My Cave
I live in a cave. Alone and isolated. Really it is a basement, and it has a bathroom and a kitchen, and running water, and a fireplace. But every cave is not characterized by cold stone walls and literal darkness. No. A cave can be, and is in my case, a metaphor. And I live alone, and isolated – isolated at great distances from all those I love and hold dear.
There is a word, a concept, that I believe, in our time, is vastly misunderstood. The fact is, many things that are important to understand – really understand – are shoved aside as phantasy, ideas of the past that have no place in the present. Again, much that is misunderstood. But I digress.
Karma. Karma has a “bad wrap” to use a modern colloquialism. Karma tends to be seen, understood, as a punishment for things – acts of the will – done wrong. We speak of it in such a way as to mean “oh! Karma’s gonna getcha!” However, the subject of Karma – what it is and how it works – is vastly, terribly, misunderstood. In reality, Karma is a blessing, an opportunity to improve. Yes, we bring to our life our specific Karma. It is not like today’s allopathic medicine that believes there is a “one size fits all” solution to ailments, ignoring the fact that we, each of us, are individual beings on our individual path through not only this life, but many lives.
We are, indeed, individual souls walking upon the Earth, connected to everything and everyone around us. Ah! But that is too much! We do not want to believe such a thing. Yes, we want to believe that we alone are what is important to our life; that pleasure, comfort and blessings are our sovereign right as “higher animals.” It is time, in our time, to awaken to new thought. Not new in the sense that such has never been before: New in the sense that “in our time” such has been viewed as archaic, old fashioned, dull. Again, I digress – rabbit trails are a familiar pattern with me.
I will attempt a simplistic explanation of Karma, for Karma is difficult to grasp and almost impossible to fully understand its depths. But it matters not. Even a cursory understanding can change one’s life – for the better. It goes something like this…
Assume that in any one life I fail to correct a certain aberration of my (individual) character or personality – that part of the Self that carries through from one life to the next (if you are having trouble with the concept of Reincarnation, I apologize, however that is Karma’s “partner” in the journey toward self-realization and, for my purposes here, I ask you simply accept the concept – for now). The concept of “sin” may here enter one’s mind, but, like the subject of Reincarnation, it is for another day and not (necessarily) what I am addressing here. Perhaps it is best to elucidate by example.
In life “A” I wrong someone close to me. In the next life, because those you know in one life you will continue to be connected to in one form or another in any subsequent life, I am given the opportunity to “right that wrong.” In life “A” then, whatever my offense, it can be classified as a “selfish act” i.e. one that has my self-interest at heart far and above the other person – maybe their feelings, disposition, challenges in life or weaknesses, etc. How then is such a situation corrected? I hope the answer is obvious: It is corrected by acts of selfless Love. And, if I may, I would like to digress just a moment.
Here is where Love acquires a “bad wrap” in our day. Why is there so little Love in the world today – especially expressed between strangers? Simple. People tend to expect that if they do something “nice” for another, they should receive something in return. My friends, this is NOT Love. Love, real love, has no thought of “self”, “me.” Bringing the conversation back around to Karma, we correct past wrongs through selfless acts of Love. We receive no compensation in the present life for such acts.
It can be understood from the above example how Karma can so often be misconstrued as “punishment.” But if you look deeper into it, you can see that it is not punishment but rather opportunity to better oneself along the road of life. And, yes, it is important to understand that we do not have only this life. Life, as such, is eternal. We cycle through birth, death, and rebirth. We are on a very long road – a river is a better analogy IMHO – that leads to a time of which we are (currently) unable to gain any sort of accurate conception.
You may at this point be wondering why I veered off on a rabbit trail to talk about Karma based on my initial statement that I live in a (metaphorical) cave. It is because Karma has a cousin (I use this term to avoid the trigger of using gender-based labels). That cousin is Destiny. Where Karma can be construed as a path of self-correction, Destiny is one’s path of “upward” movement through life eternal. We are, all of us, meant, in our time, to grow upward toward the Divine, toward God. For our permanent “home” is not here on the physical Earth but our true home, the “real reality” of our existence, is Spiritual. We are not human beings that are having, or occasionally have, a Spiritual experience. No, my friends. We are Spiritual beings having a human experience – an experience on the physical plane. Death is merely the threshold, the doorway, home to what we, in reality, are as human Spiritual beings.
So, then, how to characterize Destiny? Destiny is that “part” of Karma that brings to us in any one life experiences, challenges if you will, that afford us an opportunity for such “upward” growth and development that do not necessarily have anything to do with self-correction.
