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Tag: Life

Fear Not: For It Is Only Fear

C. L. Harmon
There has always been fear. For parents raising children, it is their responsibility to teach their children about fear and the influence it is supposed to have on them. For example, It’s wise to teach children not to antagonize bees because they sting. It is better to leave them alone as they are not aggressive creatures bent on stinging every human for which they come into contact. It is common sense to teach them not to kill bees because without them humans would cease to exist. The fact that they sting is not a weapon against humanity but for its protection. This dynamic is nature’s way of telling us that we must coexist. All fear should be co-mingled with common sense. Otherwise irrational thought takes the place of reason.
Bad things are going to happen. Disaster is always a possibility. But to live in fear without the sensibility to coexist with it is a tragedy unto itself. The acceptance that something sinister or tragic could happen is not proof that it will. We must always acknowledge that the same world which provides cures, pain relief and hope is the same world which provides disease, pain, and despair. They are one in the same and the very reason that we must walk the fine line between chaos and order.
Common sense is our control in an environment which offers very little control over anything else.
Fear, in essence, is not good or evil, but simply a natural tool that allows us to exist. It keeps us from destroying what we need while protecting us from potential harm and self-destruction. But if we allow it to consume us, it becomes an evil that destroys what it is meant to protect. When fear divides us, it undermines what we can accomplish. When it costs us liberties, it makes us prisoners. When it dictates policy, it makes us slaves. When it is taught without common sense, it costs us everything.

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Brothers’ Keepers

Brothers’ Keepers

By C.L. Harmon

When we choose to not understand or have empathy for those who suffer, we fail. We fail on every level and have no one to blame but ourselves. We are created to be our brothers’ keepers and yet we continue to choose ourselves over them. We would rather win than compromise, trip than step back and curse rather than listen. We are the enemy within which destroys what is meant to be.

Leaders choose egos over solutions while followers choose sides instead of sacrifices. We build weapons instead of homes and amass control in place of compromise. We accept greed as common places while countless deteriorate from hunger. And yet we claim to be civilized. We destroy life over plots of dust and rubble that hold no value in eternity and still never learn that our possession of it is always fleeting.

We lust for more and instead of being grateful for what we have. We place value in trinkets and paper and yet and never marvel at the miracle of the seeds which are perfectly designed to grow and give us the sustenance to live. What we should value has become lost to us in our search for a treasure that offers us no life, no love and no redemption. And yet we claim to be a civilized people.

We fail because we no longer see ourselves in others. Their suffering, we distance from ourselves, and ours they distance from themselves. Someone else’s hunger is not ours. Another’s sorrow is ignored instead of embraced, others’ fears become problems in which we choose not become involved and yet we call ourselves civilized. Until we become the keeper of others, we will never truly know what it is to be civilized and as long as we continue pretending to be civilized, we will fail to ever become our brothers’ keepers.

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Hello Loyal Readers

As many of you might have noticed, I have not posted any new Mindsets lately. I apologize for this, but I have a good reason! I have been working on a book and it is nearing completion. I am currently in the editing process and having the cover art designed. This book is not a collection of Mindsets like my first book, In the Midst of Reality, but one that is of a personal nature which explains the usage of our belief systems and how they often fail us. Once the book is published, I will post a link on this blog where you may purchase one if you are interested. Below, I am posting the Forward and Introduction to the book so that you may get an idea as to the content of the book.

CL

FORWARD

God owns a school. It’s a private school called the Learning Institute For Everyone but most just use its acronym, LIFE. This school is much like any other elementary school with its classrooms, teachers, administrators, cafeteria and playground. Each class has assignments to do and subjects to study with teachers imparting their knowledge to the students. These teachers are insightful and caring, sharing lessons that will be vital for these students as they progress into other levels of education and life. This knowledge becomes the building blocks in which these children will use to construct a life that offers them happiness and rewards.

The owner and chief administrator, God, puts all of these teachers in place to teach the students what they must know but then offers this very odd appointment and gives the devil the recess period. The devil becomes master of the playground; the one fun place where everyone wants to go. He doesn’t explain Himself to the staff as to why He would place the devil in that position other than to tell them to trust Him.

It does not take long for the children to become fixated on the recess period and allow their thoughts to be diverted from regular studies during class periods as they daydream about the fun they will have on the playground. But the devil not only offers fun and games to the children, but also begins influencing the children as to all the fun that could be had if they skipped a period or two now and then. The children unaware of the potential harm, listen to the devil and slowly as time passes, they are convinced to stop showing up at all for class. The devil repeats this action with every child who will listen to him.

