Inspiration

By Robert Bonnet

There are as many personal goals to reach in life as there are human beings. Each of us follows a dream that provides us with the drive needed not only to overcome daily obstacles but also to expand our internal virtues and capabilities in order to reach our goal. The paths we follow are often planned in advance though frequently modified as required. This is a lifelong process that goes on and on as long as we live. Before we know it, months, years, and decades of our own lives pass as we continue to dwell on deeper and wiser stages of our own process. If we are careful and dedicated, our professional, social, and spiritual goals may eventually be achieved while the internal bridges we build to reach them finally lead us to the desired fruits. As we finally achieve at least some of our goals, what happens to all of these intellectual, emotional, and spiritual internal structures that have developed within us while we struggle to reach them? Leaving them behind or forgetting about them is not an option because we transform and become the same structures that helped us reach our dreams. This book describes insights and observations from the author's processes leading toward the culmination of a goal as he reflects on some of the lessons and conclusions learned along the way. It expresses years of written introspection through many questions, doubts, frustrations, and finally, insightful conclusions. This collection of essays details the author's intention to maintain balance between our ever-changing internal awareness, and life's continuous challenges and opportunities in order to transform our lives from darkness into light. In the end, this work represents a common human being's simple and honest search for understanding.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644241103

Book preview

Chapter 1

Driving Force

If we think about it, our lives are a miracle, an opportunity for us to embrace and experience knowledge and wisdom. In my humble approach to understanding this gift of life, I tend to focus on the effects of love among human beings as compared to the consequences of negative choices. I believe that by experiencing the enormous flexibility and power of love, I also understand the natural forces where the Cosmos practically unfolds from. In my opinion, understanding God allows me to increase my awareness of the essential energies that shape the Cosmos.

We learn through free will, and the highest results happen when each step we give in a chosen direction has been driven by the highest virtues we are capable of applying into our plans. Approaching these problems with choices based on love is a fail-safe solution. The outcome of mistaken choices is certainly a derailment as we have seen it happen many times around us, from corrupt politicians’ ways, to mad tyrants, and arrogant and misguided people who seem to have lost their minds while pursuing wealth beyond logic and dignity. These examples are similar to trees that have grown crooked from the start, and its own weight ends up making them fall down at the slightest of winds. The higher they grow and the heavier they become, the easier they fall down.

Love is unlimited, weaving through the cosmos with expansive changes in perfection, harmony, and beauty. It shines through darkness as the brightest of lights. It overcomes the miseries of mistakes and errors, always open to heal and restore, always lifting to the highest realms.

Life evolves, regenerates, and heals every second through what we have chosen to call miracles, defying, stretching, and breaking what has been previously misconceived as never-changing rules of nature. Life’s endless capacity to sprout everywhere continues to bypass humanity’s beliefs, exceeding by far and large our expectations, understanding, and rigidness. Furthermore, miracles are truly the engine of life, and when these do not happen freely, life stagnates. This can be observed in the monolithic foundations that our society is sometimes built upon. These inflexible standards give us a false sense of security in the now and the future, carved as pavement roads or concrete homes that lead humanity through the narrow and unrealistic paths of independence, reward, and punishment that lead nowhere, limiting our capacity of recreating and improving ourselves.

Regardless of these flawed attempts, God’s essence dwells within us, and his voice comes as the warm caress of love, often felt, but difficult to understand. It is impossible to renounce or separate the transforming capacity through love that exists within us, which allows us to recreate our world, because this is our deepest motor and most important quality.

This ability exists throughout creation as a whole, including us. It is for this reason that I believe that similar to what happens to any other human being, I have sculptured my surroundings, my life and each of my experiences and activities. I am the engineer of my own life, and no one else is to be blamed if things go wrong. Everyone and everything I have been in contact with has granted me a lesson, becoming an inspired thought or source of beauty that I have been able to learn from.

With this in mind, the obvious conclusion to our possibilities in life and our overall destiny is nothing less than miraculous. We can steer our own life toward any destination we choose to reach, and we will get there one way or the other; or we can choose a new one down the road, if that suits our evolving need for growth and understanding.

There is so much power within each of us simply waiting to pour out through every word and action, thriving to paint our surroundings with the best expressions of our essential selves. By doing so, we are reflecting on God’s own principle and willingness to clear all darkness by flooding creation with the brightness and beauty of the unfolding cosmos.

Each of us is similar to a small seed that holds endless possibilities, many options to make positive changes, transforming and recreating at our own will. When we reach a level of consciousness that has left behind all doubts, this capacity multiplies and expands exponentially, and the far-reaching consequences are endless. This awareness becomes the light that colors the surrounding darkness, the melody that floods the empty halls, easily observed in the way nature unfolds after each winter, always flowing and growing, always embracing and becoming.

