AN AMAZING OCTOBER DAY

 

We have had a stretch of the most beautiful October weather; cool, crisp Mornings and warm afternoons, Sunny throughout the day. The colors are spectacular, perhaps one of the best years I have witnessed.

I noted that several people read my substitute blog on Wednesday “Love and Service.” I came across it because I noted that someone had clicked on it. {What people are reading shows up on the blog info} I was surprised someone read a blog from five years ago and was curious what I wrote. I rarely read old blogs myself. I liked it and thought it was worth saying again. In fact I am torn between pursuing that line of thought and just writing a little newsy piece explaining what my commitment was on Wednesday. I am going to go with the happenings on Wednesday. I certainly will be writing more on Wednesday's theme.

I had an appointment with a dermatology outfit in St Cloud. I have had a propensity to get these hanging warts. I think some people call them skin tags. They are not really warts or moles. I had a few removed by a local doctor. There was no fuss, he just snipped them off. He explained they had a their own blood supply and one could not just snip them off without controlling the blood flow. However, one could use dental floss or a similar material and loop it around the base and deprive it of its blood source. They would then dry up and fall off. I tried that a couple times and it worked.

They are usually very small and not noticeable. I haven't had one bother me in many years. However, in the last week or so I had one under my arm that would get irritated occasionally. I probably could have lived with it forever, but I showed it to Jamie. She knew of people that had serious problems with such things getting infected and she urged me to get it removed. Gone are the days when you could go to the local clinic and have a doctor snip it off. It was under my arm and I would need two hands to do the dental floss procedure; so I submitted myself to serious professional scrutiny.

Well, of course, the dermatologist and his assistant admired all of my upper body speckled personage. Besides removing the skin tag, they found several things to freeze with liquid nitrogen. They took a couple biopsies of possible problems. I remarked, “At my age, something else would probably get me first, before any malignancy.” He agreed. We may have that discussion in a couple weeks. I don't think there is much concern.

As far as following up on the “Love and Service” theme. I have already written a great deal about this. Waking up is seeing reality. We tend to reinforce what we see according to our beliefs. The first obstacle to waking up is the idea, that what we believe is true. If we could stop for a minute and realize that most of our beliefs are untested conclusions based on information inculcated from authority figures and we have no idea if their conclusions were valid.

The more in awe we are of the authority figures the more likely we are to accept their conclusions.

This starts with families and early education. Basic ideas on politics, economics, religion, traditions etc. are absorbed readily. Unfortunately, the more we loved and respected our early caregivers, the more unquestioning we are. Many young people start questioning some of these beliefs in late adolescence and young adulthood, [a basic college scenario] they generally don't go far enough. Everybody's comfort level is different. It can be very difficult giving up a cherished belief especially if it came from someone we loved.

We have such a powerful wish to be accepted and belong that we often will reject one set of unfounded beliefs and embrace a new set equally unfounded. We all belong to groups, as I mentioned in Wednesday's blog. It is important we don't fall into group think. It is easy. We want everybody to love us and we want to be accepted.

I will visit this later. I have dishes to wash and the water is getting cold. I will say this, we can test our beliefs for function even when we cannot for accuracy. We can ask ourselves, “Does this belief lead to a loving action?” “Does holding this belief lead to a more sane world?” “Does holding this belief bring love and peace to everyone?” “Does holding this belief lead us to seeing, all as One and all as Love” You get the idea.

HAPPY FRIDAY! CELEBRATE!

Love and Peace, Gregg