The Journey Up The Mountain
Challenging Questions? [Document File]
Life is a succession of choices for each one of us; little and big choices, millions of choices and it is our choices, decided by our “state of mind” (mentality) which advance or obstruct our spiritual growth. We tend to pay attention to big decisions (choices) and ignore the small, frequent decisions (choices). These choices are the brushstrokes that paint the big picture of our spiritual makeup – our spiritual state of being. The questions posted here are as a guide to you on your path to enlightenment and ask you the question, ‘Quo vadis?’ meaning whither goest thou or, in this context, which way are you heading? NOTE for book shelves: Challenging Questions? continues and will be renewed monthly en bloc.
Guest Posting 09.06.12. I have realised that guests may wish to add their own posts so I have decided to make this option available. If you wish to contribute let me know by way of a comment below and I will make you a “Contributor”.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS Spontaneous healing. .............................................................................7 Parking for the disabled.........................................................................7 Helium balloons. ...................................................................................7 Fair trade products. ................................................................................7 Equality. ................................................................................................7 Caring. ...................................................................................................8 Nature’s exception. ................................................................................8 Sport. .....................................................................................................8 At the dentist’s. ......................................................................................8 Advertising. ...........................................................................................8 Genius. ..................................................................................................8 Memory recall. ......................................................................................9 Intelligence. ...........................................................................................9 Stockpiling. ...........................................................................................9 Human nature. .....................................................................................10 The noisy physical trainer. ..................................................................10 What is help? .......................................................................................11 Courtesy on a bus. ...............................................................................11 On a foot path. .....................................................................................12 Karma. (1) ...........................................................................................12 Choice. ................................................................................................12 Armaments. .........................................................................................12 Responsibility. (1) ...............................................................................12 Self-esteem. .........................................................................................12 2
The Ballpoint Pen. ...............................................................................13 Jury Service - Court of Law. ...............................................................13 Choices of Lives. .................................................................................13 Escape. ................................................................................................13 A matter of small change. ....................................................................14 Life Experiences. .................................................................................14 The plot of land. ..................................................................................14 A good deed. ........................................................................................14 Close neighbours. ................................................................................14 Occupying a hospital bed. ...................................................................15 Who goes first?....................................................................................15 Responsibility. (2) ...............................................................................15 You as a book. .....................................................................................15 Addiction. ............................................................................................15 Others before self. ...............................................................................15 Shopping. (1) .......................................................................................16 Self-image. ..........................................................................................16 Building a house. .................................................................................16 The cost of human health. ...................................................................16 Libraries & books. ...............................................................................16 Respecting someone’s wishes. ............................................................16 At the mailbox bank. ...........................................................................17 Bad moods. ..........................................................................................17 Contentment. (1)..................................................................................17 The worries of the world. ....................................................................17 Haste makes waste. .............................................................................17 3
