Recently my mom and I were on a Caribbean holiday. We were thoroughly enjoying the experience of relaxing by the ocean, taking in the beautiful salt air breeze, feeling healthy and at ease. What a magical experience. It was a beautiful gift. As we lay there chatting, we were approached by a gentlemen representing the resort activities program and were offered the opportunity to go on an excursion to "meet the dolphins." Dolphins are lovely creatures, how I would love to meet some dolphins. I admire their beauty and intelligence and I find (from what I've seen on television) their amazingly complex systems of communication, community and capacity for emotional bonding, Bioelectric impedance to be really endearing.
I asked the man where the dolphins were. He said they were in the ocean and we would take a boat out to see them. This was sounding like a dream come true. My mom asked how he knew they would be there when we went out to see them. The man said, "We know they'll be there because they're fenced in ma'am. They cannot leave." We politely voiced our disagreement with the dolphin captivity and declined his offer to go see them, despite his insistence that the dolphins are treated and fed very well and are happy.
A Super-Cool Powerful Life Lesson About Gifts? Yes
The gifts that are meant for you will come straight to you. You don't have to go looking for them. For instance, if, while on holiday, I had found myself on a boat ride somewhere in the ocean and we happened upon some dolphins, who were swimming about freely and they decided to stick around and hang out with us for a while (as they're sometimes known to do), that would have been an astoundingly wonderful gift. If the dolphins were free to grace me with their presence, if they chose to, it would be a true, knock-my-socks-off, spiritual experience that I would hold dear for all the rest of my days. That may or may not ever happen. If it doesn't, I have had many other wonderful experiences to be thankful for and still many more will come to pass.
If I had gone on the excursion to see the captive dolphins, it would not have been a gift. It would have been me manipulating an unnaturally occurring experience, at the expense (directly or indirectly) of the freedom of the dolphins. It would have been me going to look at other creatures, who had no choice but to be there and tolerate me looking at them.
The natural, intelligent, socially sophisticated, friendly and playful nature of dolphins that we revere so much, has developed over time immemorial in their natural habitat and not in captivity. So, it makes sense to honour these qualities while they're in their natural habitat (should we be so lucky), and not in captivity.
Please do not entertain any feelings of guilt or self-recrimination, if you have been on any excursion to see or play with captive dolphins. Before any of this was brought to my attention, I would have done the very same. It does not make you a bad person whatsoever. If you haven't seen the Oscar winning documentary, "The Cove", I would encourage anyone to watch it. I had the opportunity to watch it several months prior to our holiday and it deepened my awareness and sensitivity to the plight of dolphins.
The thing to keep in mind is that there are many gifts that are designed just for you and things that are not your gifts. Those things that are meant for you to experience, will fall into your lap and then leave when their time is up. There is no need to manipulate anything. There is no need for grasping to hold onto anything, because, there will always be new and wonderful gifts on the way. The trick is to recognize them when they come, and be sure to let go of the last one, to make room for the next one. This is part of what is meant by having faith and maintaining equanimity. It's how to know God.
Passionate about uncovering spiritual truths, based on universal knowledge, Teri Sigerson and Leah Cepukas are pleased to share what they have learned over years of research and spiritual practice. Visit us here for insights and inspiration:
No comments:
Post a Comment