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Even though, with the naked eye, we can see little of the detail of our amazing universe, I am sure throughout history almost every human eye that has been able to, has gazed into it and wondered. Even with so little to go on, it has seeded many stories which have paralleled life at the time when they were imagined.

As we have now found ways to see it better, and even to start exploring it, we have begun to reveal some of the wonderful truths about how vast it is, what it contains and how it works. However, I am sure, even now, we have barely scratched the surface.

I am no astrophysicist, nor even a physicist, so if you are, please forgive any errors I may be demonstrating in my scientific understanding, but what little I do know seems to me to shed light on the way things work down here too, as things in nature so often do.

Proof of the existence of black holes is a fairly recent thing, and we are still exploring the different kinds and sizes that exist, and how they are formed.

As I understand it one of the ways the smallest form of a black hole comes about, is when a star runs out of energy and ‘collapses in on itself’.  Once a black hole is formed, the density of the matter within it, has such a strong gravitational pull that it sucks everything that comes close to it, into it, even light.

I am sure that many of us can sympathize with the idea of running out of energy. There are times in life when we lack the love for ourselves, or life, to keep going positively, and we need the help of others to pull us back from the brink of collapsing in on ourselves. Fortunately, unlike stars, we are sentient beings surrounded by others, so there is hope that we can reach in, or reach out, to find the help we need to avoid that outcome. A good reason for us to be on the lookout for people heading in that direction and be there to help them.

It is interesting that for us, when we are in that position, we may feel empty inside, whereas once a star collapses in on itself, and forms a black hole, it sucks things in, not because it is empty, but because it is extremely dense. That leads me to another parallel I think is worth exploring, which is about black holes, rather than collapsing stars.

I think negative thoughts are like black holes to us. By negative thoughts, I mean those ways of thinking that drain our energy or direct our energies to destruction as opposed to life. The most powerful of which are, I believe, fear (perceived threat to our physical, mental, or social wellbeing), anger and abandonment. These are useful temporary feelings to help us recognise situations where we need to take action, but when they persist and become the basis for our thoughts and perceptions, they are unhealthy for us and, I suspect, sit beneath most other ‘negative’ thoughts, feelings, and ultimately behaviours. They can be extremely powerful.

When the negative thoughts within us become dense, and difficult for us to see past, we become like a black hole, and in doing so we draw things towards us. At the same time, we also sometimes become something that potentially helpful passers-by sense they need to avoid.

A black hole draws towards it anything that gets within its extremely strong gravitational pull. I believe our powerful negative thoughts become our ‘gravitational pull’. This black hole effect means we also draw towards us the things our energies are focused on, those things that are within our sights; the very things we fear, resent or are seeking to avoid. This is usually the opposite effect to the one we may be hoping for.

Interestingly many animals (not all) on meeting new people, are drawn to those who fear them, more so than to people who like them. They somehow sense the energy and come to it, which of course is completely the opposite to what the fearful person wants. Running away from a dog is the best way to get it to chase you! Of course, running away from some things is a wise response, but you get what I mean.

I suspect this is why positive thinking works so often, changing the nature of the thoughts at the centre of you to something positive, rather than negative, removes the source of the ‘black hole’ and negates the effect. Thus, focusing your gravitational pull (your thoughts) on positive things stops you drawing the very thing you fear towards you.

Unlike a star we have choices and can get help.



Share D’All (2020)

Picture: (the only actual picture of a black hole) is credited to ESO/EHT Collaboration

When first I stopped
Intent to learn to breathe,
My focus of attention was my nose.
The feel of cool air coming in.

Feeling my breath in
Observing, my breath out

Next, working down
I felt my upper chest
Rise and fall, stretching out and sinking in,
Pushing the fabric of my clothes.

Feeling my breath in
Observing, my breath out

Awareness dawned
Deep down within my frame
The muscles of my diaphragm, moving.
The invisible origin.

Drawing my breath in
Then pushing my breath out

The warm breath out
Almost goes unnoticed
As does time, between the start and finish.
So much takes place instinctively

Drawing my breath in
Then pushing my breath out

As my breath leaves
And I just let it go
It leaves an emptiness above my chest,
A relief, down deep inside me

Drawing my breath in
Relaxing my breath out

This like my thoughts,
My focus often on
The newest, freshest one, whilst deep beneath
That which conceived it, stays unseen.

I can hold them in
I can let them flow out



© Share D’All. All rights reserved
May 2020

As memories of a holiday,
Fade away with time
And the closeness, joy and tears we shared …
Seem gone.
I would have you know …

This journey may be over
But it does not mean I’m spent.
I’m a little piece of Life
I do not end.

