A Great Sadness

No one could say for sure where It came from; It seemed to simply appear out of nowhere! The ones who were slightly more awake knew that it had something to do with the way that the world had been working since Time Immemorial, but even they seemed to be affected by It. Notice that it's the way the world had been working, NOT the way it should be working! It had pervaded nearly every aspect of everyday Life & seemed to be gaining ground, claiming its victims all the while, at an alarming rate. As Time wore on, this Sadness was joined by, if not linked inextricably to, Its partners in crime, Fear, Anger & Hostility.

From the beginning of Time, humanity has been plagued by this Dis-ease. Some might say It's gotten horribly worse over Time, apocalyptically so, in fact, while others with a fresher, clearer perspective bear witness to the fact that, while in some It does seem to have grown & festered, in others, It has become all but extinct. The reason for this distinction, it should be noted, is personal ( individual ) choice. Every individual ( human being ) has a choice, whether he or she wants to admit it or not & while some choose to focus on material possessions & the more mundane aspects of this often dreary existence they mistakenly call 'Life', these others seek seek & search Within for the True Meaning of Life, the actual ( spiritual ) causation of the outward manifestation!

As with any Dis-ease, the causation is based in the spiritual realm, though, of course, it usually manifests most clearly in the physical realm. This is not to say that everyone that manifests a physical Dis-ease has a spiritual deficiency, though this often proves the case, but it should be clear that all physical manifestations are rooted in spirituality, whether it be an individual problem ( sometimes ), or whether it is the conglomeration of generations of ignorance & Fear. Whatever the case may be, there is but one cure for this Dis-ease & that is to get to the heart of the issue, understanding this seminal Truth & putting it into practice by purposefully making better choices.

Sadness is usually caused by a lack of something, or more correctly, a perceived lack! Focusing on the mundane ( normal? ) aspects of what we call 'Life', whether it be material possessions or human companionship, causes us, when we experience, or even fear the lack or loss of these things, to feel that lack in such a way that Fear, Anger & even Hostility are often the 'natural' resulting emotions. It all begins with Fear; because we tend to posit that 'Life' is simply the mundane aspect of this existence we are currently, as human beings, experiencing, we view the loss of our material ( physical ) existence as the loss of 'Life'. Life is so much more than this human experience! When we understand this glorious Truth & live by it, we will no longer Fear the loss of materiality; Anger & Hostility will be things of the past ( though, in our human experience, they may continue to crop up from time to time ), for we will have realized that, though while in this human shell, we must follow certain conventions in order to continue to exist in this human experience, we are infinitely more than this human experience!

Rooting out the cause of any Dis-ease is not so simple as many seem to think! Many is the physician out there, particularly in this day & age ( Big Pharma ), who seem happy to simply throw any variety of drugs at the problem, hoping to at least stave off the problem for a time ( remission? ), while, on the other hand, there are those who genuinely wish to use their accumulated knowledge for the betterment of humanity. The problem is, even those who are in the business for nobler purposes than lining their own pockets usually, but not always, seem to gloss over the glorious fact that we are more than mere humanity. Humanity is simply the outward manifestation of our inner nature! To get to the heart of the issue, one must face this often uncomfortable fact. Again, this is not to say that every single individual out there who is plagued by Dis-ease has a spiritual issue, just that, in order to manifest physically, It must begin in the realm of Spirit, with the intent of the heart, or inmost being!

So many, especially those whose consciousness has been altered by certain brands of religiosity, have looked & still look for salvation from their own inner turmoil, to a source, or sources, outside themselves, rather than rooting out the problem Within, in their inmost being ( or at least as far as we can fathom while in our human condition )! This is not to say there IS no Source outside our own Spirit for salvation, just that, for whatever reason, most have been taught that they can look only to an outside Source, since they are, by their very nature, corrupted. However, the Tide is turning; many who have been brought up in the chains of religiosity have begun to shake off that most unnecessary of burdens, while others who have never known those chains, with an open mind are eagerly exploring the infinite reaches of an otherwise finite mind. As Time passes, we may envision a world where Fear, Anger & Hostility, as well as Sadness, become things of the past!

Now that they knew what It was & where IT came from; what would they do about IT? 'Can we fix the problems of the past with visions of the future?' Well, no; we can't retract what has already been said & done, in other words, we can't change the past, but we CAN set a course for a better future! The victims that the Sadness had already claimed needed not remain victims, or wait for some outside Source to come save them; by their own choices, they could leave their chains behind, or they could wait for a Salvation that would never come!

Charles Haddon Shank