Those children are now being left out of the studies which provide the tools necessary for a successful future that should come after graduation. No one forced them to leave class in the first place or has forced them to return. God, as principal, spoke with each child and explained the importance of returning to school and that the education should be taken advantage of, but in the end, He allowed them to make the choice reminding them of the importance of a good education. He allows them the choice because He knows whatever their choice, will also be their consequence.

School is now in session. Are you listening?

INTRODUCTION

This book began writing itself a few months before I turned 19 years of age. I am now almost 51 and have finally decided it’s time to put the words that are scattered across my mind onto paper. To some, this book is an apology. To others, it is a gesture of gratitude. And when it’s completed, it will be an explanation to myself. This book is somewhere inside me, thousands of words jumbled into forgotten closets in my mind waiting to be transcribed from my memories and experiences. This work is not about finding happiness or reaching goals, but about understanding why we find ourselves in situations that seem so far away from where set out to go. In part, it’s also about finding acceptance in the fact that we are created by a God who seemingly does not want us to understand Him. It’s a journey into the building of and the collapsing of belief systems. It’s a reflection of everything that we have been taught and told which then becomes the foundation for our choices and decisions. This is a journey for me that I am asking you to take with me and hopefully find insight into your own lives by understanding my failing belief system and the construction of the new one I am building. This is a work about failure and what it is to fail. This is a story about losing over and over again until winning seems a distant impossible dream. This work is about hope and the loss of it and the unfairness in this life. It’s a book about me, about you, about us all.

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What Matters Are The Particles Of Matter: Mindset

What Matters Are The Particles Of Matter: Mindset

Words,music notes, brush strokes and elements come together to form beauty, art andvision. Mysterious particles of matter and thought swirling about a vastnessbeyond comprehension and yet they group to form a discernible pattern of beautyand purpose. Do we draw reason or coincidence from such an awesomecollaboration? Could it be that each particle has purpose; a destiny it mustfind in a sentence, stroke of color, or chemical compound? Are they asmagnetized molecules drawn to one another? Or are they simply lost looking tofind a home in a creation larger than itself which then creates something weexperience as beauty?

How do we know? Which do we choose to believe? Does not thisvery question determine how we choose to live, how we believe as we travelthrough this life? Every choice we make is rooted in the answer we offerourselves. Is it logic or faith which guides us? Is it a combination of thetwo? If so, which is dominant? Does either offer explanations that we feel safe to bet our life’s outcomes on? Are we individual grain of sands combining to form the intensity in a dust storm?

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle or even beyond our scope of understanding entirely. I believe it’s not about the manner in which beauty materializes but the proof that it does which we should focus. We should follow the particles because they appeal to us in a way that brings about fulfillment. They are not an offer of anything else other than they are real to us. To expect a particle of matter to obey our commands or to lead our lives to where we wish them to go is to save the night in a jar, but to embrace that night is to own it. What is created, whether in our control or not, is simply the proof that we mattered at one time and place in a vast creation simply because we accepted the opportunity to follow a few particles of matter and witness what they made for us.

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Escaping From Inside The Raindrop: Mindset

Escaping From Inside The Raindrop: Mindset

Rain pours and pounces the landscape near and far. To nature a drink of life; to others, a dismal day in shelters and hideaways who long for escape. The drops fall with purpose but without permission. They require no planning or proposals but only elements to interact and become whole. But delve deeper and realize we are not but prisoners of life within raindrops, but chosen components to the development of an awesome experience.

We are tiny shards in a fragmented sky. What we see, understand and encompass exists within a fragile framework that is delicate and yet withstanding of the powerful forces which surround it. We are a drop falling to seemingly certain destruction. This is life.  We are formed as drops when the elements are present and fall through this life only witnessing it through the thin veil which imprisons us. We rarely push the veil for fear of dying, and yet we were dead before our fall to the surface even began.

And yet it is death which gives any meaning to life at all. Yet still we live as though we are dead because our fear of life being taken from us consumes us, making us prisoner within the raindrops.

Whether we push the walls of our liquid cocoon to break out or hide within, we still slam to the ground and fall apart. The protection we feel is no protection at all. The ending is always the same. So if the drop breaks during the fall, what have we lost? The essence of rain is that it falls; the essence of life is that it ends. The beauty of it all is not that we know in the end we die in a downpour but to have lived within the storm, felt its passion instead of not being chosen to fall at all.

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It Is Outside That We Discover What Is On The Inside: Mindset

It Is Outside That We Discover What Is On The Inside: Mindset

When we think of our lives, our place in humanity and our world, we tend to think of it on a broad scale that encompasses all that we do and experience as an ordinary ritual of sorts. But what if that world we focus so heavily on each day causes us to lose sight of so much more? What if we miss the treasure because we are focused on finding the spot marked with the X?

