The Lifers
On Thursday evenings the Lifers met in the town hall. The Lifers were not criminals; not in any way. In fact, they were devoted to harmlessness in every facet of their lives. They were interested in Life, not fear, not ignorance, not violence and above all, not tyranny. Well, you might ask, what were they interested in?
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Well, they weren’t interested in anything. They found it was more a matter of what was interested in them. They had all discovered that Life was interested in them and was living through them, via their every thought, word and deed. They felt a unity with all life and they met to pool their ponderings of the past week.
Each year The Lifers published their collective reflections. They found that quite an interesting series of documents was emerging. Far from being disjointed, it emerged as if from One Mind, One Hand, and this reflected how they all feThey gathered, not to get anything, but to discover what they could give to the Whole. There were no rituals and no traditions. This they all agreed upon most heartily. There was no desire to stifle themselves in anything of the past. They were adventurers in life, and were always moving into the new. They met in what was clearly the Now, a Now very definable, for it was free from the past and it revealed the future. In this dynamic atmosphere they were free to be human beings, and they were endlessly coming to know the limitless potential of the extraordinary thing they were. This attitude elevated them beyond the mundane and, by giving of their extraordinariness, they gained in extraordinariness.
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No one knew another’s name or occupation or address. The door would just open and in would come brother’s. They did not bother with distinctions of any sort, so the term sister’s was not used. It could have been, but it meant nothing, so brothers it was. In fact, the first two were female, and they felt fine with the term brother, but friend was fine also. Really, they just were, so terms were irrelevant. They came together to work, and each was needed and welcomed.
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It seemed clearly understood by all who came that they were embodied energy. This was a fact they recognized. And it was to gather as embodied energy, selflessly and willingly, that was important. How many times a week, the world over, were humans free to do this? They realized how privileged they were.
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What occurred? Well, first the welcoming, and that was spectacular. To see the eyes of humans light up and smiles sparkle, just at the sight of other humans. It reminded me of the look of delight on a puppy’s face when you arrive home. Never had I been looked at that way by another human. I was tempted to say, “but you don’t know me,” when someone said,
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“I know you. I know all humanity. I am humanity. I know myself, and I know you. We have everything in common. Besides which, I don’t want anything.”
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There were no hugs or sighs or gushings. None of that, but warmth, respect, and great dignity. Just the welcome changed me forever. I thought of myself in a totally new way.
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The chairs and tables were haphazard around the room. It was quiet, and yet the room seemed to buzz with ever growing anticipation. It wasn’t like, “something is going to happen,” no, it was, “something is happening,” and I realized that what was going on was the meeting! They didn’t have to get organized, sit, hear an agenda, read minutes, get lectured, or debate. They weren’t separate humans taking time out of their already busy lives to volunteer to do something. These weren’t folks wanting to find out something to make them better, smarter, more efficient; they did not want to be soothed or solaced, or to consolidate power. They were not seeking anything. They were giving of their uttermost selves. They knew how to know, and they gathered because they were not separate, but part of humanity. They gathered to take joy in meeting, and that joy and their understanding naturally enhanced life. It was the difference between viewing an elephant at a zoo and watching a herd in the wild, magnificently being elephants. Or a flock of birds moving amazingly as one; the school of fish, the pod of whales, the pride of lions. Order and meaning and purposefulness in being who and what they were.
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It was definitely the most interesting thing I had ever seen, ever been a part of, and the joke, the folly, was that it was all about what I was – a human being with other human beings.
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I sat on a chair and observed. Never before had I sat among my own kind and reveled in observing them – never. No, there was always unease at such times. Sometimes it was sheer torture. It seemed utterly impossible that these people could be the same species as those who sat in parliaments or town councils; those who sat in stadiums, watching contests of one sort or another; those who sat in cars, making their way to work so they could buy food and afford shelter; those who dreamed up weapons or slogans or strategies of all kinds; or those who sat and bemoaned their weight, their age, their boredom, their disease, their unease with life. Good lord, who wouldn’t be dissatisfied if they knew what they really were.
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I sat and observed, in that town hall, the solution to all the problems humans create. There was solution by the very elimination of every bit of alienation from Life. This is what I felt and what I saw.
A person came and sat near, nodded, and said, “you have questions?”
And before I could think or phrase my thought, out it came: “how do you do this?”
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Immediately the person said, “this is not done. It is. It only seems strange or unusual because of the chaos. The world, the universe has cycles; it grows and changes constantly and we are in a cycle of chaos – upheaval – great questioning. We,” and the hand swept the room, “have no questions into chaos. Therefore we live in harmony, regardless. It’s like a child who worries and is fearful of sleeping because he doubts that morning will come. The parent soothes the child, not because he knows morning will come, but because it is good that the child sleep, for he is tired. It is good that he not worry, for his worry, his fear, produces nothing good. So, regardless of whether morning comes or not, let him sleep as if it will come. Let the child be in the Now, and Now for him is sleep. The parent knows that percentage-wise they will probably meet again in the morning. The parent says to the child, ‘there is nothing to fear; go to sleep,’ and the child trusts. Even if morning doesn’t come, why would we assume that something better than morning mightn’t arrive? The Lifers all live this most reasonable perspective, free from suffering, free to live. It is not hard to do, is it?”
“Well, put that way, no.”
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“Why would you put it another way?”
“Good lord, I see what you mean.”
“Who is the parent? Who do you trust? Who recognizes the Now? Who understands things as they really are? Who is interested? It is said that the last thing humanity will give up is its suffering. Well, for some,” and the hand swept the room again, “we have either given it up or never acquired the taste for it.”
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I heard myself say: “didn’t Nietzsche say, ‘all life is a matter of taste’?”
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“Isn’t it, though.”
I have rarely missed a meeting.