Historical Examples

William James (1842 - 1910) was one of the most outstanding philosophers and psychologists in the US. When asked what thought was the greatest discovery on human behavior, he replied: It was once believed that in order to act you must first feel. Today it is know that the feeling appears when we start to act. The bird does not sing because it is happy; it is happy because it sings. Behavior changes our emotions, emotions change our thoughts.

What is especially interesting to me is the fact that by truly believing, stating and behaving as if our dreams were already real we can attract the desired goal, transforming obstacles into open doors. This reality has been used by many successful individuals in all walks of life; and what is especially intriguing to me is that if this is only a reflection of the laws that give life to the universe, then God’s capacity and nature hold no limitations at all.

This amazing miracle resides within each of us, like the seed waiting for rainfall in order to bloom. The triggers exist through any external stimuli around us, as varied and capable as people and everything else within creation is. The possibilities are endless. The outcome of each of us as an entity is vast and magnificent.

Many human beings have tried to turn the course of societies back to a simpler, less conflictive way of life. This means that many have recognized the need to steer our societies toward paths of light and wisdom instead of material productivity and the accumulation of material wealth. The key has always been available for a true communion with life through love, forgiveness, joy, and generosity.

Joachim was a very wealthy man more than two thousand years ago. He and his wife Anna had not been able to have a child, and after promising God that if they had a baby he or she would be dedicated to God, Mary was born.

Back then, the highest education was provided at the temples (since there were no universities as such), and it was based on religion, which was as important as politics.

At the age of three Mary was delivered to the temple as promised by her parents, and stayed there until age fifteen, when it was decided she should marry. A selection was made, and Joseph, a carpenter by profession, was chosen as the husband to be.

Mary had grown up privileged and well educated by the highest teachings from the temple, and once she became Jesus’s mother, she guided him as his teacher from the day he was born. Jesus grew up with solid bases and soon became aware of his place on this world, unfolding perhaps the greatest influence that any man has had on humanity.

He became aware of his own enormous potential and also realized that the same seed actually existed within every human being. So instead of living by himself in isolation and true devotion, he decided to live his life for humanity, even going against some limited concepts of organized religion, while knowing his life could be at risk for daring to do so.

He was aware that Judaism at the time had over six hundred precepts that had to be followed, a mission that was almost impossible to achieve, observing in the people around him the feelings of guilt, fear, frustration, and lack of accomplishment as a constant trait. He understood that every human being has within him and herself all that is required to reach enlightenment.

In his eyes, life is a means to the highest goal of achieving the consciousness that resides within us. It should not be limited by external agents, whether these came as religion with impractical requirements, sensual paths, human frailness, or plain lies. He prepared himself for thirty years, and when ready, he spoke about these truths in parables, through clear messages, and preached by example, walking endlessly to all communities surrounding him during his three years of public life.

He constantly told people boldly, and against established doctrine, that God was our Father and we were his children, spoken in words that people back then could understand. His dedication has helped millions and will continue to do so, especially when his message is fully understood. This attempt to help humanity reach a wider spectrum of understating also existed in many masters and teachers throughout humanity’s history.

Another example was Lao Tzu, a philosopher and poet in ancient China, author of the Tao Te Ching and Taoism. He was disappointed at the moral decay of life in his province and saw the consequences of a sick society. He lived as a hermit for a while and developed his philosophy, which is explained in his teachings, written under the name Tao Te Ching. He used paradox, analogy, rhythm, symmetry, and humor describing the Tao as the source and ideal of all that exists (God). He described Tao as the unseen, immensely powerful yet always humble, the source of everything that exists.

Lao Tzu noted that people are influenced by human nature, following desires and free will that are not always their best option. He taught his students to return to a state of innocence, in harmony with the Tao, the impossible-to-describe force, or as we know it, God. Language and common wisdom were strongly criticized, being considered by Taoism as biased, empty, artificial, and misleading. Paradoxes were used to guide his students toward understanding. Goals were set not at a rejection on technology (since it provides a false sense of achievement) but rather at seeking freedom from desires, known as Wu Wei. His teachings led students back to nature.

Siddhartha Gautama was another example. He also reached a life of exceptional wisdom four hundred years before Christ, his own name (Buddha) meaning the awakened or enlightened one. He was born in a privileged situation, the son of an important man. He felt the need to find the true meaning in life and earned many followers. In the end, his influence created a philosophy that has also guided a very large portion of humanity.

What is important is to realize that all these teachers of humanity, and so many more, intended to lead us to the self-discovery of the endless capacity within us. We are unlimited beings, and yet, more often than not, our most difficult obstacles are self-imposed.

The challenge and its solution, the question and its answer, reside within us. These are the madness and the wisdom, the darkness and the light, the reason why we struggle to overcome our own limitations, why we embark on a lifelong battle to overcome our very own darkness within.

In the end, this is our driving force.

