We're Off To See The Wizard

Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters

The Silent Scream - Why It's So Dam Hard to Do What Matters

"It's like the Wizard of OZ.  We're looking for a wizard seeking a heart, a brain, courage, and the wizard says you already have these things.  All you have to do is to use it.  When you believe in your great indomitable self, then all things are possible (87)."
                                                                     - Marva Collins

     We all have inside of us what we need.  We don't have to look any further than our own backyard.  We spend so much time looking externally for the things that will make our life matter.  When all we really have to do is look inside of ourselves.  It's all there.  You just need to learn how to tap your own resources.  We are all unique individuals with the ability to do great things in life.  If only we would begin to believe in ourselves.

"Happy endings come from listening to that little voice inside your head - some call it the whisper - about what matters to you.  It is a voice that echoes, through every cell in your body, straining to be heard like a silent scream.  It's a nagging, often irritating "need" craving a response (88)."

     If we spend our whole life ignoring what we really want to do, we will never be fulfilled.  Most of us are told, you have to get a job.  Do something that will allow you to have gainful employment.  Even if what you really want to do is paint, write, or sing, etc.  They'll tell you, you can't do that.  You'll never make any money.  How will you be able to support yourself doing that?  So you go against that little voice inside you, even though you know you shouldn't.  You take that 9 to 5 job that pays the bills and you end up miserable.
   
     What might your life be like if you had listened to that voice.  Money isn't everything and life is short.  Just go for it.

The Oxford Book of Death:  Graveyards and Funerals

"In life I was the town drunkard;
When I died the priest denied me burial
In holy ground
The which rebounded to my good fortune.
For the Protestants bought this lot.
And buried my body here,
Close to the grave of the banker Nicholas,
And of his wife Priscilla
Take note, ye prudent and pious souls,
Of the cross-currents of life
Which being honour to the dead, who lived in shame (126)."
                                     (as above) - 'Chase Henry'

     I think it is ridiculous that a religious person, such as a priest, can sit in judgement of another.  It seems to me that these people who profess to be religious are some of the most judgemental people on Earth.  Instead of being humble and forgiving, they are righteous and cruel.  Because this man was an alcoholic, he didn't deserve to be buried just like everyone else?  Have pity on his soul.  I think it is ironic in this poem that even though the Catholics would not give him a final resting place amongst them, the Protestants would.  Was this their way of getting back at the Catholics, or were they just more forgiving and less judgemental?

"Tell me good dog, whose tomb you guard so well"
"The Cynic's." "True; but who that Cynic tell."
"Diogenes, of fair Sinope's race."
"What?  He that in a tub was wont to dwell?"
"Yes: but the stars are now his dwelling place(126)."                           Anon, tr. John Abbington Symonds


     I do believe that dogs have souls.  They are extremely intuitive.  They sense our feelings.  They are sad when we are sad.  They are happy when we are happy.  They love us unconditionally.

     I recently watched a movie on Lifetime TV called Hachiko.  It was about this dog named Hachiko that would meet his owner at the train station everyday at 5:00 p.m.  One day his master died.  Hachiko would run to the station and wait for his master; who never came.  His master's family came and took him home.  He just kept running away to the train station everyday at 5:00.  Finally, they let him go.  He lived at the station from then one.  People knew what he was doing and they felt bad and started to feed him and give him water.  The local newspaper go a hold of this story and it touched so many people, that it went national.  People started to send money to the train station.  They set up a Trust for the dog.  It took care of his food and vet bills.  The people at the station took care of him until he died.  When he died, they resurrected a statue in his honor right on the spot where he sat waiting for all those years.

                            Waiting

What must a dog feel when his beloved master has gone.
Who can tell them what has happened; no one. 
What do dogs know of the passage of time; nothing 
Who will help him grieve his loss; no one. 
He grieves alone in silence; waiting....
                                                                  - T. M. Allen


The Sacred Art of Dying:  How World Religions Understand Death

Tibetan Attitudes Toward Death

"From the Tibetan viewpoint, it is during periods of change that the greatest possible growth occurs.  This is why death is the ultimate change in life, and if one allows himself or herself to die to self before dying, at death all confusion will cease in the peace of that last moment (78)."

     If you give up yourself to the idea of death when you are still alive, not only will you live more fully, but at death, there will be a total surrender and lack of sadness and regret.