The Real Secret of Life by David Bish correllian1@bigpond.com INDEX The Author's View. What is the secret of life? What is truth? Responsibility. How do I find a partner who is compatible? How do I attract the kind of people I can fully relax around? What about the ideal job for me? How do I get what I really want in this life? The simplest equation. And the truth shall set you free. Post Script

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." --Chief Seattle The Author's View: If you are the sort of person who believes that once you're dead you're dead, and that's that, then I humbly ask you to consider this:   Evolution is a journey that we are all a part of-literally.   We are still, and always will be, connected to the moment of creation. The very first moment that consciousness chose to express itself, and its omniscient essence, upon the pre-existent void. It was the moment of our creation, and the creation of the primordial subatomic cauldron from whence everyone and everything sprang.   That moment is part of us still. The echoes and expansions of the universe continue to this day. We walk upon it and breathe combinations of its gases. The universe as a whole is still expanding from that first ecstatic expression, so often irreverently referred to as the `big bang.'   These subatomic particles, of the atoms, of the cells, of the bodies we call home, sprang from that earliest source, and are still whizzing at unbelievable speeds with the stored kinetic energy of that first massive insurgence of life.   By friction to swirl and tangle and create our beautiful universe, overflowing with wonders too numerous to humanly conceive.   If we could but look into the subatomic level we would see a direct Micro-verse of the Macro-verse, with everything moving at incredible speeds, and wave-dot electrons orbiting their nuclei in direct analogy to planets orbiting their stars.   Nothing is in actuality solid at all. Everything that appears so real to the touch and to the eye in this world, really just isn't. Even a rock, the most inanimate of all common objects, is buzzing with life and energy, and dare I say purpose.   We live in a world that, according to the greatest scientific minds of our time, is a complete illusion. Nothing more than smoke and mirrors, blood and bone and water. With a dose of divine alchemy thrown in for great measure.   Do you believe that the atoms of your body were made just for you to use in this life? That they are in every respect the totality of your being? If I were but to mention the fact that the atoms and cells of the human body cycle constantly through your form, would that give you pause for contemplation of your true essence?   The atoms creating the apparent solidity we give reference to as our bodies, have indeed had prior and gainful employment, making up a part of many other objects since their conscious cosmic becoming, and they will go on to be a part of many other things after we have finished with them. They live on, as they always have, reminding us that we are incontrovertibly connected at, and to, the beginning of time itself.   The favourite saying of the mystics that, "we are all one," is not quite so mystical once proclaimed as a scientific fact.   What then holds these long traveled atoms to our personal cause? Would it not, by definition, have to be energy that exists around and within, but separate from those atoms? Separate to the same degree that magnetism is separate from that which it attracts.   Which can only mean that we existed prior to, and in a different dimension from, this third dimensional human body. Because, the very atoms we are using existed before we were born into this world. And those atoms are constantly cycling through our bodies, to be replaced by other atoms who play that part of our body for a time, and then move on to play a part of something else. In a constant flux and flow.   Consider a beam of sunlight, in a shadowed room, that reflects off the dust particles as they pass through it. Without those particles we would not even see it as a beam of light. It would have remained invisible until it hit the floor.   The light and the dust particles are a visible beam as long as they are both present in the same place at the same time, but the light and the dust both move on to their own separate purposes. Perhaps to meet again the next day, perhaps not.   To the same degree, consciousness prior to the existence we are experiencing now, and separate from the particles that make up our bodies, means that what we really are is consciousness in some form that is not affected by the death, or more accurately, the dissipation of the body we are using, nor are we subject to the limitations of that body.   So what is our purpose for being here?   Whatever our reason for being here is, it is understood at our `Soul' level, and the way we connect to that `Soul' level is through our feelings.   Which is merely a less romanticized version of, "follow your heart." Or clearer yet: Ask yourself how you really feel about the things around you, and what makes you react to them the way you do. Then you will understand the motivation, and reasons why you even bother to react at all.   So, instead of trying to solve the problems of our world on a massive (and therefore impossible to solve) scale, we need to see what part of ourselves is being reflected to us by the events of our world that we feel need to be fixed, and why we allow these things to affect us the way they do. And what those reactions are projecting about who we really are and what we really think.   Every time a noble decision is acted upon, by an individual, the universe itself is lifted a degree. Every decision you make based on love will make the whole universe that much more loving. So it may indeed pay to keep in mind that the evolution of the universe cannot happen without you because, as has already been scientifically proven, we are all made of, and hence part of that universe. It is not something that exists in outer space, or is in any way distant from us at all. The universe is us. Every being on Earth (and indeed in the universe) has a part to play in the totality of life. This part, or purpose, or destiny, is as easy to follow as asking ourselves what we love, and then doing it.   "This above all, to thine own self be true." --William Shakespeare     This book is about being yourself, it is not about being alone. It is about communication, not acting rashly or without consideration for others.   We have heads with brains in them for a very good reason.   All things in moderation. Even slow change is brilliant if it is change for the better. Even small steps, toward your truth, are still steps in the right direction. And it feels personally fantastic to know that you are indeed on the path you are meant to be on.   Walking your path is as simple as being yourself. The more of yourself that you allow to be seen, the closer you are to fulfilling your ultimate destiny.   "Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God." --Leo Buscaglia