Contentment. (2)..................................................................................17 Ageing of the body. .............................................................................17 Wants. ..................................................................................................18 Perception. ...........................................................................................18 Shopping. (2) .......................................................................................18 Hidebound. ..........................................................................................18 Giving. .................................................................................................18 The Gift. ..............................................................................................19 Late night taxi. ....................................................................................19 Shaving. ...............................................................................................19 Blood is thicker than water. .................................................................19 Principle. .............................................................................................19 Killer flesh. ..........................................................................................20 An advanced civilisation. ....................................................................20 That tomato. ........................................................................................20 Trust. ....................................................................................................20 Karma. (2) ...........................................................................................21 Duplicated order. (1)............................................................................21 Duplicated order. (2)............................................................................21 The backpack. .....................................................................................21 A matter of principle. ..........................................................................21 Giving credit where credit is due. .......................................................21 Hijacking the truth. .............................................................................22 Artificial. .............................................................................................22 Ruminating. .........................................................................................22 The business of caring enough. ...........................................................22 4
Losing. ................................................................................................22 Appointments. .....................................................................................22 Sport and the needy. ............................................................................23 The fall of man. ...................................................................................23 Communication. ..................................................................................23 Spring. .................................................................................................23 Ethnicity, race and and violence. ........................................................23 Unjustified ill-feelings.........................................................................24 Upset by others? ..................................................................................24 Ethical Investment. ..............................................................................24 Conscientious objection. .....................................................................24 Wasteful mentality. ..............................................................................24 Borrowing. ..........................................................................................24 Disposable paper tissues. ....................................................................25 Global warming. ..................................................................................25 Living life. ...........................................................................................25 NOTICE ..............................................................................................25
5
6
Challenging Questions? Spontaneous healing. What is meant by the terms "spontaneous healing" and "mind over matter"? How does "spontaneous healing" occur? Some medical doctors use these terms but most, if not all, are unable (or unwilling) to answer these questions! ☼ Parking for the disabled. Assuming you are not disabled would you, do you, park in a car parking spot reserved for the disabled? ☼ Helium balloons. If you knew that helium balloons of the type usually used by people for enjoyment and/or celebration, by releasing them singly or by the hundred or thousand, cause death and suffering to many species of marine life would you use them? ☼
Fair trade products. If you buy a fair trade product, e.g. Tea or coffee, when you drink it do you think about how much it cost you or about the poor grower in the Third World you have helped? ☼ Equality. Below is an extract from “The Milk Is White” and dates back, therefore, to c.1996. “What would the situation be if the world society were so structured, willingly by all, so that each person had an income of, say, $25,000 p.a.*? To achieve this, entrepreneurs would limit net profits to this goal, doctors, lawyers etc. would be able to practice a calling, a vocation, as opposed to a business, and be happier doing it as the prime motive would be the use of their skills. *This figure is arbitrary but, no doubt, a suitably accurate one can be calculated.” The question now is: 7
Could you, or would you, do this for the greater good of all? ☼ Caring. Would you put your shod or dirty feet on something others are meant to sit, sleep or eat on? ☼ Nature’s exception. Why is Homo sapiens the only animal not to have a breeding season? ☼ Sport. If and when you watch a non team sport do you cheer the mistakes of the opponent of your favourite? As a stadium spectator of a sport, at a time when a player needs maximum concentration on his own to achieve something vital to his team - and his team is not your preferred team, are you one of those who do their best to disturb the player so as to derive benefit for your preferred team? ☼
At the dentist’s. If you were in a busy dentist’s waiting room for attention to a filling in a slightly painful tooth and you overheard the receptionist talking to someone on the phone who obviously needed urgent attention but did not have an appointment, would you tell the receptionist to give the person your place and make another appointment for you even though you had no idea when she would be able to fit you in? ☼
Advertising. If you were paid a lot of money to promote, by advertising or other means, a product you did not use or did not sincerely believe in would you do so? ☼
Genius. How does the quality of genius manifest; particularly in very young people? The answer would apply equally to exceptional ability. 8