The Word of God teaches us thus:
For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Before labeling me a “Bible-thumper,” let’s look at this verse a bit deeper. The Bible, as it is today if read as a simple document, though Divinely inspired, is a mystery. That is, its language is such that it keeps hidden its deeper mysteries such that one must develop (yes, develop – and with great effort) “eyes to see and ears to hear.” So, pause your emotions for a moment and try to understand.
The “Lord” here is a term that, in reality, encompasses a host – a quite literal host – of Beings whose sole purpose is to carry forth the purposes of the Godhead, the “All in All.” To avoid jumping off on another tangent, another rabbit trail, I will restrain myself here and just say this:
You may think that you know what is best for you, what you need to improve yourself. But all too often such thoughts are selfish and meaningless – and for purpose. We, in our time, are more free than we have ever been in eternity past. Through our descent into the absolute material-physical life we live we now have the ways and means to choose our own path. In a nutshell, we have never been more separated from the direct assistance of the “gods” than ever before. In the long past our hands were held, we were guided by those Divine Beings whose purpose it was to guide and protect us. Now, however, our hands have been released and we are, as the saying goes – on our own and no one is coming to save us. We are free to choose. What are the choices? The choices are manifold. But they “boil down” to two paths. We can choose the material life or the Spiritual life. It’s that simple. There I go again, digressing. Apologies.
I live in a cave. Alone and isolated – isolated at great distances from all those I love and hold dear. Allow me to detail that statement.
In May of 2022 my wife chose to go and live with, and care for, her mother who had only weeks before suffered congestive heart failure. My wife is an extraordinary person and I am (very) privileged and (very) blessed to have her as the core of my (present) life. Her decision was not an easy one to make – and I did then, and I do now, fully support it for reasons that go beyond just being a “good” husband. As of this writing, we have been separated for nine months by over 800 miles. Of course I have gone to visit, yet at no small cost to my job and our budget. Suffice it to say, I live my daily life separated from my wife and best friend by 800 miles.
We have a daughter that lives 700 miles from where I am. She is married and has two beautiful boys. We had only just met the older son when he was very young. He is now almost five years old. The other boy is two and a half years old. We, my wife and I, have never met him.
We have another daughter who lives almost two thousand miles away on the other side of the country. We have been fortunate to have been able to visit with them – because the family travels back this way often – on occasion over the years. They have two beautiful daughters.
These are the most important people in my life at present (however I must include my mother-in-law as she has become my adopted mother since my own mother passed away eight years ago). So, my wife, my daughters, my grandchildren and my mother. All those most dear to me. Separated by so many miles, but never far from my heart. Is this my Karma? Is this somehow a punishment for wrongs done in past lives? Certainly not. Is this my Destiny? Yes. Hopefully I can explain.
I awakened to the truths I have attempted to elucidate on above quite a number of years ago. In short, I have become a deeply Spiritual individual. I seek God – both within and without. I am not a religious man, though I have been a Protestant Christian long ago and consider myself an Orthodox Christian now – though my beliefs would certainly have me anathema from most “mainline” Christian religious expressions. You see, true religion is this:
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
Above I have shared how I sense that the first part of this quote applies to my life. The second part is that part of my Destiny that has placed me in this current set of circumstances, I believe, to learn the following:
Physical distance does not separate one soul from another, IF those souls are truly connected.
Sometimes, for some – one such as I – require isolation from those ties that bind our heart, and therefore our full desirous attention, in order to delve deeper into the Well of Spiritual Wisdom necessary for growth and development. This is NOT something I have chosen, but rather a set of circumstances thrust upon me because the “gods” know better than I what my Higher Self needs to grow. The plant is dependent on the rain for nourishment. So it waits without being conscious of its own need to survive and thrive. And likewise we are not normally conscious of the particular type of “nourishment” we require to survive and thrive within our personal Destiny.
The “world” holds out in its hand many distractions, all so very attractive to the senses. These “distractions” are not, in and of themselves, “bad.” But if we are not careful, we can find ourselves “spotted” or “stained” within our own soul such that they become what we live for, what we desire, what we (mistakenly) believe we need.
I live in a cave. Alone and isolated. But I am okay. I “feel” myself growing – Spiritually that is. I hope I am becoming stronger. I hope my prayers for those I love are heard – I know they are. This isolation will not last forever.
Despite the distance, my loved ones. I am here. I do Love you so much. I do miss you in untold ways.
Life is amazing. It truly is an awesome blessing to be alive, to learn, to Love, to be Loved. I hope all who read this share this sentiment. You are not alone, I am not alone. I have you in my heart, whether I know you face-to-face or not. And, if you can understand it, I do Love you.