Full Moon in Cancer    Moon enters Leo at Noon Today      Kin 121 4 Imix

When a stove is turned on, it is hot to the touch. When the refrigerator is in good working condition, ice can be made in the freezer. If you have paid the water bill, your shower will put out a steady flow of water. Everything is dependent on something else; even you. Air is necessary for you to breathe. That is IF you want to stay alive. It’s called interrelated dependence. Nothing exists in and of itself. It’s perfectly acceptable to be in need. In fact, it is impossible not to be. Whether consciously realized or not, we are, in fact, every facet of our intricately infused, immeasurably executed lives, are so immediately interlaced that subsistence is contingent upon all.

In Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII: John Donne (1572-1631) writes … “No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." Human beings, while living each day, with various ‘competing and comparing’ experiences, are continually filled to the brim with self-denigrating, self-denying, self-doubting, uncomfortable lessons of anxiety producing episodes. These internal bemoanings are not necessarily vain imaginings wrought about because of exaggerated attempts to be better than one imagines, but are the congruent personal psycho-analytic threads woven into the fabric of society. No one is exempt. You do not experience emotions that another does not, has not, will not, and shall not, in one way or another, experience while alive.

To envision oneself as ‘special, due to an inordinate amount of anguish ’, different, believing you have been singled out as receiving more grief, pain, suffering, affliction, and torment than another is erroneous. You do not, cannot, will not, shall not, ever know the depth of another’s distress. And just as important, if you count yourself blessed, in any sense of the word, be not high-minded in doing so, for the same ax that falls upon the other slices you, as well. IF you were so inclined and given to the contemplative thought of just how connected we really are, you would clearly see that any defeat or disappointment you experience rivets through the ether like a bullet seeking its all-consuming target. Moreover, and, just as legitimate, do the pangs of loneliness, despair, confusion, helplessness, remorse, regret and guilt flood the globe of humanity.

The overwhelming fear and devastating helplessness associated with losing one’s looks, virility, attracting ability, effectiveness, power, influence, physical appeal, financial position, success, prestige, witty personality, along with one’s intellect governs every wave of thought reverberating throughout the land. Then, when the apparent fruitlessness attached to death enters the picture, nothing short of incapacitating depression ascends. Boy! Was that ever dirt dog melancholy! No, quite the contrary; the fact is; we’ll none get out of here, alive. But, since we are all comprised of the same atomic stuff our existence rings a bell of galactic remuneration. What on earth does that mean? It means, even with the best researched information science (whether biological/environmental sociological) has to offer, and the most emotionally (character altering) moving evidence psychiatry/psychology may present, in addition to the most soul-moving, spirit captivating truth religion/philosophy can muster up, we are all going to return to the same place we were before we entered this dispensation of proposed reality in subjective time and space.

When it’s all said and done, we slip out of this form into the next. Remember, basic psychics: nothing is ever lost, it merely changes form? Holding that particular supposition in mind, then, whatever divine design, formulated by whatever/whoever exalted consecrated being, prior to us being conceived and constructed for this selected, delegated earth walk, for no other viable explanation than to take part in this glorious incalculable play of diverse emotional “ending in a pile of rubbish” opposites will end the pointless suffering for whatever superimposed reason prompted.

Yeah, it does sound a little nonproductive to realize that all of the “best laid plans of mice and men” as Robert Burns said, comes to naught. Yet, on the other hand, in the broader perspective, it is really quite invigoratingly inspiring to know we don’t KNOW! We can make up any explanation that suits our fancy, gets us by and motivates us to ‘do good’. That is IF we remind ourselves, at all times, we get our ‘pat on the back’ superfluous reward immediately and not in some distant future.

Bottom line: the best thing going, I’ve found is simply to be appreciative for being able to breathe, enjoy what we are given for the short while we have it and celebrate each authentic moment in full conscientious awareness, in as much as possible. Never throw yourself away by manipulating or being manipulated for a brighter end. No points in trying to cheat anyone else since you only cheat yourself! I like to think that Unimaginable, Untapped opportunities spring from unrealized sources; the first, primary, and THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS is the one generated from the man in the mirror. It makes the game so much more fun to play.