first discover The Desiderata? 2. What has The Desiderata done for you to help your life? 3. Which lines particularly motivate you? 4. Has The Desiderata made you a better person? 5. If you could add an extra line to The Desiderata, what would you write?
Our little blue planet is governed by thousands of religions, sects and cults. There is no doubt that the purity of the essence of many of these followings is untarnished, but it is a heart-wrenching tragedy that some have been poisoned by greed, power and corruption. In the pure spiritual and heartfelt sense, many of these groups walk a different path, but the destination is the same - an entity of PURE LOVE AND LIGHT known by different names, including GOD.
What a catastrophe that the "club" mentality has forced people to take sides in religion and say "my club is better than your club - join now, or die" or "my God is the only God, if you don't believe in my God, you will be cast down for eternity", etc, etc. Because of this, there can never ever be "One World" - or can there???
Would you like to know just how small our little home is? It's easy..! Just click on the following video link:
Yes, we all try to co-exist on that little "upside-down" blue ball. How insignificant are the wars, hatred, intolerance, misery and pain being inflicted on its population, at least compared to the "outside world" of infinite space and continuum...?
But, the good news is that the guardians of Earth (us humans), CAN change for the better! How serene and silent our planet looks, by the way; so where, from this viewpoint, is the mayhem and turmoil which exists now?
Are you with me so far? Right then, let's zoom out further from our moon...
I would like you to expand your horizons beyond our home, and look at any map of the solar system. Do you remember the posters that were doing the rounds a few years ago? It was a picture of our universe, with a little arrow pointing into the middle, and a caption which read: "You Are Here"...
Stop, and think again about the line in The Desiderata - "You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be Here..."
So what can we do to unite as one and continue hand in hand along the path of life and to a better spiritual future? I suggest to you that The Desiderata may be a fantastic starting point for all people of the world; it is totally non-religious and can be written on a single sheet of paper...
Simply put, it's the beginning of a new way to live your life! If you can honestly apply everything written in The Desiderata, you would already find yourself on the spiritual path to peace, love and light!
If you've never tried to do this before do so now, ideally for at least a week. Even utilising these easy to follow rules to your life for just one day would give convincing results. And do you know what's best of all? You will feel HAPPY!!!
WHEN YOU'VE DONE THIS, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU FELT AFTERWARDS
(and then continue reading)
(by the way, if you would like to join me on this journey of discovery and enlightenment, please, please follow my suggestions. Otherwise, how can we have a common understanding? You have to feel what I feel, and I have to feel what you feel. Then we empathise, like only true spirits can.... thank you!)
Welcome to my little blog, and perhaps, a little ray of hope?
In the days and weeks to come, I will tell you how I came across the Desiderata, what it means to me, and how I think it could help us all in the future. Ours will be unique journey, as you will discover. Another thing I quietly ask of you is please follow the "points to ponder" at the bottom of each post. I would like you to consider each question, and formulate your HONEST answer. You have to do this in order to understand yourself and where you are going, or should I say "where WE are going".
You are of course welcome to submit your comments and thoughts as to how we can achieve universal peace and love of each other, and love of all living beings within the elaborate matrix which is our cosmos... PEACE, LOVE AND LIGHT TO YOU ALWAYS!
Pause For Thought:
1. What do you think are the positive aspects of religion? 2. What do you think are the negative aspects of religion? 3. Have your religious views changed from when you were young? 4. If there were no religious boundaries, how different do you think the world would be? 5. Do you think that in the future, it would be possible for people of all religions to accept one another as brother and sister?
This is just one of many cliches concerning our arrival on this planet; you may be able to think of many others which are similar, such as "we are all born equal", etc. If you stop and think for a while, I'm sure that a number of doubts will arise as to the validity of these sayings...