Chapter 2

Placebos

According to an online dictionary, a placebo is "a harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit of the patient than for any physiological effect." Placebos therefore increase the possibility to recover from an illness using resources from within ourselves rather than from medicines, surgery, or conventional treatments.

A placebo is given to a patient without his or her knowledge that it is not medicine. The capacity to heal is particular to each individual, but it seems that those with more certainty or faith have better results. This does not mean that other treatments should be eliminated, but in some cases, the placebo by itself has provided better results than conventional treatments or medicine.

The articles that abound in the internet written by reliable sources are plenty. It does not really surprise me to learn about the power we have to heal and regenerate ourselves, but it pleases me to observe that this truth is being accepted by more people every day. Personally this healing and regenerating capacity that seems embedded in every human being confirms the fact that we are so much more than what we have been led to believe we are.

God’s essence not only reaches every person but is actually the same source of creation, human beings included. This does not mean that God simply resides within us like a hidden power source, but is actually the deepest ingredient of all creation, shaping atoms, cells, galaxies, the infinite and the eternal, sounds and dimensions. God is a simple word we use in our attempt to describe precisely this essential source of all there is.

God is the name we give to that source where all that exists flows from. He is the originating energy with an absolute capacity to love, to create perfection, beauty, as manifested in all that exists. Everything in Creation has these attributes and this capacity. The intrinsic degree or strength to create, transform, and heal, actually depends on the willingness to recognize it as real.

This is the reason why Jesus would ask the people he wanted to heal if they believed, before he actually healed them with miracles. This is also the reason why placebos heal: They are being utilized as triggers to unleash our internal capacity to create, transform, and regenerate.

Life on this planet can be easily improved for the benefit of humanity and our world as well. Prayer works, miracles do happen, and our possibilities as individuals or as a species are endless. We can transform into almost anyone we desire, attain whatever goals we want in life, become wisdom, wealth, reaching and touching the highest dreams within.

God never sleeps, and his creative wonders never stop. The universe is in constant evolution, and there is no OFF switch. Because of this reason, our capacity is endless since it uses those internal resources from God (embedded in every cell of our bodies) to achieve specific goals. In this same way, our internal capacity to transform and create never sleeps.

This is why it is important to choose positive, inspiring thoughts and feelings in order to reach our highest ambitions. We are, without a doubt, the architects of our own lives. We are not victims but artists. Through our thoughts we have attracted most of the situations, blessings, or challenges we are experiencing today. Nothing random ever happens, and no difficulties and challenges come without an enormous potential for growth.

If we allow pessimistic thoughts and emotions to linger in our minds, we attract difficulties related precisely to those issues we despise. If we choose to forgive every offense received, if we decide to become generous, kind, compassionate beings, our life will become gratifying, regardless of whatever challenges we may have. If we believe that our bodies have a flawless design, we are accepting that we can experience perfect health and strength. If we believe God’s wisdom resides in everything that exists, including us, our decisions will be wise and our emotions balanced.

We are not dry leaves being pushed around by the wind: We are the wind itself. We are not prisoners of our own lives. We choose the destinations that we will reach later on by walking one step at a time in awareness (or not!).

Chapter 3

Moral and Ethical Values

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose. People close to him had very high opinions of Philip as a gentle human being.

A point was made during a recent conversation on this sad case that people are not very strong anymore. There is a lot of emphasis placed on external activities, goals, and plans; but these plans do not always help us discover our real strength. Personal strength of character, discipline, ethical principles, and morale help us to remain on our feet when the challenges of life strike us hard.

Strength resides within us, not on the outside. This is what is called inner strength. It does not even have to do with physical strength.

How much in control of our own emotions are we when conflicts hit us right on the face? Do we break down and lose composure, or do we manage to remain in control even when our blood pressure rises and our skin sweats?

Tragedies happen sooner or later to almost every person on this planet. We may lead a seemingly perfect, well-balanced life, and an unexpected factor may bring us to our knees.

Without knowing this actor, even if he was obviously a disciplined man, his drug addiction of decades came back to strike back after a long remission. An emotional problem, apparently with a relationship of his that recently ended, might have weakened his will and eventually pushed him to his death.

We are given the opportunity to choose whatever we want to experience in life, from being a saint to a murderer; but if we are born one day, we must die later on. Whatever paths we choose will determine the amount and intensity of the challenges we experience. Some of these paths may be easy to control at a certain stage or age, but not necessarily during times when inner turmoil increases or weakness strikes. This is why we should be very careful with the choices we make every day. Everything we think, say, or do has repercussions down the road.

A few years ago, a sailor from El Salvador drifted in a disabled seven-meter-long vessel from the Central American Coast to the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean where he was rescued after being thirteen months at sea. In the pictures his appearance is strong. When asked how he survived, he replied he would drink turtle’s blood he would catch by hand when there was no rain, or eat seagulls or fish he would also grab by hand. He said it had initially been himself and another sailor who died somewhere along their lonely journey.

