Imagine an actor playing a character who is plagued by terrible financial, relationship and career troubles. The actor must inhabit that character and let the character inhabit him—to the point that the character’s problems become so real to him that he considers them his problems. Only then will he be able to act authentically and give a credible performance. Yet when the movie wraps or the play ends, the actor drops the character’s problems at the stage door and returns to his real life.
So it is with your life. If you would but step back and look at the world through God’s eyes instead of your own, you would see that, like the actor playing a role before returning to reality, you too are immersed in a drama that seems all too real. Yet in due time, you too will leave this role behind and return to the one true reality. Maintaining this perspective is integral to living a healthy, happy life full of meaning, purpose and joy. While you are here on earth, by all means play your role to the best of your ability but don’t get so consumed by the drama that you forget who you really are. You are a child of God, a spark of the Divine, and this role you’re now playing is only a temporary one.
As moving pictures are sustained by a beam of light coming from the projection booth of a movie house, so are all of us sustained by the Cosmic Beam, the Divine Light pouring from the projection booth of Eternity.
Paramahansa Yogananda
ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA
Phil is the author of Through God’s Eyes: Finding Peace and Purpose in a Troubled World, a comprehensive guide to living a spiritual life. Who will benefit from reading it?
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Sixty Seconds was one of three finalists in the General Interest/How-To category at the 12th annual Visionary Awards presented by COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources) in Denver on June 27, 2009.
January 26, 2012 at 4:41 AM
I like your analogy, Phil. And your advice. Yet I continue to wonder why so many of the lessons we learn are born of despair.
January 26, 2012 at 9:09 AM
UNtil you transition from being reactive and learning through pain to being proactive and learning through joy, a calamity may be the only way for the Universe to get your attention, Deb. That said, walking a spiritual path does not grant you immunity from suffering. The nature of your sufferings may shift, but you will suffer nonetheless. While actively seeking wisdom may help you avoid certain crises, you cannot know the karmic debts you have accrued in life’s ledger.
February 17, 2012 at 9:21 AM
Karmic debt?
February 17, 2012 at 10:17 AM
That certainly sounds like a question, Deb. But I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking.
February 17, 2012 at 6:04 PM
Hi Phil,
I’m wondering what you mean by the term “karmic debt.”
This may be a stretch, but are you saying we must pay a price for our ignorance/malace? That seems to say God or “The Universe” exacts payment for our blunders through our suffering, balancing some cosmic scale. Or am I reading too much into this?
Deb
February 17, 2012 at 6:34 PM
You’re reading too much into it, Deb. Karma is not positive or negative, it is simply purposeful. WIth karma, there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are only consequences.