Something to Think About

Trusting What Is

Each weekday, I look forward to a daily inspirational email courtesy of www.tut.com. A recent email read like this:

Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.

I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.

Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?

That little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.

Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.

Tallyho,

The Universe   ©www.tut.com

My first thought was WOW!!! How many times do I fail simply because I think I won’t be guided, or that our success/failure is strictly up to us? How many times do we fail to act because we fear failure? How many times during the day do we trust (or have faith) that guidance is available to us at each and every moment? How many times have I failed because I failed to trust the intelligence inside myself, and instead chose to inspect all possible alternatives before making a move?

I am reminded of a mother bird. How, the first time the bird is pregnant (if that’s the correct term for what happens to a girl bird), does the bird know when, where and how to construct a nest, know to sit on her eggs to keep them warm, know to gather worms for food, etc? When the mother bird needs to know how to build a nest, something (the Universe?) provides the information. The bird knows how to pick the best locations for its nest, knows the proper materials to gather, knows the proper construction methods, and knows how to make the nest adhere to the branches. Once old enough, the baby birds will eventually trust their wings and fly. The required knowledge, somehow, is given to the birds when it is needed.

It really works this way regardless of species. I am reminded of a recent documentary I watched where a turtle buried hundreds of eggs in a sandy beach, then left the eggs unattended. When the eggs hatched, the baby turtles clawed their way through the sand to the surface of the beach, then made a mad dash to the water where they would survive. There were hundreds of baby turtles making that mad dash to water. It wasn’t a short dash to the water. They hatched a considerable distance from the water’s edge. Who taught them to seek water? Who taught them how to find the water? The knowledge they needed, somehow, was given to them when it was needed, just minutes after birth. Intuitively, they all headed in the direction of the shoreline.

I am reminded of Monarch Butterflies.  North American Monarch Butterflies nest each winter on a Mexican mountain range.  In spring, they migrate thousands of miles northward to live throughout North America, then return to the same Mexican mountain range for winter. They do this even though the entire round trip journey is longer than the lifespan of any one butterfly.  No butterfly is present for the entire round trip.  What knowledge guides their path?  How do they know the direction to fly (and when) for a 3000 mile journey they’ve never made?

Furthermore, I look to the heavens. The heavens (stars, galaxies, planets, etc) move with mathematical precision. Great scientists such as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Max Planck, and others have developed precise mathematical formulas to predict the movement of the heavens.

Can it be that way with us? Why do we think that of all eternity, of all of the space-time, we’re the exception? Whatever it is that provides the inherent on-board intelligence to move the planets, grow blades of grass, teach a young bird to build a nest, teach a baby turtle how to find water, guides the migration of Monarch Butterflies, etc., must surely be there for us. We can’t be the only exceptions to this rule. Most of us though, as filtered through my own experience, don’t believe that the inherent guidance is available to us, when and where we need it. We’ve learned that our success in life is up to us alone. We don’t always follow up on our intuition and internal guidance. We’ve learned to think of ourselves as “flawed”, “sinners”, “unworthy”, etc. We’ve been taught that we’re the exception. Perhaps we should unlearn that lesson.

I’ve heard great musicians say that they simply write down what they hear. Great writers often talk about the fact that in order to write, they need to simply get quiet, relax, and let the writing flow from within. Take a moment to think of the one thing you’re really excellent at.  Does that thing that you’re really excellent at come naturally, or did it only happen as the result of being taught?  Perhaps it’s a combination of natural ability and teaching, but is the natural ability present?

Can you trust in that divine intelligence to guide you, as the bird in the above TUT quotation did?  Can you trust Spirit / God / Divine Intelligence to be there for you?  Can I trust it to be there for me?  I believe that this is our quest.  The quest to learn and experience Divine Intelligence / Divine Guidance / Spirit / God, to accept the plan that’s been implanted within us, and to shine.  I pray that I can learn to fully accept and trust this gift of guidance, and I pray that you may also live with the awareness of this guidance.

Bees can fly 12 miles without getting lost. Albatrosses, 25,000 miles. And flying insects, without eyes, have no trouble whatsoever finding their “soul mates.”

Imagine what I can do for you, when you listen to the voice within.

The Universe ©www.tut.com

Something to think about….

September 18, 2009 - Posted by Mark | Guidance, Spirituality, Trust | Guidance, Spirituality, Trust