The odds of Mr. Hoffman dying would have been very small as compared to this castaway fisherman, and yet the opposite happened.

This is not intended to point a finger at anyone. Each of us has a breaking point, be it physical, emotional, social, intellectual, etc. Once we reach it, a return to safety seems hard to attain, and it has proven to be the end of the line for many. Perhaps this is why it is crucial for each of us to embrace real values such as family, spirituality, personal morale, and ethics; emotional balance, constant learning, physical health instead of temporary trends. Leaving our real strengths behind makes us more vulnerable when intense challenges happen.

How do we reach a perfect balance? This is a personal choice, but what is important is how we react under pressure: Do we become aggressive, or do we manage to remain calm? Can we continue with our life while dealing and solving our conflicts? In the end, this is a thermometer.

Regardless of how we make a living, we are not designed to be human machines embarked on living gray lives. Our inner compromises, requirements, and challenges never stop changing regardless of our roles as members of a society. We all move internally even more than we do externally. Every human being is on a constant strife for growth and learning. Every life is heroic and deserves the utmost respect and admiration.

Worthy extensions of God we certainly are, small and insignificant as we may seem. In reality, each of us is similar to a lighthouse: We spend our lives shining silently in the dark and holding on through the most challenging of storms, until one day we eventually face the end of the line.

Our best option is to live each day as if it was the last one. We must be proud of who we are, where we come from, and where we are going. Realizing we all share the same basic design that the cosmos itself is formed of deeply inspires me. We really are grains of sand of this infinite ocean, true children of God.

Chapter 4

Cleaning Up

We are the architects of our own lives. There is no doubt about it. Every minute that goes by I am more convinced about it. Nothing seems to happen out of sequence, and everything is related.

Still, much of my time at my home is dedicated to organizing my own disorder. It is a cycle that never seems to end. The only time when my home is organized is when I am not there, as long as I picked up all of my stuff before I closed the door from the outside. There always seems to be an urgency to blend the utopic optimum with the practical mess.

At my own job, matters are similar. I am usually busy with many different tasks that never seem to stop. They flow like the furious water of a huge river that never ceases. I will focus on one item at a time in order to solve it and leave it behind, while being constantly interrupted by many pending issues that stubbornly insist on breaking my plans. Piling up bricks and cement is a dirty task, but the end results are magnificent. In my architect mind, I tell myself it is all part of a process.

While flying an aircraft matters are not different. We have to be reasonably fit to fly. We prepare a trip. We have a flight plan. We study the weather, at our departure and destination airports. We check for any restrictions to navigation on our route. We compute our performance calculations for takeoff and landing, and off we go.

Our radio communications with the air traffic controllers result in constant changes: Stop your climb until another traffic passes. Increase your rate of climb so you clear that approaching traffic. Turn to a heading of such and such. Change to another frequency. Provide estimates to certain points along the route.

On our part, we also check for weather that could endanger our flight, request deviations to avoid it, and solve the occasional abnormal mechanical issues that may pop up. We land with winds that are often different, after navigating around clouds and weather on the approach to an airport. Our previous plans to have a perfect flight most often change. Even if we fly the same route one thousand times, every single flight is different.

Raising a family proves to be the same. Before our children are born, we paint a perfect picture of what we want in a family, and—I must say—women are frankly better at this than men. We picture our perfect kids, we will live in a beautiful home in suburbia, send them to the best schools, and eventually see them mature into a blend of Mahatma Gandhi (or Mother Teresa), Pope John Paul II, and Bill Gates.

Frequently, the end result is not quite what we expected, yet we know that the apple does not fall far from the tree. In my case, I must say we have been very fortunate, though.

Life experiences come to us and go away in different directions than expected. We become stressed at these changes, although in the end they always seem to work out fine. Without believing or knowing it, we receive external stimuli, which are often quite comforting. Before I woke up this morning I was reminded that our body is the temple of our soul. I cannot remember what I was going through in my sleep, but the words seemed to follow a dream, maybe. Then I remembered how important it is for each of us to treat our bodies with respect and kindness, not abusing them, feeding them properly, managing them in the best possible way we can.

The truth is, there are no answers immediately available to prepare us for all the unplanned situations and experiences of life when we have our hands full trying to raise our children, do our work in the best possible way, or clean up the mess we leave behind in life. Experience and the wisdom that sometimes comes with age (not always) certainly help, but there is no magic formula.

Life is a constant flow of emotions, experiences, and obstacles. With the right attitude, it should always be possible to find a solution to our daily challenges because they are indirect outcomes of our own flight plan.

Negative thoughts that rob us from our joy should be discarded from our minds. They are self-generated emotional cancer. They spread and chew on the good cells and organs. On the other hand, positive thoughts and