What, on Earth?

William R. Colagrande, MS

A Personal Myth is a term I use to describe beliefs that we hold despite the fact that they cannot be proven. Heaven and hell would be good examples of widely held personal myths. The one I describe below is not original on my part but seems to have emerged during the past several months as more important and meaningful than it ever had in the past.

You probably have, at some point in your life, attended an out of town seminar as part of your job training or for personal growth. You pack up and go live in another town for a few days to a week, attend a lot of lectures and discussions, make some new friends and hang out during the breaks and evenings prior to packing up once again and returning home. Pretty straightforward stuff.

Now think about this: imagine your entire lifetime on earth as one long out of town seminar. There are a few key differences between these two cases. For instance, in the latter scenario, it takes a while to begin to figure out what it is we’re supposed to be learning at the seminar. In fact, we may never emerge with a full and complete answer to that question. Another difference is that while we know where we are, we have no idea of where we came from or to where we will return when the seminar is over. These differences aside, the lifetime seminar concept suggests many intriguing possibilities.

Its always struck me that given the fact that we all have two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth that six billion humans can still look so different and distinct from each other. This paradox, of how so many people having essentially the same equipment can all look so different illustrates the variety of tasks we’re here on earth to accomplish. We’re all human and share some tasks in common, but the variety of our different personal tasks is enormous.

I like to think that wherever we came from (let’s call it the Spirit World) before we are born here on earth, we drew up a type of contract, a game plan. The idea is to create certain experiences in our forthcoming lives that will bring us to the best possible place to learn our personal lessons. For some of us that might mean being born into an middle-class Italian family in Orange, NJ, while for others it may mean being born in rural China, Africa or crippled or blind or one of a set of twins or any other circumstance you can imagine. In short, it was decided and agreed upon that being born an orphan or the child of a millionaire would help bring us where we needed to be in order to learn what we came here to learn.

This helps explain a lot of things. Why are some babies born healthy and others deformed? It was part of the plan. Why do some parents to a good job of childrearing while others fall short? It was part of the plan. Why do some people die young while others live a long life? Why do some people’s lives seem so easy while others seem so hard? Why do some folks grow up rooting for the Mets and others for the Yankees? It was part of the plan.

Now I’m not talking about fate or predetermination here. It is an important consideration that we all willingly agreed to adopt the set of circumstances that would most likely bring us where we agreed to go. This factor places responsibility for our lives right where it belongs, with us. We can blame our parents, fate or God if we like, but so doing is not particularly helpful or constructive.

This concept imparts a comforting sense of meaning to our lives. While we may not know exactly what the lessons we’re pursuing are, once we develop a comfort level with the idea, we can begin to make some fairly shrewd guesses. Just look around at your life circumstances. We have a compass too! I believe that to the extent that we are on the right track we experience some sense of peace and contentment regardless of our outer circumstances. Conversely, we feel unhappy and restless when we are off course. That is why, for example, most people gradually realize that having money doesn’t necessarily make you happy, a common misconception in the world today.

Silent meditation is a very useful tool in sensing into what it is we ought to be doing in our lives. By so doing we are able to tap into the wisdom of our hearts and not rely solely on our brain for important information. In Western culture learning to appreciate the use of inner stillness to promote wisdom seems pretty much of a communal task. (Which is why I so deplore the wild popularity of personal electronic devices; they take us individually and collectively in the wrong direction.)

Although I still struggle personally with integrating the concept, knowing that we have lifetimes to work issues out helps promote a greater sense of love and compassion for ourselves and for others. The ever-growing development of love and compassion also appears to be among the general lessons for all humans.

It should seem obvious that the notion of reincarnation is implicit in my thinking. I don’t make too big a deal of it though. Why shouldn’t we have more than one life? I think it has advantages over assuming we only have one. Thinking this one is the only one we have leads to more greed, fear and selfishness; there is just too much pressure.

Reincarnation also raises intriguing, though not absolutely essential questions. If this sixty or seventy or eighty years on earth amounts to five days at the Airport Hilton in Covington, KY, where is it I came from? And if being a human being is the equivalent of wearing a business suit for a week, what are we spirit beings really like when not in human form?

Just two of the many fine and worthwhile questions to ponder as we enter into the dark, cold and thoughful confines of winter.

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Comments, questions, concerns? I’m always interested in your feedback: e-mail bill@i4hd.com with your ideas.