The World is beautiful and wonderful, if we
allow it to be so. Too often we get distracted from the beauty and goodness the
World is and have to offer. When this loss of perspective happens, we lose
sight of the landscape and our horizon shrinks into black dots in a garden of
infinite beauty. The recognition of these black dots is fine as is the
recognition of whatever undesired event that happens during a day. But when
these incidents of darkness become a focus of interests we entertain with
fervent passion in such way that it steals our attention, we block out the
world and we integrate a limited passionate landscape, hot and dark. As
passionate beings we engage and entertain. In this field an offering of melancholy
or a dish of sour grapes is something we accept in great appetite.
At the end of the day, if our world is bleak
and black, riddled with sadness and regret, it is the world we created and
invited in and not the world as it is. It is a world made from poison and
stings that restricts goodness and induces a false sense of bravery. No one can
be adored by everyone as little as any mouse can be venerated by every cat.
We do tend to focus on the negative, the
assholes and the shitheads, the player in the corner that seeks an advantage
over us and whatever angry looser that moves us in erratic ways. These forms of
being tend to steal our attention – as is the nature of these forms of presences
– but they also steal the attention from what is good in this world and forces
us to give attention to what restricts goodness. And it is truly sad, because
everyone we meet have their battles, and our kindness and wickedness can make
their battle more bearable or more of a burden. A verse in the corpus of Ifá, Òfúndí, says:
The teachings of Ifá
were interpreted
For Ol’Orí Ògá (Owner
of a Brave Consciousness)
They said that anyone
who restricts
Goodness to the house
Will never obtain
goodness outside the house
They said she should
sacrifice
So that goodness might
flow into the house
The verse is
related to a story that speaks of a person who is guarding herself against
intrusion and negativity, against attack and wickedness, which is good in
itself, but she entered into a mode of protection that made her see even
friends as antagonists.Her sacrifice was about acceptance, an acceptance of
diversity and to give up taking whatever said or done as an act aimed at her.
The verse speaks about accepting that no one is
perfect and that the black spots in creation holds a certain force to move what
is good to come into the forefront of our awareness. We can only do this in a
spirit of acceptance where we remove our brave or protective Self consciousness
and invite in diversity and challenge. What we perceive as wicked, might be
inspired by kindness and care, what we perceive as kindness might be rooted in
fear and control. We can only discern what is what if we possess a clear and calm
mind, any decision made when the mind is hot or in a mode of protection will
rarely hit the nail on the head, because a hot consciousness is an affliction
of the soul.
When we find ourselves in these situations,
where we feel cornered and accused, it is for the sake of wickedness or
kindness, don’t lose focus on the unending beauty of being. Because beauty is
the rainbow that embraces the heaven as it is the snake that offered wisdom to
Eve in the Garden. To give in, to give up, to keep and to let it spill is
always a choice. A choice that makes part of this beautiful journey we make in
a beautiful and perfect world; a beautiful world where our choices seem to be
the cause of the only imperfections we perceive.
Of course, we can choose to focus on the
desperation and wickedness in the world, even the destruction of the world. It
is important to be aware of these realities, but when the wicked and negative
take your attention it also steals goodness from your life. If we entertain cataclysm, fear, worry and
negativity we become a part of this negativity and cataclysmic spirit of worry
and fear. In inviting in these forces we
construct a world of darkness that contract and invite protection, thorns and
spikes. Is it true that bad things happen in the world? Yes! But is this where
your full attention should rest? It is about focus. Acknowledge the bad, give a
nod to wickedness, but give your attention to what is good, because in doing
this you will not entertain fear and disaster, but nurture love and
companionship.
The world we forge from fear and wickedness is
not the World, but a shadow created by a given focus and attention given to
what oppresses us and challenges us. Attention given to moldy details that
steal the attention we should give to friends, lovers and powers of harmony, because
the World was after all forged upon harmony and gentleness, as another Ifá
verse, Òságúndá, says:
Dews pouring lightly,
pouring lightly
Were used to create
the world
And likewise was done
to create the earth
So that goodness of
togetherness could
come forth at once
Indeed all goodness
took the form of a
Gathering together in
harmony