Recently, my dear friend Kia and I were having one of our hours-long, deep philosophical discussions that ranged in topic from our connection to All That Is, personal relationships, politics, addictions, spirituality and religion. She brought up some incredible points about how people want to live, but they have come to a point in society where so many are (un?)consciously doing things that lead to death like smoking cigarettes, eating over-processed and preserved food, slothful behavior, stress, etc.
Kia said that “we so often choose behaviors that promote death rather than those that promote life.” And it couldn’t have been more profound and truthful in that moment.
She continued, “In one breath, I say I want to live and be healthy but on the other hand I engage in actions that promote death. How can I be surprised if that is what I am faced with…death.”
We KNOW what is good for us. If you quiet the television and the other distractions pounding our five physical senses on a minute-by-minute basis you will FEEL the truth. We know the things we eat, the things we are doing the planet and other species, the things that we do to each other are not walking the Path of Life.
Through our media-encouraged (and societally-endorsed) behaviors, we have become our worst fears: the walking dead (no relationship to the awesome zombie graphic novels). We fear death, but so many in our modern societies are marching slowly to death through passive-suicidal behavior.
Our physical bodies need few very basic things to fully live:
- Good, fresh organic nutrition
- Exercise
- Rest
We also need to be free from stress. I believe that our collective societal stress (seen through an abundance of economic, material and physical illness) is a return of the karmic energy that we have been putting out into the world.
It’s time to change that energy. We must recognize that we are the current trustees of our lives and our planet. We need to remember to enjoy the abundance this life has to offer, so we must actively CHOOSE LIFE.
Many aboriginal peoples understand the concept of living right by their bodies and their surroundings. They wouldn’t hunt a species to extinction, they often moved with the seasons and were completely in-tune with nature, each other and their spiritual aspects (which were really all intertwined and not separate as we view it). The community literally raised the child in tribal culture.
This flies in the face of our modern society where we stay in one place and take and take from it until we must go further out to take and take. We live in single-family homes and utilize electronics that de-socialize us more every single day. We eat substances that are unnatural, and completely unhealthy, for our bodies. Our children are raised by televisions and websites instead of the nurturing, wise and elderly. (Please let me know if you know of a nurturing, wise, hug-giving/receiving electronic device. I’ll buy ten of those!)
Choosing life means doing the best for yourself (because we must feed the well) and for everything around you. Helping others to make the right life-promoting choices through dissemination of love and information is more essential than judgments and harsh rules. Rules and regulations are only in place because of the few that haven’t learned the much-needed moral lessons and behaviors required to live responsibly and respectfully with others.
The message is easy: Your actions should represent a choice for life at every moment. Anything less than that is death.