Consider that all life, each individual entity, is a world all its own, made up of countless functions and processes in constant motion. We must then realize that life is happening in each ability, every talent, each characteristic and every second of time and examine them as though they are the only thing in our world.

We can then see them as a sole entity, full of energy and vitality becoming enlightened as to the extraordinary genius of all creation. Within each thought that becomes an idea, every ability that becomes a creation and each characteristic that brings interaction with others, there is an opportunity to discover that perhaps the meaning of life is simply that life has meaning beyond breath and knowledge.

The hours we are given to live are our opportunity to find meaning in each and every aspect of our lives. We will never see how incredibly in-depth we actually are if we do not understand the complexities of all things in our world. Understanding purpose and self-worth comes not from inside but from outside. It is only through the realization of the intricate nature of everything that we learn the incredible value of the one thing we call self.  

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Mindset: Thread Count

Mindset: Thread Count

Everything in our lives is connected. All that we see, experience, learn and understand connects to the other at some point during the course of our lives. As we live day to day, what we perceive as random acts, accidents or seemingly unimportant events thread themselves into our psyche and become part of a woven tapestry making up our existence.

We may go for years not remembering a specific image we saw or moment from our past and then through a new experience, it comes back, helping us to understand our new circumstances. Quite often that moment or image will seem insignificant when experienced. But when the connection is eventually made, we begin to realize that what was then was simply a part waiting to connect to what is now. These small threads connect to become a weave that will ultimately connect to what will be.

Everything in life is connected with one part simply a part of another. We are all threads weaving our way through life, connecting to each other and adding to the fabric of humanity. When our spool has reached its end, what we as individuals have woven is left behind; a small part of who we were connected to a larger part of a cosmic pattern. Every thread is important, relevant and required to reveal we are a significant part of this tapestry known as life.

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Mindset: The Purposeful Road

Mindset: The Purposeful Road

There seems to be little understanding as to the meaning of life and creation. And what is believed to be understood by some is never agreed upon by all. Yet we all seek knowledge, wisdom, and insight as to why we are here and to our purpose in life. We make choices and then worry about the outcome of those choices, believing them to be drawing us closer to our purpose and not further away.

But perhaps we put too much emphasis on what we believe to be our purpose instead of the faith needed to make choices which lead us to a purposeful life. Purpose does not belong to us, but to our Creator who has already made the choices necessary for us to fulfill the purpose He has given us.

However, it’s not His purpose which gives our lives meaning; for that, we ourselves must choose to live a life of purpose and consequence. Perhaps choosing to have faith and believe our purpose is a pre-existing road already built, will lead us to the insight to make choices which provide a life that is never meaningless and always purposeful.

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MUSINGS FROM THE INNER ASYLUM: Knowledge

MUSINGS FROM THE INNER ASYLUM: Knowledge

 We suffer, we bleed, we follow, we lead, and through it all, we learn. We kill dreams and prolong pain to be swallowed up in darkness and yet still seek light when there is none. And through it all, we learn. We build what nature destroys while we destroy what nature creates in order to build and we hope to learn. We seek treasures in hopes of gaining value before we know how to define value and through it all, we hope to learn.

We borrow fear and then find courage. We stumble in darkness, proclaim blindness all the while refuse to see the light. And with hope maybe we can learn. We sacrifice nothing and expect something, sometimes everything and with hope maybe, just maybe we can still learn. We blame anyone so we do not have accept that we are the broken one. When will we learn? We break those around us as though their cracks somehow repair us. Do we ever learn? We study the past with presumptions that we already know. Yet we sin the same as those before us.  And still it seems we can only hope to learn.

We surrender to difficulties instead of overcoming challenges. We kill what is pure so that we recognize evil and then look away at what is the burning angst inside. We call lost home because it allows us to be selfish when home expects us to be giving. And yet with all that is known, we just never learn.

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Mindset: Is It Time To Clean The Attic?

Mindset: Is It Time To Clean The Attic?

When we make room for others in our lives, we fill up spaces in our souls that might otherwise become cluttered with the baggage that accumulates in our spiritual attic over time. Life is in constant motion from our first breath to our last and within that time comes the sum of all our actions.

We have no control over the rate in which time passes, but we do have dominion over how that time is spent. We can spend it creating baggage that we must store in the limited spaces that are available. Or we can use that time to share with others.

Time with others is not the creation of a burdensome load that clutters the chambers in our soul, but the expansion of a life that creates room to house the valuable relationships of love and friendship we acquire.

Happiness and misery are both results of time plus choices. When we choose baggage, we crowd ourselves into a small existence that revolves only around ourselves. However, when we share ourselves with others, we grow as large as we need to be to hold all the valuables our time allows us to discover.

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