Freewill versus Environment

"Life is a complexity of hurdles" says a co-worker in a current conversation I'm having. How appropriate to the blog I am about to write! There are many who take the new age perspective that say environment plays no role at all, which is also to say that personal experience and karma plays no role. However untrue in the ultimate sense, both ego and environment (subject & object) may be, they are so very true in light of *the present moment* and what IS. In light of what actually is, there is good karma and graceful expression, where our thoughts, feelings and actions are intuitive, in harmony; and more commonly there are experiences that reveal how imperfect and often out of alignment this 'intuition' actually is.

It is from this base of existence, from the Earth (not from the Sky) that one must proceed, through trials and tribulations on this plane, and only in this way is freewill a possibility in this life. A specific context, a matrix of human earthly experience must exist in order for our Essence or Spirit to have life, meaning and creative substance. With all the joy that comes with being on Earth, there are also certain realities... like living in a world gone mad, where it is only the wealthy and well to do who cannot understand why everyone around them is not all love and light all the time. Maybe good karma got these folks to where they are now, and it is most deserving, but then many seem awfully judgmental toward any/all who struggle and whose present karma is in taking the uphill road of obstacles, challenges, sacrifice and ultimately selflessness.

This morning I got called into work suddenly on a day that I wanted more than anything to have off. Because of this and because my partner also had to work, the cat was not allowed out, was crying and miserable. At least two us would've been happier, supposedly, if I had stayed home today as originally planned... but that did not happen. I was called and I came, and am not in a position to turn down extra hours. That is the reality... to a large extent living within the limits AND being flexible, ready for anything and everything. "Living life on life's terms" as they say in 12 Step Programs.

So in my humble opinion it is not the individual who denies and shuts out the world that finds freedom and discovers the Divine Grace and Benevolence, but he/she who immerses oneself in the process, is willing (on occasion) to sink deep into the depths of pain, sorrow, compassion and learn to live comfortably with the discomforts of existence.

Joel David Zenie