 

What is the secret of life?   "I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn." --Henry David Thoreau   The Secret of Life is a question that has been pondered by us all. A question as old as time itself. A question whose answer reveals itself, in full and brilliant colour, to those who know where to look.   The answer: LIVE AND SPEAK YOUR TRUTH AT ALL TIMES.   Yes, it is that simple, and it is something that we judge ourselves for, when we fail to do it. Which is perhaps the only reason we suffer from any form of guilt at all. And, on the other side of the coin, it is the one and only way out of the `built on guilt' prisons that our minds build around us. Inclosing us more surely than any earthly prison ever could.   We are, in every respect, our own judge, jury and executioner, as well as our own Governors with the power to make that last minute phone call of clemency and free our souls from the "death row" of guilt, by telling the truth. Releasing the truth is the confession that will ultimately free our souls from our self-imposed torment.   Confession is the greatest gift that one can give. To oneself and to all others involved or affected by the very lack of truth that caused the original problem.   There is no journey outside of ourselves that we need to walk to discover who we really are. We do not have to move at all. We simply have to turn and face the truth about ourselves. When we stop avoiding who we are, we will start to grow. Accepting and loving that which we see is literally loving the part of ourselves that we are seeing reflected.     "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." --Galileo Galilei

 

What is truth?   "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth." --Henry David Thoreau   Truth is the gateway out of hell. It's the path to freedom. The way out of the guilt prisons we build around ourselves. The way to be ultimately free of the wheel of death and rebirth. The road to Nirvana. The burning longboat to Valhalla. Our ultimate purpose in life. Our Destiny. The way home- However we choose to put it, truth is the freeway to the very place we are most meant to be.   Our Truth is literally who we are. It is our very essence. What we really stand for. What we really believe at our most basic level of consciousness. Our truth is how we see our world.   Everything that we perceive of this world is filtered through our own belief systems. That which we call our Truth. In this way we create our own worlds.   We do not create them as much as creatively visualize them and assign our own values to the information that is coming in from the senses but, in the end, it is exactly the same thing.   It is you who have created the world you are looking at. You have created it in as much as you choose how you feel about what you see. And it isn't complicated at all. It is as simple as "do you feel positive about what you are looking at, or negative?"   When we realize that every single thing in our lives is a projection that can teach us about ourselves, we realize just how much we have to learn. It is not by a few pieces of string that we are held to the physical, but by many. Like Gulliver, many tiny strings combine to bind us to the wheel of life and death.   Every time we discover another of the lessons life is teaching us about ourselves, we release one more of those strings.   Try imagining your surroundings as a documentary about you, written by you, projected by you, and starring you, or at least the reflections of yourself that you see in others.   So, if you want to learn who you really are, and how you are progressing in this life, start paying attention to the documentary, and be honest enough with yourself to admit the way you feel about what you are seeing.   So how will I know when I have something to learn?   You will be able to tell you have something to learn by the fact that what you see before your eyes will have an effect on you. If this effect is a negative one, then there is something inside you that needs to be faced.   The simplest answers are the most powerful, and quite often the things we fail to see, for the very reason that they are so simple.   We expect the answers would have to be as complex and confused as our lives have become, for us to take any notice of them, or even recognize them for what they were. We surround ourselves with any number of distractions and expect the answers to boom over the top of the collective din they create.   It does not work that way. Don't bother waiting for the great voice of God from the sky to boom above the noise. At once and forever, removing all Earthly doubt. You will be bitterly disappointed. The answers that you seek are to be found in the exact opposite direction. You need to quiet the noise and listen, if you want to hear what is being said in your heart.   The voice has always been there, and will always be there, but it speaks quietly. It speaks softly, but very surely to those who take the time to listen. Those who don't are not maximizing their opportunities to learn and grow and thus improve their lives.   Living your truth has everything to do with being honest with yourself. It has everything to do with being the most effective you can be. Because that is when you will be the happiest and contributing the most you possibly can to the world.   We will only be truly happy when we live in complete and simple honesty.   "Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now - always --Albert Schweitzer

