Saturday 9th February 2002 19-20 hrs CET
I am my own boss
I am yet to discover, in my own perception of standards, which
is the more distressing and painful sight: that of a young person
seemingly bent on self-destruction or that of an old person whose
body rebelliously imposes the burdens of a prisoner upon the mind
and ceases to be any longer at the command of the will.

In the former case it is all too easy too classify the beginnings
of destructive addictions as being simply youthful experimentation.
Mood or mind altering substances such as alcohol, narcotics and such
seem to be such an established aspect of society that youthfulness
cannot be held entirely responsible for an apparent 'free will decision'
to indulge in them. In this there is nothing new, generation to generation
falls for the same salesmanship. Even large scale education has not eased
this problem: in 'achievement related societies' education has been turned
into a competition sport...with all the attendant pressures, rewards and
sponshorships that go with it.

In the latter case the results of over indulgence in what was the
previously- and still regrettably- accepted norm for addiction, alcohol,
extracts a horrendous toll in suffering - from ulcerated and unusable legs
to a brain that is constantly bombarded with bombshells of haemmorrages
or small clots. The ability to tolerate large quantities is not an achievement,
but a loss, huh?

Yesterday I was reading of alcohol poisoning - the result of home
made spirit sold to teenagers by a much older person - in two 13 year
olds. I have seen, and continue to see many times, the long term effects
of alcohol poisoning - caused by uncontrollable over-indulgence - in older
people.

There is also a 'spiritual addiction' as I call it. It is in the form of uncontrolled
reliance, without test and often without knowledge, on traditions and
'fundamentalist standpoints'.

So, where are we going with this diatribe?

To a simple place... a place that goes by the name of 'self-responsibility'

We have chosen to come into this life, this experiencing reality. So, why, therefore,
do so many choose to opt out of the reality of the experiencing and hide from
it within mood altering methodologies?

It kind of defeats the object of coming here in the first place, don't it???

You know...you know the truth of this. You know it inside. I cannot tell
it to you....for you know what I know and vice versa.

What we can, however, do...as bearers of 'the lovingness'..is remind each
other. Not from a position of superiority or elitism, or even ego, but simply
from the point of view that we are all one.... for true lovingness makes it's
home in the halls of humility.

"a true disciple knows another's pain as his own"



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