CHASING RABBITS

 

Minister Fred Craddock told this strange story. He said: “I was visiting in the home of a former student of mine, and after a great dinner, the hosts excused themselves in order to put the children to bed.

 

They left me alone in the living room with the family pet, a large, friendly greyhound. With the family out of the room, I knelt down and started petting the dog. I said, ‘You’re a good doggie, a beautiful doggie…how are you doing, Mr. Greyhound?’”

 

Fred says, “I swear it’s true, that greyhound turned and looked up at me and said, ‘I’m doing great; thank you very much. Thanks for asking.’”

 

The preacher was taken aback. He had heard of miracles, but never a talking dog!

So he asks, “Are you a talking dog?”

 

The old dog barked and said, “Yes, I’m a talking dog. Rather amazing, don’t you think?”

The preacher said, “That is amazing! I understand that you used to be a racing greyhound.”

 

The dog said, “Yes, I was. But I quit.”

 

Fred said, “You quit? Why in the world did you quit? Did you quit because they didn’t treat you well?”

 

The dog said, “Oh, no, they treated me wonderfully. They gave me the best care. They brushed me every day. They fed me the best food. It was great. But I quit.”

 

“Did you quit because you didn’t like racing?” asked the preacher.

 

“Oh no,” said the greyhound. “I loved the feel of the wind in my face.”

 

“Well, why did you quit?” asked the preacher. “Was it because you never won a race?”

 

“Oh no,” said the greyhound. “I won race after race. I won lots of trophies and lots of money for my owner.”

 

“Well, then, why did you quit?” asked the preacher.

 

The dog said, “If you really want to know…one day I was running as fast as I could. I was running faster than I had ever run in my life and I caught up with the rabbit and I discovered that it wasn’t even a real rabbit! All of my life I had been running round and round in circles, trying to catch something that wasn’t even real.

 

Think about it.  Does it ring a bell with any of you?

What have you been chasing for a part of your life?  The perfect job?  Maybe the perfect home?  Often our biggie – the perfect partner or spouse?

Saving the good china for …..when?

If we believe and understand quantum physics, nothing is real…all this is an illusion.

But we all understand that we are living a human experience despite the illusion of form and substance.

So we must do what we are able to do to move forward in this physical form.  And that means being Present in the moment…whatever moment it is, for as many moments as we are able to be present.  And the more moments we are present, the happier we are, the more compassionate we are, the more at peace we are.

Let’s look at our greyhound friend from the beginning of the Lesson.  He, or she, was focused on the end of the race, the rabbit.  The dog didn’t appreciate the race at all.  The only time appreciating the race was mentioned was the feeling of the wind on its face, and at an average of over 39 mph, that would feel a bit breezy.

What’s at the end of your race?  Is it a job?  A certain amount of money to retire?  Just TO retire!

SO, then what are you missing?  One thing for sure is THE PRESENT MOMENT.

It’s all about connecting with the inner Christ so you are able to feel the peace that passes all understanding.

Our poor racing dog was even taken out of it’s normal instinct by those controlling the race.  And no reward when the race was won!  What does a dog care about trophies?

What do we care about trophies?  Are we looking at the end product or are we enjoying the ride?

Too often not even enjoying the ride.  AS we look at our journey so far in life, we too often put off until, whenever, to look within.   It happens later in life to many, when they finally think it’s time.  Or maybe a Spiritual 2×4 hit them…maybe more than once!

Our Tuesday Discussion Group is discussing “A New Earth” by Ekhart Tolle.  We have had some wonderful discussions regarding it.  We are just starting the last chapter and it is filled so with interesting wisdom, I told the class that we may have to read it word for word to get it all.

One of the interesting tidbits from Tolle is the “Three Modalities of Awakened Doing.”  We have been talking about consciousness and awakening throughout the book, and that Tolle thinks awakening or consciousness is our most important purpose, for many reasons.

Awakened Doing is just what it says….you are ‘awakened or conscious’ while you do whatever it is you are doing. That brings meaning to your work, whatever the work.  There is no dislike or stress, everything just flows.  Ever have days like that?

So, here are the 3 modalities to awakened doing:

Acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm.  They each have a certain vibrational frequency of consciousness.  If you are vigilant, you can make sure that you are experiencing one of these whenever you are engaged in anything.

Briefly, acceptance – if you don’t enjoy what you are doing, if you can’t change it…then accept it…for this moment, this is what this situation requires and do it willing.  That takes the stress off immediately.  Breath in acceptance and breath out stress about the situation.

(April)?

The second modality is enjoyment.  When you accept what it is that you are to do, a sense of aliveness from that surrender turns into enjoyment.  Enjoyment will replace wanting as a motivating power behind people’s actions.  If you are enjoying what you are doing, ego is no longer an issue.

The third modality is enthusiasm, the deep enjoyment in what you do plus the added element of a goal or vision.

Think of some vision you may have held.  When you set a goal, the enthusiasm level jumped.

When Darla and O’Neal and I sat on their deck over a decade ago and said that the energy was here for a Unity, we set a goal.  As we journeyed along, the vision became clearer and the enthusiasm gained momentum as we drew others into our vision.

 

 

Our retire greyhound didn’t enjoy its work…racing.  SO there was no enthusiasm.  And since he or she could not accept that work any longer, he quit!

Now he enjoys a different a different ‘job’ and probably does so enthusiastically.

 

We’ve all heard this before, it’s the journey, not the destination.

When we begin to believe that there is greater joy in working with and for others, rather than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place of celebration.

Jean Vanier