 

Responsibility.   "It is never too late to be what you might have been." --George Eliot How can we take offense from another's words, when we realize that, though it may not bring the best result for us, they believe they are acting with our best interest at heart? A lot is forgiven in the name of love and good intent, which is as it should be.     But, it is also important that we define our boundaries, if we feel that others are crossing them. So that at least next time they cross that line, it may give them pause to consider it. If they continue, simply remind them in as loving a way as you can.   Ultimately though, whether your boundaries are respected or not is entirely another issue from the fact that you had the courage to stand and claim them, as is your perfect right. Just as it is the other person's perfect right to completely ignore what you say, that is up to them.   One of the first major steps to our awakening is the moment we realize that we are responsible for how we see our world. That it looks different depending on the mood we are in at the time. And, because of that, every thought we have shapes the way we see the world and therefore shapes our world. We look at the world through our own set of ideals. Using our own level of understanding to interpret what we see.   It must then be admitted that we cannot blame others for our world being the way it is. After all, we have chosen to see it that way. How can we blame another for a choice that we have made? Our lives are the way they are because we choose to see it that way. A change of world is as simple as a change of your attitude toward that world.   We heal the world outside within ourselves when we heal the way we see it, and the way we feel about it, as a whole. Nothing is separate from anything else in our world because everything we see, hear, touch, smell and taste, has to be filtered through our own belief system, before being labeled, logged and stored for later reference.   The inability or lack of courage to face ourselves with total honesty is, no doubt, the reason that perception-altering drugs are so prevalent in today's society. When people are not happy with the life they have chosen and they do not know where to find their courage, it is always easier to run away. But, as we all know, running away doesn't solve the problem, it just delays the facing of it. We all know our fears will have to be faced eventually, because the scary phone calls are coming from inside the house, so to speak.   Taking complete responsibility for your own welfare is by far and away the most empowering thing that a human being can do.   For instance: If you were forced to survive, would you be able to? If there weren't any supermarkets to get your food from, and you were forced to hunt and gather your own food to survive, could you?   Don't be overly concerned if the answer is no, because you are definitely not alone. Most of us could not survive without the system, and that is exactly where those that run the system want us to be. Totally reliant upon them for our most basic of needs. Which has less to do with any sort of conspiracy as it does with plain common sense.   e.g. It is not hard to envision a time when these great institutions that we rely so much upon will self destruct, generally because of greed, as they have countless times before. Who will be there to feed and clothe us then?   This, of course, is an extreme case scenario, but it illustrates the point at a very basic level.   We need to learn to look after ourselves again. To really take responsibility for our own survival. Or at least be able to survive should the eventuality come to pass. Then, and only then, can we consider ourselves to be completely self reliant, and thereby completely free.     "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing has happened." --Sir Winston Churchill

 