I would like you to consider a theory I have, and that is we live multiple lives - each life is like a term at school. Each "term" comes with its own unique set of lessons (experiences), tests and exams (ie how we deal with the events in this particular life). If we "pass" we move up to the next "term", each life enhancing our awareness, wisdom, compassion, consciousness and spiritual dimension. If we fail (and that includes being "expelled" by suicide), we have to come back and "re-sit" that term, perhaps over and over again until we "pass". I also believe that it's possible through observation and analysis, to determine an individual's approximate "school year" and therefore, their level of consiousness/awareness.
Simply put, we start in "kindergarten", progressing term by term to the "university" of life. Our destination? To become "one" with all that exists, understanding that our spirit is an integral part of the infinite matrix that connects everything within an eternal cosmos.
The "tools" we are given at the beginning of our new "term" vary greatly; some are presented to us at birth - the state of our physical and mental health, the geographical location and social position of the family we are born into, and of course, the "tools" which are hereditary. For example, besides many "positive" tools, passed down the family tree to me and some of my siblings, were hereditary "negative" tools - depression (from my father) and laziness (from my mother). This is a dangerous combination if not dealt with; to be depressed and lazy at the same time means that when you feel down, you can't be bothered to do anything about it, and wallow in the mire of self pity, preferring to shut yourself away from your responsibilities; eventually, you use depression as an excuse to shy away from reality. It took decades of effort for me to find a way to "cure" myself; I can only apologise to some of my previous partners who had to put up with this. Some of my siblings are still seriously affected by these traits, and my brother Mark still has great difficulty dealing with the problem (and he is now in his 40's).
I can recall at which age depression first manifested itself; I was around 7 or 8 years old at the time. Suddenly, this happy go-lucky little boy became sullen and moody; things were so bad, I was taken to see a psychiatrist in an effort to find the cause. He was a kindly, fatherly Polish gentleman, who actually seemed to care about me (there wasn't much love in our family, and we were brought up to be competitive against each other and tease each other mercilessly - in fact my father gave us all rather cruel nicknames, which we used regularly, thinking that it was sanctioned by our parents and was the right way to behave). "Dr Polish" (as I called him) asked me to draw pictures, and I took advantage of this opportunity for attention by drawing pictures of war and people being killed. I was given medication in the form of little purple heart-shaped tablets - "happy pills" as I called them; my mother gave me one a day, and kept them on the top shelf, well out of my reach. I became somewhat addicted to these, and quickly found a way to reach them! My mother didn't notice how quickly they were disappearing until only a few remained. My medication was changed to bitter white tablets which mother used to crush and mix up with jam (and at the same time, being extra cautious with the location of the remaining pills). I can remember searching for them for hours whenever mother was out of the house (and she invariably was); I found them in the end! These events I suppose, were my first experimentations with drugs...
Anyway, the treatment suddenly stopped one day, as it was proving too expensive I think; either that, or mother realised I was hooked on them. But one bad lesson I learned from the experience, was that in order to try and gain attention and care (love?) from teachers at school, all I had to do was walk around looking sad! I was so lazy I couldn't be bothered with my homework and slid from the top of the secondary school grading system (Upper 1A), down to the "B" stream. I seriously lacked motivation, eventually leaving school with no qualifications whatsoever.
Life at home was almost like living in a war zone at times; my father was very much a traditionalist (ie - he was the bread winner, and my mother tasked with looking after the home, and us kids). My mother was almost always out talking to her friends, leaving us for the most part to fend for ourselves. We never had breakfast before school, and we went to school hungry and scruffy (we all used to hang our clothes on the floor), and often with holes in our shoes. When my dad saw signs of our neglect, he would explode, and we would cower in terror in our bedrooms, wondering what was going to happen next. I remember one night when I was only around 3 or 4 years old, my dad came back drunk, slapped my mother around, and then burnt all her sheet music in the fire place. There were (I think) only the first three of us born (Me, Jane and John) at the time, and mother bundled us off to stay with our "grand parents" (explanation for the "" in a later post) in Nottingham.
