Jim had a Song to sing, a Story to tell & dontcha know? He told it very well!
Jim Stanford was not a musician: he wasn't even a song-writer. Jim was a Magician. No; he didn't do parlor-tricks, nor did he stand up in front of live audiences & perform card-tricks. He didn't disappear out of locked crates or saw people in half. Jim simply WAS! He WAS creative. He WAS very focused, on his intentions, that is. Jim knew that to see what most others could not, One must BE what most others WOULD not! It was not easy ( nothing worth doing EVER is! ), but Jim had realized that, if ANYTHING was going to change for the better in his little world, HE must BE that change! As a wise Bear ( not Yogi ) once said; "Only YOU can prevent forest fires"!
"Heaven" is not Beyond our reach! It IS up Above us, but it is also all around us. It is WITHIN us! Jim knew, as many of us are realizing, that "Heaven", as "Hell". is a conscious choice. "Where do YOU want to live?" Do you want to feel the Joys of 'Heaven", or would you rather suffer the terrors ( Fear ) of "Hell"?! Hard as it may be to believe, we DO have a choice! It has not been fatalistically decided for us; it was not predetermined, we were not chosen to live, or suffer, as the case may be, for an Eternity in either "Heaven" or "Hell". Jim knew better; he knew, from experience, that BOTH of these concepts are Realities here & NOW!
All his life, as with the overwhelming majority of us, Jim had been taught that both "Heaven"
& "Hell" were something to either hope for or dread. As Jim grew up under this "Iron Hand", this "Sword of Damocles", so to speak; he learned to live his life in Fear; fear that he wasn't worthy, fear that the moment he made a mistake, it might be his last, fear that if he didn't persevere ( as he was told he must ), he might lose his status as one of "God's" Chosen. Living with all that Fear, He came to see that he was simply existing. Being so afraid of screwing up any chance he might have of salvation, Jim came to realize that he was not really Living; he was simply waiting for "the next shoe to drop"!
Jim had lived a relatively long life. Although He had only really "come to His senses" recently, Jim knew that it was never too late, for though he, as we, might wish that we had known all these things when we were young, He realized, in a non-fatalistic way, that there was a Purpose behind EVERYTHING, that everything happened for a Reason. There was no "Man Upstairs" driving this Chariot according to His Divine Will ( or was there? Jim had a working theory that the theological language he had suffered under for the first part of his life could somehow be applicable to His Inner Life, with all its intricacies )! Whether we have a "good" or "bad" experience ( it's all relative ) is ENTIRELY up to US; our choices, even the decisions we make in response to the events beyond our control, are what determine whether we enjoy our life, or simply "suffer" through it!
It has been seared into our minds, especially as Christians, that "We are not our own......" & though, in some sense, that is true enough; Jim had come to the startling realization that, for all intents & purposes, We ARE our own! These bodies belong to the Earth, He knew ( "dust to dust", ya know? ) & even our Soul ( Spirit ) doesn't technically "belong" to Us, being simply a member, or part of what Is, the Divinity. Humanly speaking, though, WE do not "belong" to ANYONE ( THAT sounds like slavery ); our Life is just that, OURS! It is totally OUR responsibility. If we end up with a 'hellish" existence; it is because of our own choices. Some may say, "well, look at everything that happened to me; look what he or she did to me!" Call it "Tough Love" or what you will, but "Hell, yes; YOU made the choice as to how you reacted to their actions: YOU put YOURSELF in "Hell!! If you continue simply reacting in the same manner, you will be putting yourself through "Hell"! Same goes for "Heaven"; when you decide how you're going to act ( with intention ), rather than simply reacting to what Life 'throws" at you, you will find yourself living with the "Peace that passes all understanding", in "Heaven"!
Jim KNEW that "Peace"! One might say that He had reached that level of "perfection" that only exists in "Heaven"! No matter what things Life "threw" at Him, Jim always met them with a smiling face ( He NEVER frowned, or cussed when he stubbed his toe ). He NEVER simply reacted to the actions of other people, but was entirely impervious to them, always "turning the other cheek", in a manner of speaking, simply walking away when faced with ANY sort of Negativity. Though surrounded by those who ignorantly, though consciously, chose to spend their meager existence in "Hell"; Jim had chosen instead, to live his Life to the fullest, in "Heaven". 'Sound to good to be true? Does "Jim" just sound almost TOO perfect? "That's impossible in this world we live in, right?!" Hmmmmm...............
Our Hero had made the conscious, One might even say, "God-like" choice to have a Positive experience. He did not blindly place his faith in a Being that was outside of Time & Space; rather, He took responsibility for his own Life, knowing that he could rise or fall, dependent on his own choices. Even though "Hell" swirled all around him, Jim realized that it was his choice to suffer through that "Hell" or not. Choosing not to suffer was for Jim, as for all of us, seemingly impossible. "When cancer is in the equation; how does one NOT suffer?" one might ask. "God" forbid, you are the drunk driver of a car & are the cause of death for an entirely innocent family, while you walk away, almost unscathed?" How does one NOT suffer in that circumstance?! Well, in both cases, choices were made, whether consciously or unconsciously: the foods we eat, the way we live, whether to drink till we're drunk, the choice to get behind the wheel when we're drunk, etc, etc................... The point is; it's ALL about Choice!
Too many of us spend our meager existence waiting for someone to almost magically "reach down" & save us, but Jim knew better! If He was going to spend his life in the Joys of "Heaven", Jim knew that He would have to make the conscious choice to intentionally Live in such a way as to avoid the suffering of those around Him; those who simply existed in "Hell". Without Faith in "God", Jim had been told, this was impossible & in some sense, He agreed! Unless we have Faith in our OWN ability to make Positive Choices, we will never be able to make the choice, being dependent on the will & whim of others to either make our choices for us, or somehow lend us the Strength we need to make the "right" choices.
"As above, so below"; Jim, as so many of us, had come to realize His own Divinity later in Life! Though He had come to realize this Truth only of late, He now understood that He WAS worthy, He WAS powerful; He COULD make the "right" choice, on His own, though with help from Above! By "Above". I simply mean to say His Higher, or Highest Self, not any part of His humanity ( that would involve the Ego ). Jim, as ALL of us can, had become More than Human! Realizing that He had the Strength WITHIN all along, Jim began to live His Life in a way that honored His Humanity! Those who merely exist in this world, trudging their way through the drudgery of this life, building up Karma on top of Karma, have not yet come to the realization that we DO have the Power to save ourselves: these think that because they "belong" to someone else, only this "someone else" truly has this Power, that somehow, "they" must make their decisions for them, "As above, so below", though; "Only YOU have the Power to decide for yourself"!
"Music is the Spice of Life!" Jim had felt this all Life, but it was not till he had spent almost a half century in this existence, again, that He realized the Magic of these words. He had never learned to play an instrument, never really penned a verse & didn't have the greatest singing voice, but He had a Song in His Heart & as we can ALL attest to, what's in one's Heart WILL be revealed!
Namaste' & Blessed Be!
Sage Charles
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