☼ Memory recall. When you recall an occurrence, place etc. for the purpose, say, of writing or relating it, how do you effect the recall; what is the “mechanism”? [To give clues could be counter-productive.] Please think this through carefully before answering - better still, try it and observe what you do. I am very interested in how others do this. ☼ Intelligence. How do we acquire intelligence? Please read the note below before answering. NOTE: It seems evident that, in people, the degree of intelligence varies with the individual and, also, there is a difference between intellect and intelligence. I have explained this difference in the extract from The Milk Is White below. "Let us here differentiate between intelligence and intellect. Intelligence is an innate ability to perceive, comprehend, reason and understand whereas intellect is to do with the acquisition of knowledge of an academic nature. Intellect is dependent on intelligence but intelligence is not dependent on intellect. Many highly intelligent people are not intellectual, mostly because they have not had the opportunity of education and some because they have not had the inclination to study, and many highly intellectual people are not intelligent outside their specific sphere of intellectual study. Those with intellectual deficiency are actually highly intelligent. The proverbial "absentminded professor" would be an extreme example of this. Therefore, no one need feel unqualified to seek, or at a disadvantage in seeking the spiritual Truth. If anything, the intellectual has a greater tendency to experience mental blocks or tunnel vision than the purely intelligent person." ☼ Stockpiling. Sometimes, it happens that events create, or are likely to create, shortages in commodities which are, or are perceived to be, important to people e.g. petrol food and water. In these circumstances do you rush out and buy to stockpile or do you just stick to your usual routine? ☼
9
Human nature. List improvements* in human nature (human mentality) that have occurred in, say, the last two thousand years. * Disregard quantitative improvements due to population increase. â˜ź The noisy physical trainer. This is about the activities of a physical trainer (personal trainer?) from about 5.45 a.m. to 7.00 a.m. most mornings on show-grounds also used a lot by itinerant caravaners, walkers and those seeking the quiet of this time of day. Below is a written dialogue between two people about this and the question is: Would you have adopted the attitude of the trainer? Message 1. Dear Xxxx, with reference to the article in the latest Xxxxxxxxxx Times it is good note you beneficial work but, sadly, there is one big black mark - being a public nuisance. You may not be aware of this but your loud music and shouts of encouragement and instruction to your tribe are a disturbance to residents in the area, caravaners, walkers and others who cherish the peace and tranquility of the early morning. I sincerely hope this motivates you to happily make a change. Good luck. Reply 1. Dear Xxxxx, I am happy to meet with you to discuss the points you raise and invite you to call me on xxxxxxxxxx to make a time. This is the first email I have received making such claims and I have been operating in that location for over 2 years. I appreciate your email but do note that you have commented on me affecting quite a few different groups. Are your their spokesperson? Look forward to hearing from you if you wish. In the meantime I will certainly keep the music levels much lower , that is something I can control. Regards Message 2. Dear Xxxx, There is nothing to talk about as it is simply a matter of conscience. One does not need to be told what the effects of one's actions are on others; a little lateral thinking, and caring, is all that is needed. Life is a succession of choices determined, often, by one's conscience. 10
With respect. Reply 2. Please then do not contact me again, especially as I have not given you express right to do so via this business email address of mine. if you do so from this point onwards I shall advance the matter as one of personal harassment. You have been given the right to front up personally with your allegations and have chosen not to accept my invitation.Like you say, choices. Regards ☼ What is help? This question was put to me by a sixteen year old boy from a Himalayan country about four years ago. “I know the owner of a small shop. One day, the owner was busy when a customer who had bought a cigarette was looking for the lighter. I knew where the lighter was and went to get it for him but I was in two minds because by giving him the lighter I was helping the owner and the customer but, at the same time, I was helping the customer damage his health. What should I have done?” Over to you, dear reader! ☼ Courtesy on a bus. This question was also put to me by the sixteen year old boy from a Himalayan country about four years ago. “Every morning I go to school by bus and go to the bus stop early to get a good seat. However, it most often happens that very soon on the journey and old person or a pregnant woman boards the bus where, because the bus is crowded, they have nowhere to sit and I give them my seat. Should I go early for the bus when all I seem to have to do is give up my seat?” Over to you, dear reader! ☼ 11
On a foot path. When you walk on a foot path do you respect, and defer to, the needs of others using the same space? ☼ Karma. (1) 1. If you meet someone who has a positive effect on you do you say it is your karma? 2. If you meet with an accident and become paralysed do you say it is your karma? 3. If someone breaks into your home and threatens your family would you kill him? ☼ Choice. If, because of action taken against you by someone, you have taken legal action, and this legal action is distressing you for one or more reasons, would you persist with it or let go? ☼ Armaments. Armament manufacturers must be rubbing their hands with glee at what is going on in the world whilst raking in the profits from the bloodshed - profits which are passed on to shareholders. 1. Are you one of these shareholders? 2. If you are would you sell your shares? 3. Would you sell them at a loss? ☼ Responsibility. (1) If you are an employee in charge of the work and welfare of a group of workers does your moral responsibility lie with the workers or the Company? ☼ Self-esteem. Provided that you have a reasonably accurate assessment of yourself the question is: Is your self-esteem affected by what others think of you? ☼ 12