Despite everything I said about my father, I loved him dearly, and I think that in his own way, he loved us too. My father and I spent hours walking the footpaths of Derbyshire and the Yorkshire dales; in later years he took me into his confidence about the world and our family from his perspective. When I was around 13 or 14 years old, my mother suddenly went blind; an amazing co-incidence because the switchboard operator at dad's work was a blind guy called Fred Orpwood. My mother was fascinated by him being able to work with no eyesight. Around five or six months before she allegedly lost her sight, she sent me to the Royal National Institute for the Blind in Nottingham to buy Braille paper, punch and metal frame, in order for her to learn to write to Fred.
My dad went to his grave believing mother was pretending, and I have to admit that she made a few slip-ups which us kids noticed immediately; these we reported to dad, which only added fuel to the fire, already raging out of control. Eventually the family was split forever, as we were forced to take sides with one parent or the other. Our friends and neighbours also doubted the situation with mother, and we endured suspicion and shame. I have learned to live with it, but the true circumstances are still unknown and we sons and daughters go along with whatever mother wants...
Having no qualifications from school, my only escape from intolerable home live and certain doom in a factory, was to sign on as an apprentice with the Royal Air Force; and so, aged fifteen and a half, I departed Long Eaton (my home town) to a new and very difficult life at RAF Hereford. At Sawley Junction railway station my father displayed some rare emotion; there were tears in his eyes as he shook my hand as I boarded the train - all of a sudden I had become a man, taking with me the "tools" and experiences which would give me my start on the journey into adulthood and interaction with the big world...
Pause For Thought:
1. Which "hereditary" negative tools (if any) were passed down to you? 2. How do you think they affected your life, and those people around you? 3. How did you manage to overcome these hereditary negative traits, or are you still having to deal with them? 4. Do you think that without these hereditary negative, your life would have been better, or worse? 5. What "positive" hereditary tools were passed down to you?
The first time I ever heard of The Desiderata was way back in the seventies, during my first year in the Royal Air Force. I joined as an apprentice at RAF Hereford straight from school at the age of fifteen and a half. There was a hit single version, voiced by an American DJ, Les Crane. I found the song to be quite haunting, but the words didn't really have much of an impact...
Anyway, a couple of years later, I had my first serious relationship with a girl called Irene. We had been seeing each other at work at RAF Cranwell, and we were set up as a "blind date" by our colleagues! We hit it off immediately, and one day the time came for me to meet her mother (gulp!). I was thinking of something I could do to show I was a decent sort of bloke, and wondered how I could impress her. Suddenly, the song Desiderata came into my head, and decided to type out the words (painstakingly playing back the song, one line at a time) and give it to her as a gift. Well, it worked and she appreciated the gesture!
So, time took its course and after a couple of years, we split up; we still saw each other at work though, and for me it was a huge loss. In the White Cranes Club (the NAAFI recreation building), there was a disco held every Thursday evening. I decided to go along, still very upset with our separation and very down (in fact I had been prescribed valium and, for some reason, iron tablets). I was devastated to see her with another boy and, as crazy as it sounds in hindsight - I got totally drunk, went back to my room, and took all the tablets....
I remember the following morning, I was viewing myself from the ceiling, and remembered thinking why there was birdseed on top of my locker. At that point my boss, Sergeant Cutler came through the door, cigarette in hand. He strolled over to where I was lying, thinking that I'd overslept (a regular event for me at the time), strolled over to where I lay and tried to rouse me. He then realised there was something wrong, disappeared and called for an ambulance....
I recall almost nothing of the journey, except, for some reason some words gently, lovingly going through my mind in very very slow motion it seemed. I was surrounded by an incredible calmness, a "nothingness" if I were to try and describe it, (which I have experienced since during times of danger) and the words "You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here..." being said kindly, patiently and lovingly over and over again in my head. Those present must have noted this down, because after a few days, when I recovered, I was sent to see a military shrink who asked me why I kept repeating this phrase. I couldn't tell him the answer at the time, and it was only when I heard the song again after being discharged from RAF Nocton Hall Hospital that I remembered. Oh, and by the way... I checked the top of my locker and yes, there was birdseed there!
