I am reading a book that is a collection of short stories
from various writers that are all in some way a story about modern day suburban
witches.
It is a book that if I asked a
collective group of people to hunt down and read together would probably not
generate much excitement aside from having a witch theme leading into fall and
Halloween because it is very random no matter how you look at it. It is a random book that most people have
never heard of edited by a person most people have probably never heard of with
a cover that while I find interesting is almost generic in nature. It is filled with stories written by authors
that most people probably have not ever heard of and just by the nature of it
being a collection of short stories is random in that the stories all stand
alone and are not at all related other than by this one theme insisting that it
must include the idea of witches regardless of how that word might be defined
from author to author which invokes an entire conundrum of randomness within
itself just by design. It is the kind of
book that you would expect to see in a box at a garage sale that has been
pulled from someone’s basement stuck down in between a whole slew of generic romance
novels and one or two cookbooks published by Better Homes and Gardens back in
1978 and possibly one outdated Weight Watchers guide book from 1987 (probably
titled something like “The ABC’s of Eating Out”) that tells you how to know
what foods to choose from fast food restaurants that either don’t exist anymore
or if they do no longer sell the items listed in the guide and includes a slot
where a cassette tape used to reside so you could inspire yourself into making
those “right” choices on the drive to the restaurant. This is the kind of book that you would
likely flip right past in that box and never see anywhere else in your life
ever again even if you are an avid book hunter.
The first story in this book was weak and boring at best and
the kind of story that makes you think if THIS was the story that the publisher
thought was a strong lead in and would suck the reader into continuing on with
the book then this is going to be much worse than I thought because it was so
boring it makes even the word boring sound exciting.
The second story in the book was a bit more interesting but
still kind of missed the mark. It at
least had a little bit of excitement but it was also a little too ridiculous
and although the character development itself wasn’t necessarily weak the actual
character WAS weak and while you understood how you were SUPPOSED to relate to
him and his bumbling ways and the predicament he was in you never really were
able to.
The third story finally started to hit the mark. It was cute.
It had magic that we want from a story about witches. It even referred to two cult favorite TV
shows, one of my personal favorites Charmed and another that I know many of my
readers are dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a way that was a
respectful nod to the people who love this type of genre and made you think
“ok, now we are talking.” It is the
first story that actually reaches what was likely intended to be the target
demographic (or at least a large portion
of it) when the book was actually published.
What jumped out at me from this story though almost as a side note and
is the whole reason I am telling you about this book now was this concept
within the story that whatever you do to someone else comes back and is done to
you as well. In the story it boiled down
to teaching youngsters the lesson that if you try to harm someone else in some
way you should expect that harm to come back to you as bad and possibly even
worse in order to instill in them a sense of fear to keep them from ever doing
it in the first place and also a sense of respect for the person that they
intended to harm or those that might also be harmed in the process as a sort of
collateral damage.
Anyway, I then find myself thinking about something else
that I then heard a rector tell in a podcast where when he was younger he met
Martin Luther King Jr. who said to him that when someone is the victim of an
act of racism or any other type of victimization that there are actually two
victims in the scenario. Both the victim
and the perpetrator suffer from the act because evil makes us all its victim in
the long run and while the victim suffers from the consequences that we are all
aware of the consequences that the perpetrator
will and already is enduring could be far greater whether we have
sympathy for them or not. He was
conveying the idea that if the perpetrator were not already suffering he would
not be able to complete this horrible act against another in the first place.
So, this is twice within about a 2 hour timespan that this
concept has been conveyed to me through two completely different mediums. It’s the same message presented in two
different mediums in two different formats surrounded by two different stories
told from two different angles that if you aren’t able to connect the dots could
easily be missed. Thankfully I was in a
space of awareness to receive it.
Now, If you are a regular reader of mine then you are either
already participating in or have at least thought about or are talking yourself
into the 30 Day Challenge. (Today is the halfway mark! Can you believe it? Definitely is slowing the passing of time for me.) All of us
involved are changing our life in some way.
It might be spiritual. It might
be health related. It might be
financial. It might be related to
relationships. Your journey could be
about any number of things and since we are just beginning and by the simple
nature of the challenge itself and how we break down our long term goals into
such minimalistic actionable steps (mine being to cut out one can of soda from
my diet per day) in order to ensure the likeliness that we can successfully
achieve them it is easy to forget that this one little actionable step you are
taking which might seem silly or superficial or too simple to focus on for 30
straight days is part of a much bigger picture which lies within the core of
who you are as a being on this planet.
It is a meager step in the larger goal of living in a way that is true
to your inner spirit. It is a step in
this journey we take called life where we are born pure and connected and then
suffer and then from that suffering work to awaken and live consciously connected
again, re-learning to be present in and appreciate each moment in order to
become one with the universe in a way that we never could before and live the
life that we were always meant to live and that has been there for us the
entire time if only we had taken the time to be present to see it.
This idea that what we put out into the universe, good or
bad, comes back to us in spades is one that resonates throughout different
spiritual teachings, different scientific teachings, different moral and
ethical teachings, different cultures,
and even shows up in a random book filled with random stories written by random
authors about witches that one random person (that would be me) just happens to
read at just the right time to receive it and who just happens to write these
messages in this little blog with the hopes that they will reach even just one
other random person (that would be you) at just the right time to receive it. Suddenly what become clear is that all of
this randomness isn’t random at all. It
is a testament to the idea that when your eyes are open and you are ready the
messages that are already out there waiting for you become so clear. What you put out you will eventually get
back. Awaken to the idea of working
towards becoming your true self and eventually you will find you are living
true to yourself. Open your heart and
your mind to growth and you will grow.
In that growth you help others to grow through example. It is all connected. We are all connected. When your spirit is shut off from the
universe you feel isolated and alone and unhappy and maybe even angry or
anxious. When you awaken your mind and
your spirit the universal connectedness reveals itself. It was there all along waiting for you to be
present and see it. Put out what you
want to get back. Be present yourself and
you will inspire others.
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