The Ballpoint Pen. Arriving at your home after permanently leaving a job you find you have unwittingly brought with you an ordinary ballpoint pen issued by the Company. What would you do? ☼ Jury Service - Court of Law. There is a saying which goes something like this: “ Everyone has the right to their own opinion but no one has the right to not know the truth.” Considered very carefully this means that to know the truth: 1. You had to have witnessed the event and also know what was in the minds of those involved. 2. Were not a witness but know what was in the mind of the perpetrator. However, bearing in mind that, often, even the perpetrator is unaware of why, at the precise moment, he or she acted as they did, it is not possible to know the truth. Now, having carefully considered the above and even added to what I have said, would you serve on a jury in a court of law? ☼ Choices of Lives. Given freedom of choice which of the following lives would you choose for your next five lives? • Billionaire. • Millionaire. • An average person in the developed world. • One living in the slums of India. • One of the women amongst the displaced people in Africa. ☼ Escape. In advertising, and perhaps the media, there is a preoccupation with “Escape”: We are urged to escape through this television program or that, this film or that, or escape to this place or that or via some music or other and so on. For this theme to be so prevalent we must seek release from something! . . . . . And, if we seek release from something we must be stressed by that something. 13
What could it be? ☼ A matter of small change. You purchase an item from a shop for $10 and at the checkout find you are 50￠short of the price. You mention this to the shopkeeper who says, ‘Do not worry about it!’ and you say, ‘No, it is only right that I pay the correct amount; I will bring it in soon!’. Would you stick to your word no matter when? ☼ Life Experiences. In the case of people experiencing the physical condition of Down’s syndrome or anything similar would you support sterilisation or other means of preventing descendants? ☼ The plot of land. If you were comparatively well off and owned a plot of land, tended by a few comparatively poor people, in a poor country, would you gift that plot to those poor people? ☼ A good deed. Your housebound neighbour’s son and his daughter arrive for a few days by plane and have no car. Although your finances are in a delicate state you offer the use of your car for a day so that they can do something with regard to horses in which the daughter has a great interest.They accept gratefully and on their return offer to fill the tank with petrol. Would you: 1. Accept their offer? 2. Thank them for their offer and say something like, ‘There is no need. When you get the chance to do something similar for someone, do so.’ 3. Act in some other way? If so, how? ☼ Close neighbours. If you live where your neighbours can easily hear the noises you make are you always aware of the noise you create and do you, or would you, take care not to disturb them? 14
☼ Occupying a hospital bed. Would you book yourself into a busy hospital for a week or so simply to get free meals? ☼ Who goes first? You are one of a small group of people, similar in all respects, trapped in a car which has just met with an accident. There is an opening in the mangled body through which one person can wriggle with difficulty but the car is in imminent danger of exploding in flames and incinerating all inside. Assuming that all present are capable of leaving by this opening, given the time, how would you, if it were left to you, decide who goes first? ☼ Responsibility. (2) If the collective human psyche - the collective human mentality - is the cause of the world being what it is today to what extent have you contributed, and are you contributing, to it? ☼ You as a book. Shame prevents most people from being open about themselves. Are you an open book or a closed one? ☼ Addiction. If you own a mobile phone are you uncomfortable without it? Are you uncomfortable without sound? ☼ Others before self. Would you ride, particularly late at night or early in the morning, a very noisy vehicle like a Harley Davidson which is a severe disturbance to people and animals? ☼
15
Shopping. (1) When shopping, if you discover that you do not need something in your trolley or basket, do you take it out and leave it on a shelf where you are at the moment or do you return it to the spot from which you took it? ☼ Self-image. Do you need designer wear and/or accessories to boost your self image? If you wear such, think carefully before answering. ☼ Building a house. If you built yourself a house to live in would you design it to please yourself or to impress others? ☼ The cost of human health. If you knew that animals had been tortured and killed in the production of a pharmaceutical would you, perhaps out of fear of being tortured by pain or fear of death, take it for your own benefit? ☼ Libraries & books. Most private libraries, large or small, are kept for the purpose of ostentation and are unavailable to the reading public. Do you have such a library at home, even if it is only a shelf or two, a library doing nothing except, perhaps, making a statement for you? If, yes, would you give it away for some useful purpose? ☼ Respecting someone’s wishes. If someone needs help, you offer to help and they turn down your offer, do you persist with your offer? ☼
16
At the mailbox bank. At the single traffic lane entrance to the housing complex where you live is the bank of residents’ mailboxes. To collect your mail would you, or do you, park in the way of other traffic in front of the bank of mailboxes? ☼ Bad moods. If someone or something has upset you are you brusque with others or in any way negative towards other people or other things? ☼ Contentment. (1) At times during a day do you smile to yourself in true contentment because of your awareness of your true self; your true identity? ☼ The worries of the world. “The worries of the world.” is an often heard expression but we continue to persist with the causes of these worries - why? ☼ Haste makes waste. This old adage is more true today than it has ever been: the lifestyle in the “developed world” is rush rush, with the result that people get forgetful, careless, clumsy, wasteful and stressed - all contributing to dis-ease (illness) and wasted human endeavour. Is your lifestyle one of haste? ☼ Contentment. (2) Given all the worldly wherewithal do you think you could find permanent, continuous, complete contentment on Earth? ☼ Ageing of the body. 1. When your hair started to turn grey did you do anything to maintain the original colour or when your hair starts to turn grey will you do anything to maintain the original colour? 2. If “Yes” why?
