Guiltless Mind, Connection and Peace

In the year of 1970 a song was written by a Hungarian band named Omega.  The song is called: Ballad of a Gunsmith’s Son.

“Winter runs through the night
Snow-frost blooms
A life weeps in a new cradle.
His father lifts him up
This child will  be a gunsmith
If I live to that.
And so it happened
But one day the son said
Let us not make guns any more
There will be no war, tearful and sad
I will see everyone happy
With a small bell that he casted
He puts on migrant’s clothes
And wonders all the world with his bell.
The song of the bell softly sings
That no one can hear
And everyone laughs at him who sees him.
One day he returns, stands but barely lives
He is no longer the one who left with eyes closed
His father laughs; just open your eyes
In such a world guns are needed

I know, I know, I know your heart is broken
And yet, still you have to understand
I know, I know, I know your heart is aching
And yet, still you have to understand”

You can listen to the song here:

The following is an excerpt from Lincoln”s speech 200 some years ago…

“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same we do not all mean the same. What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts. These are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of men, in lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?”

The Dalai Lama was once asked why he didn’t fight back against the Chinese when he was exiled from Tibet. He replied, “because war is obsolete, you know.” Then he paused and, in a more serious tone, said that “the mind can always rationalize fighting back, but the heart will never understand it. We would then be divided in ourselves (the heart and the mind,) and the war would be inside us.”

A client of mine going through a serious medical diagnosis came to see me for relief. We talked about her family situation and in her sharing and our conversation, she recognized the war that is going on inside her. On one hand; she feels sorrow for one family member she feels she needs to protect. On the other hand; she is angry with the one she feels she needs to protect herself and others from.

In Dr. Bert Hellinger’s work, he identified three key elements in the family system:
1) A child’s need to belong
2) A child’s need for social hierarchy (order of birth regardless of living or passed family members)
3) A child’s need in balance of giving and receiving
If one of these elements is out of balance, the family system on a sub-conscious level starts to work on repairing itself. These sub-conscious attempts may show up in a family member developing illness, loss of income, difficulty relating to others etc… This does not have to be!

It is so important to recognize the war that is going on in our own minds. Healing starts from within. In our own backyard. With our own family. The son of a gunsmith remembers that Spirit within. Lincoln also did. Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, so many others too. And so can we! It Is Time!

Courageous Cat

A few nights ago I was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of an animal crying.  Since I was used to having baby deer in my backyard crying for their mother, and I was still half asleep, I did not think much of it.  The crying would stop and then start again and it went on all night.

When the sun started to come up and I was able to see the backyard from my window, I saw a cat sitting on the lower roof of my house.  He was crying, because he could not find his way down.  How did he get there in the first place is a wonder also.

As I slowly opened the window to reach for him, he got startled and ran down to the gutter and was weighing his options there. My husband went outside and took a long wooden board from the garage that reached all the way up to the roof, in hopes he would leave it there and the cat would walk down.  As my husband was carefully approaching the roof, the cat ran up to the top where he was previously sitting and without hesitation, jumped to the higher roof. From there he found his way to the other side of the house where a tree was giving him the support to make his way down into safety.

Later on I found it interesting that all night he was scared, crying and afraid to move. Even when the sun came up. The upper roof – opportunity – was there for him, yet being scared of us – not knowing we were there to help – gave him the “adrenalin” he needed and did something he did not think he could before. He jumped up to the upper roof.  The ability was in him all along, he just needed a “push”.

This happening made me think… and asked myself the questions I am asking you now too…

Where in your life do you feel stuck, see a possibility, but do not think you can make something happen? Can you use your fear to get you out of this stuck place you think you maybe in? Are you aware that help is available?

“If you enter into the discipline necessary to bring about a radical change in your life, you must do deliberately, after giving the matter careful thought and full consideration and then you must allow nothing to interfere with your decision.” – Charles Haanel

This beautiful gray cat considered the spout and decided not to go for it. He looked up to the upper roof a few times and did not decide to go for it either, till he felt there was need for a “radical change”.  After all those considerations, he did not allow his fear to keep him where he was… he made a quantum leap and found his way home.