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Chuck, in one word "beautiful" [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: Charles E Murray <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 8:31 AM Subject: One Choice > I'm back from a 5 day camping trip and back on the list. > > I was with 150 men who are in one or another stage of recovery from what > one source calls a "hopeless state of mind and body." > > I was asked to give a talk to this group, plus a couple dozen local > residents of Mamoth Lakes, last Saturday night. > > Not many years ago the anxiety over getting up and talking to such a > group would have been overwhelming, and even more so if my PD were at the > stage it has reached. I didn't hesitate for a moment, however, and the > talk went well. Here is the crux of what I shared. > > In each moment we have a choice and it is a simple one. We can choose > Love, or we can choose fear. There is nothing sinful or "wrong" about > the choice for fear, it merely brings with it the consequences of itself. > Choosing fear usually results in isolation, anger, resentment, guilt, > pride, greed, depression and other such unhappy sensations. The > judgments of and demands upon others which we make from fear cause > hostility and separation. > > Choosing Love brings peace, connection, a sense of oneness with all > things, kindness, compassion, and service for free and for fun which > perpetuates the connection with others and makes joy a constant > experience. > > When I choose to judge any person, place, thing or situation as > unacceptable to me (unworthy of being loved), that is a choice for fear, > and as such it robs me of the serenity and joy which the choice for Love > brings as a natural consequence of Itself. The most depressed folks I > know share a common trait of withholding love from themselves (and here I > am not speaking of the chemical based CD common to us, which, when it > responds to drug therapy, goes away). > > I know how nauseating the next comment will be to many, but Love requires > that I share my gratitude to Parkinson's disease for teaching me more > about living in the now that all the meditation, reading and desire of my > past could accomplish, and for broadening the opportunities to choose > Love on a daily basis. Parkinson's has taken me from a place where the > winner between Love and fear was an issue too close to call, to where I > feel comfortable in saying that Love is the odds on favorite to carry me > to the finish line of this Earth experience. In a word, I accept my PD > as an invaluable teacher. > > There was a time not long ago when fear would have frozen my finger over > the send key (fretting about being perceived as prideful, arrogant, > etc.), but not this morning. This morning Love tells me that those in > touch for a moment with the Love within will respond with love, and those > too in touch with fear in the moment will have a fear based reaction and > move on; but perhaps with a little seed planted. > > The one thing I have come to know for sure, we are all children of Love, > so my choice today is really no choice at all, but to ask, in each > situation I encounter, "What does Love wish me to do?" > > Love > Chuck