17
Note: Before considering the answer to #2 above please apply the advice given HERE ☼ Wants. Is there anything emotional or material without which you will feel deprived, discontented or unhappy? ☼ Perception. What colour is usual, or common, grass? ☼ Shopping. (2) Do you shop because something is necessary or as a pastime? ☼ Hidebound. As earthlings we tend to be hidebound - confined by our physical state; some more than others. 1. Have you liberated yourself? 2. Do you want to? Below are two meanings of hidebound which are pertinent here. World English Dictionary hidebound (ˈhaɪdˌbaʊnd) — adj 1. restricted by petty rules, a conservative attitude, etc. 2. (of trees) having a very tight bark that impairs growth
☼
Giving. You have $100 to give to a charity and you favour charities A and B. You feel that A is slightly more deserving and see that B will give you a 30% tax benefit. Which do you choose? ☼
18
The Gift. You give someone a gift and that someone, not having a use for such, gives it to someone and you find out. What do you feel? ☼ Late night taxi. It is late at night/early in the morning and you have called for a taxi to pick you up near an intersection. It is a very busy time for taxis so you were told that you may have to wait forty minutes or more for your taxi. Knowing that this is not unusual you agree and, after 30 or 40 minutes, a taxi from another company pulls up and the driver asks whether you need a taxi. You tell him that you do but that you have already booked one and he says, ‘That’s OK, you can come with me, he will be alright.’ Do you honour your booking or take this taxi? Note: You have no mobile phone. ☼ Shaving. Prior to the late twentieth century men used a cup of water and a rinse of water for shaving their face. Since then many men shave whilst under the shower. Are you one of the latter? ☼ Blood is thicker than water. “Blood is thicker than water” is a German proverb which according to Wikipedia: “ . . generally means that the bonds of family and common ancestry are stronger than those bonds between unrelated people (such as friendship). In a dispute between a friend and a member of your family would you lie to the benefit of your family member? ☼ Principle. You live in a small town where shopping needs are well met by local shops and a large supermarket chain wants to put a store in town despite the objections of 80% of the population. On principle you too are against the proposal and decide that, if it does eventuate, you would not use the new store. When the campaign was on and commitments avowed, a local was heard to say, ‘Given time, principle will succumb to convenience!’ The townspeople lose the battle and the new store is established. 19
Will your principle stand the test of time especially if, at some time, the new store has something you want and it is not available elsewhere in town? ☼ Killer flesh. To test whether a certain flesh would kill you would you: 1. Feed it to your pet dog or cat? 2. Feed it to a dog or cat in a laboratory? ☼ An advanced civilisation. We refer to our current civilisation as advanced yet in our “First World”, in approximate figures, in one country the average weekly wage is $1,000 which is what some people in the “Third World” earn in three years whilst still others have no income, no food - nothing! Is our’s an advanced civilisation? Note: Remember that, because of the law of karma, everyone is where they are in life for a very good reason but this does not mean that we condone a cavalier attitude or be indifferent to the plight of these people. Unselfish compassion is the essence of our true nature although most do not demonstrate it even in mentality. ☼ That tomato. When doing your grocery shopping and selecting some tomatoes for yourself you cause one to drop to the floor. Do you put this tomato with your selection or put it back and take another unbruised one? Do you even leave it on the floor or kick it out of sight under a counter or some such place? ☼ Trust. This is an example only and the reader should apply the principle to their own possible situation, actual or imagined. Your daughter’s partner has a secret bank account for the purpose of gambling on the races about which your daughter is unaware. One day he mentions this to you in the course of a relevant conversation and asks you to keep it secret. Some time later the relationship disintegrates and remains that way. For how long do you maintain the secret entrusted to you? ☼
20
Karma. (2) Do you attribute occurrences in your life to karma and, if so, is the attribution to the “good” or “bad” occurrences or both? ☼ Duplicated order. (1) You buy, and pay for, a $60 item online and it is delivered on two consecutive days an obvious duplication of the order. What would you do? ☼ Duplicated order. (2) You buy, and pay for, a $60 item online from a business with a bad record for you and for others. You have to use them because what you need is not available anywhere else the item is a medicine. It is delivered on two consecutive days - an obvious duplication of the order. What would you do? ☼ The backpack. If in a shop you were asked by one of the staff to open your backpack for examination for stolen goods would you consider it to be an insult and, if so, why? ☼ A matter of principle. Would you risk your job by speaking out for the better treatment of your fellow workers? ☼ Giving credit where credit is due. You take charge of a division of the company for which you work and the Board of Directors asks you to write a feasibility report on the division. Although you have some experience with the manufacturing aspect of the product involved you have only a limited knowledge of the marketing aspect so the Board ask that you consult a contemporary manager of another division who has extensive experience in the marketing aspect. In due course you submit your report and are complemented by the Board on the quality of the report.