How do I find a partner who is compatible?   It is only when you are what you truly stand for that you can attract the right partner for you. The sooner you express fully who you are, the sooner you will find your niche in life as well, and the sooner you will be following your true path. Your destiny.   "Where-so-ever you go, go with all your heart." --Confucius   If you are as much of yourself as you can be, anyone who is then attracted to you will love you for who, and what, you really are.   Consider that friend you have. The one that continually repeats the same tired old problems every time you speak to them. We all know people like that to varying degrees. We perhaps don't really want to hear it, but we don't "have the heart" (the courage) to tell them how we really feel and risk hurting their feelings, and ending up in some sort of confrontation.   So what are we supposed to be learning from those that seem to find a way to upset our peaceful contemplations with their unwanted interruptions?   We are supposed to be learning to speak our truth. The moment it is spoken the situation will already have changed forever.   The highest contribution we can offer to any situation in life is to be ourselves as completely and as honestly as we can be. We are not here to be anyone else, and the situation would not exist if we didn't have something to learn from it.   Once you share with a person your true perspective of things they can get a far better insight as to how they are really doing in the `game of life.' They can, at last, see the true effects that their words are having on you, and therefore possibly others. It may shock them a little, at first, but it also gives them a chance to rethink their position, should they so decide it is necessary.   "Truth and tears clear the way to a deep and lasting friendship. True friendship is never serene." --Mariede Svign   If you allow yourself to suffer for the status quo, or you play along with someone's never ending story, because it's easier than confronting the truth, it does no honour to them, nor you. And no one grows or benefits from the situation.   That is the power of truth.   "Between whom there is hearty truth, there is love." --Henry David Thoreau   But, we do need to remember to share our truth with others in a way that is as diplomatic as possible. Truth should be considered a gift that is presented with love and growth as its underlying intent. And, where ever humanly possible, never delivered in a spiteful way. Because, if it is your intent to hurt another with your words, or to take a few cheap shots while you can, then you are only hurting yourself. Remember, we are all one.    "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." --Matthew 25:40

 

How do I attract the kind of people that I can fully relax around?   Speak your truth. There is no surer or faster way to end up exactly where you belong, surrounded by exactly the people you need to be with.   "The doer alone learneth." --Friedrich Nietzsche   At all times we must allow ourselves to BE. To be true to who we really are. To allow our innermost lights to shine, and release the energy that is damned up by our fear. We have just to be ourselves, or as close to uncensored as the law allows, and we will soon find ourselves surrounded by those of like mind.   Speaking our truth to our direct circle of friends may not spark the desired interest among them. But how many times have we heard someone speaking to others nearby and we started to get an idea of the sort of person they were? We may have even found a fast friend that way. But if they had not spoken we would never have known.   For Example: You are at a party. You don't really fit in, but you make the effort because you are with your friends, and you know that you will be happily accepted if you act a certain way. But acting that way leaves you feeling flat and uninspired. Barely able to raise a smile. There is something missing in your life, and what's missing is THE TRUTH.   Again, you may be sacrificing your own happiness because you believe that you will be accepted more readily by your friends and family if you act in the way they expect. And that is true. It does keep things from becoming confronting. It does keep the boat steady. But at what cost? What is the personal cost to you? And what could, or should, you do about it?   The answer is not to change who you are, but to BE who you are.   You might also be surprised to realize the effect that your truth can have on others. It is incredibly inspiring to witness someone speaking their truth, and even more so seeing people living that truth as well.   So your friends and family may ask you about this weird new attitude you have, and try to get the `old you' back. So what? There may also be others nearby that hear a kindred spirit. You could be five feet away from your soul mate and never know it, because unless you speak your truth, you will never be truly seen.   The ones who find their soul-mates in this life are the ones who have the courage to be themselves completely.   So, if you were the type of person that projected a blue light when you were relaxed, but were forced in the name of keeping the peace, to shine red, then you could never be fully relaxed. You need to be around the sort of people that like their lights blue. Only then could you be completely relaxed and be who you really are. And let us acknowledge the truth of that: We are never more relaxed than when we are comfortable enough to be ourselves.   This feeling of comfort and belonging is a necessary thing. We need to be where we can shine our true colours and not feel alienated and rejected as a direct result of it.   It is having these situations of being able to do things that you love to do, that brings real happiness. It is not hard to feel love more often, when we spend more of our day bumping into things that we love, because we have simply surrounded ourselves with more of them.     Get a job doing something you love doing. Have friends that do what you like to do, and challenge you to be a better person in the way that you best respond to. Then you will know what it is to be truly happy, and feel truly complete.       "The only service a friend can really render is to keep your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself." --George Bernard Shaw