STORIES

It is almost ten and it is still only 66F, a little cool this time of year. It is nice though, we really enjoy the cool nights for sleeping. It has been getting down to the low fifties the last three nights.

Folks love stories. From ancient times we passed down our knowledge through stories. Every culture has its fables that carry the lore from one generation to the next. In times past, it was the most common way to disseminate knowledge. Now we have much recorded in books, films etc. but the basic vehicle, remains the same, the story.

We easily recognize stories, such as Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Anderson's and Grimm's fairy tales, plus Bible Stories and myriad stories of unknown origin, that have shaped our view of the world.

We are less aware of the stories in medicine, archeology, anthropology, psychology, physics, art, literature, geology, chemistry etc. that have shaped our thinking. All our beliefs from the origin of man to the formation of ice crystals are shaped by stories.

When we first hear a story whether it is about cholesterol, diet, climate change, the formation of frost on the windshield, the creation of gas in our large intestine, it doesn't matter the subject; if we take it in without awareness, it is there influencing our beliefs. The more appealing the story, the more it becomes entrenched. The truth of a story, is not the first thing that comes to us. We first react to the appeal, that occurs at many levels. As propagandist have discovered, repetition is a crucial factor in cementing a belief.

From our first awareness as infants, the stories our parents accepted began to shape us. From a very early age, stories shaped us directly.

At some point, stories not only came from outside, we started telling ourselves, our own story. Many of these stories had to do with our relative worthiness and competence. We could spin stories of our heroism or humiliation. We may speak them, out loud, or only in daydreams.

Stories are a very powerful influence on our lives. They can distort, and hold us back, intellectually, and rule our emotions. We don't realize how they shape our most simple, and what we think as, our most logical, beliefs.

The process of awakening includes the awareness of how stories have influenced  our lives. We need to recognize, that we hang on to beliefs and ideas, based on stories we have heard and they may not be true. Much of what we believe, are stories, originating from, what we think of as, an authority. We can't know, and experience everything, ourselves. We depend on knowledgeable people, in a field, to teach us something. However, we must be aware, there is no unimpeachable source. Being aware, that so and so, states this to be true, doesn't make it true. There is no compunction for us to accept it. When we have no way of directly discerning the truth for ourselves, the information can remain in the 'interesting' category; we are not compelled to believe anything.

Whenever we see, that fear is being used to propel a story, the probability is that, it is not true.

We want to awaken, we want truth. To see clearly, we need to give up all the old stories that have influenced us. We can start fresh. We don't need beliefs. We won't find out, who we are, with our minds cluttered with the nonsense, inculcated from our culture.

We especially need to give up the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and each other. I had some recent deaths in my extended family, and it made me aware, that we will never get to know anybody, if we focus on the stories that we think made up a person's past. We are not the stories, that we tell ourselves, or are told about us. We will never know our true magnificence, as long as we hang onto these stories, as having value.

Awakening means giving up the past, and SEEING. I know, I know, it is easy to say; why does, doing it, seem so difficult? Know we are on the path. The power of love is in the present moment. If we keep bring ourselves back to the moment, we will see.

Love and Peace,  Gregg