This experience of attempted suicide at the age of seventeen, and discovering the vastness of the cosmos in which we live, plus the words from The Desiderata changed my life forever, and my view of why were are here (more of that in later posts)...
The Desiderata sent me on a journey of personal, spiritual discovery. I have spent hours and hours in what can only be described as voluntary solitary confinement, pondering, reasoning, formulating my ideas and beliefs. With them come no huge volumes of work (although I have read some amazing books, and had conversations with equally astounding people), no religious boundaries and barriers; just a very simple account of why we are here, and where we go to when we die. I am so excited by this, that I would like to share it all with as many people as I can. However, I will do it one step at a time, just as I did with my personal learning process. Each post on this blog will be just one more step along the path to the PURE LOVE AND LIGHT that powers the existence of all that is...
It is my genuine wish that you will walk with me along this path of experience and enlightenment, hand in hand. I would love to have your company and share our thoughts and beliefs, and most of all, your friendship; there are deep dark valleys on our journey, tall, cold and lonely mountains to climb, moments of sunshine, rain and dangerous creatures... but the destination is more powerful than anything in our material cosmos... the spiritual realm is our destination; a place where love and peace are realities, and we can all exist happy ever after.
Pause For Thought:
1. What life-changing experiences have shaped your future? 2. Have you ever experienced an out of body experience? 3. If so, what did you see, and where did you go?
During the time I was spiritually absent from my body (after the overdose), the places I visited were fascinating, and without doubt life changing. The one thing I felt was an incredible sense of calm. I described it earlier as "nothingness"; since my last blog I realise that this sensation requires explanation. It was a feeling of total belonging to everywhere, everything, kind of being a part of all that exists, without actually having a physical connection. It was like finding (and at the same time, me being) the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle; once it was in place, and thus completing the picture, everything became understandable; to simplify this, like knowing that two plus two was obviously four! I could see why we were going through what we had to experience in our many lives, and where the journey ended. And what we would become at that destination!
During that moment, at the same time, I saw my father in tears after being told what had happened to me; I wanted to comfort him, and ask him to stop blaming himself. I wanted to tell him how beautiful was the place I was in. I wanted him to be there with me... I was everywhere all at the same time. Interestingly, in later years when the Hubble space telescope began beaming back its amazing photographs, I had an incredible feeling of deja vu. I am still astonished by these images, while at the same time, I view them in the same way that one would feel if they were photographs of a beautiful garden you'd created behind your house. Creationism does exist, but it's far bigger than any religion could lay claim to...
I look back over this post as it appears so far, and realise that it is impossible to put into words that moment of my life. There was no sense of time, the journey could have been measured in seconds, or thousands of "light years"!
I met only one person; she was the same lady who I saw sitting at the right side edge of the bottom of my bed when I was very ill at the age of three or four. At that time, I asked my mother, who was also present in the room, who this beautiful, kind, loving lady in white was; my mother asked, "who are you talking about?". There was nobody there, at least as far as she could see. I can still recall the event, my bedroom was dark with just a faint glow of the street lights illuminating the curtains. Over the years, my mother and I have discussed that moment. She has often asked me to describe this lady. All I can tell you is that she was wearing a long white robe; she had long fair hair and a youngish face, maybe early twenties. She had her hands clasped together in her lap, and a feeling of incredible warmth and love. I will never forget her smile; it was full of love and knowing. I have only had that feeling of "oneness" from one other person in my life, and without doubt she was/is my soulmate, but she's gone from my current life now. We will meet again for sure, as we have done in our many lives before.
Back in time to the morning following my attempted suicide; after I observed Sergeant Cutler enter my room, and had experienced this feeling of "nothingness", I was with the lady in white; she had my head in her lap, gently stroking my hair. She smiled and looked lovingly down at me and sent a thought into my head (she didn't say it vocally, because I have never seen her speak) - "Peter... yes, this is a beautiful place. But you have to go back to your life now, there are so many things you have to learn"....