21
Since the part of the report dealing with marketing was drafted by your contemporary would you take the credit for the report or advise the Board of your contemporary’s contribution? ☼ Hijacking the truth. Preconceived notions and suspicions lodged in the mind often result in us misconstruing information received and jumping to erroneous conclusions. Do you permit yourself such liberties? ☼ Artificial. Assuming that you do not, and would not, eat artificial* vegetables do you, or would you, take artificial medication when natural ones are available? * e.g. Plastic, paper. ☼ Ruminating. Ruminants ruminate their cud but do not ruminate as we can. You do not chew the cud but do you ruminate on what you receive via your senses? ☼ The business of caring enough. You run a business, or work in one, and are involved in customer service. China coffee cups and mugs is one of your product lines. The cups and mugs have no cubic capacity marked on them so a customer asks you what the capacity of the mugs is. You are surprised by the question, have no answer and it is the customer who takes the initiative in an attempt to find an answer. What would you have done, or do, in this situation? (There are quite a few things.) ☼ Losing. In sports, games and the like can you take defeat with equanimity? ☼ Appointments. You have an appointment at a specific time with someone and are, or will, possibly be a few minutes late. Would you advise the other party if it is possible to do so? ☼
22
Sport and the needy. What is more important to you, your country’s sporting prowess or the way it cares for its needy? ☼ The fall of man. Has the “Fall of man”, symbolised by the apple in the myth of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, reached its lowest point or is the curve to continue downward with the fall even greater and, therefore, even more painful? ☼ Communication. When going away from your home or business do you, to inform anyone who calls, leave a message like this in a suitable place? BACK IN 15 MINUTES Comment on what, if anything, is wrong with such a message. ☼ Spring. For vegetation, and all life forms, spring commences on the equinox which occurs on or about the 22nd September or March each year, depending on the latitude. “Civilised” man, however, has determined that it should start on the first day of the the month and we foolishly follow this highly unnatural edict which is not many decades old! Even farmers - admittedly in the 1st World - seem to ignore the true commencement day! What has happened to our values that we value an artificial day over a natural one when our bodies and all life, of which they are a part, react to the natural? ☼ Ethnicity, race and and violence. In many countries tensions exist or arise between groups, usually with one being in a minority, differing in race and/or ethnicity. When internal conflict arises in such a country it invariably happens that one group, usually that in the minority, will take up arms against the other purely out of fear of “losing their ethnicity and/or race”. Would you react in this way? If so, why? ☼ 23
Unjustified ill-feelings. If you have a disagreement with someone does your attitude to that person’s relatives also change without justification? ☼ Upset by others? Does it upset you if someone you feel should be visiting/communication with you, particularly someone “close” to you, does not do so for no apparent reason? If yes, why? ☼ Ethical Investment. If you invest in the share market do you confine yourself to ethical investment or if you were to invest in the share market would you confine your investments to ethical investments? ☼ Conscientious objection. If your country went to war would you: 1. Volunteer to fight: that is be willing to kill or facilitate killing in any way? 2. If there was conscription would you be a conscientious objector? ☼ Wasteful mentality. In these days of a worsening global shortage of natural, fresh water, requiring a change of awareness and attitude in all people, do you have a daily shower or bath: 1. Out of habit? 2. Because you need it? 3. Because habit make you feel that you need it? ☼ Borrowing. Borrowing something with every intention of returning it as soon as it has served its purpose and then forgetting to do everything possible to return it without delay and, finally, forgetting altogether is a common occurrence with many people. Are you one of those? ☼
24
Disposable paper tissues. Some sixty years ago it was probably these “tissues”, omnipresent in the “civilised” world today, whose advent signalled the start of the throwaway culture and opened the door to the latent mindlessness awaiting release. 1. Except when there is no alternative are you a user of “tissues” and one of the throwaway culture? 2. More importantly, if the answer is “yes”, would you change your mentality for altruistic reasons? ☼ Global warming. If you are one who does not believe that humans are responsible for, or contribute to, global warming would you write a letter to be handed to your descendants that you had this belief and, therefore, did nothing to mitigate matters? ☼ Living life. When you discover an insect in your house do you go for the insect spray or find a way to put the insect outside to live its life? ☼ NOTICE My fellow travellers, if my posting here of the numerous challenging questions has not by now induced in you a mindset of automatic self observation with a view to awakening of the conscience, it never will. So, no more posts from me but please feel free to post your own. Below, to remind you of the significance of your choices is the Quo Vadis? mandala. Have a productive journey.
25
☼☼☼
26