As the whirling water’s last descent
Concludes a warming bath.
Now that you cannot see me, you may feel …
Only loss.
I would have you know …

This journey may be over
But it does not mean I’m spent.
I’m a little piece of Life
I do not end.

Just like water, I am everywhere, 
I only change my form
I’m frozen, flowing, floating, in a seedling
And a storm.
And I would have you know …

Our journey may be over
But it does not mean we’re done.
We’re a little piece of Life
That does not end.

© Share D’All. All rights reserved.
April 2020

Honey bees focus their lives completely on the survival of their community. They automatically take the required roles (i.e. drone, nurse or worker) in their community so that the necessary balance between bees undertaking these roles is maintained. Not surprisingly the role they take can be seen in their genetic make-up, but interestingly recent research (reported in the Guardian) has found that this genetic make-up can change. It seems that if all the nurse bees are removed then some of the worker bees take over these roles and within a week or so their genetic make-up has changed so that it reflects the nurse role.

It seems possible this happens not because they are wired that way and therefore, they undertake that role, but that if they undertake that role, they become wired to do so…. They become what they are being.

Whilst worker, or foraging, bees have wonderful and complex systems to communicate to each other where food sources can be found, and to navigate to and from their nest; their focus when out of the nest is on fulfilling their function which is finding nectar and pollen. It is the smell and colour of flowers that attracts them and that is why flowers have wonderful colours and smells as it attracts them – it is their joy. In following their joy, the function is fulfilled because the whole system comes together that way.

So, at the level of being a bee, the purpose of life is the survival and prosperity of their community.

Step back a level however and look at the purpose of honeybees from a human perspective. They provide something for us which we have no other way of producing – they make honey. Honey is not only pleasant for us and we love the taste of it … apparently it is also good for us in many ways; we use it for therapeutic reasons as well as pleasure.

Step back another level and look at the purpose of bees from a world perspective. Bees pollinate plants. When they visit a plant collecting pollen and nectar, they carry pollen around on their bodies and thereby spread the pollen around and this is what enables many plants to reproduce and survive.

There has been a lot of concern in recent years about the decline in the number of bees, with fear about the potential impact on plant life were they to disappear – because all animals rely on plants to provide the oxygen we need to make the planet habitable.

Bees therefore are important creatures in a big way – but as far as we are aware, they are not aware of this. They are focusing on the wellbeing of their local community.

We could take many things for this some of which may not be helpful as we are not bees, we have a lot more choices and awareness of what we are doing and thereby our place in the universe is different, however no less critical. However, I think there are messages here that may be helpful to us too. 

• At some level we become what we are being … and we can change that if we choose
   
• We may think the role we have been given / or have chosen (worker or nurse) is critical at the time (and get very stressed about the importance of doing it) but it is the balance of the community that is important not the fact we are doing a particular role – the community will find balance as long as there are bees available.  
  
• We often believe we can only fulfil our function or have value if we find the ‘right path’ but maybe we need to learn a lesson from the bees and follow our joy more often.  
  
• Much of the impact we have on our universe is unseen by us when we focus on our day to day path and activities – the impact is much wider than we know.

There was a beautiful little soul who wanted to come to earth to share and experience the love and beauty it was made of. The little soul decided to search for just the right family to come to, and after scouring the world found the just the ones … a mummy and daddy waiting to be.

He saw in their hearts a mixture of hope and fear and plenty of love, so, with joy, the soul made a decision. He would be a boy and as well as his love he would bring them another gift – the gift of freedom from their fear. He chose a body that was far from perfect and a little boy was born.

When the mummy and daddy saw him at first, they felt angry …not with him because they loved him when first they saw him, because he was a beautiful soul and theirs… but with the universe for giving him a broken body. They feared he could not find joy; not knowing what he was.

As he grew and they shared love and found joy in each other, these things washed away the anger and the fear and left only love.

The family grew and he had sisters, together they went places, had wonderful experiences, and saw interesting things. They played, laughed, cried, and forgave together and although his body was hard to live in, his life was full, and his joy was complete. Everyone who met him found the beautiful soul he was, and his smile warmed their hearts.

Then one night the little soul whispered, ‘this journey is done, time to be free again’ and his body answered ‘yes’. He slipped out of his body and somersaulted into freedom, twirling and zooming and laughing. His love was safe in his little soul and his soul was the bigger for it … and the love they shared was still in the hearts of his family and those who had shared it, and he knew it would always be, as love is forever.

The little soul was happy with the gift he had given and the journey he had travelled thus far…. for souls, like love, are free and forever.

Written for Jake Mellor who died on 6th November 2018, aged 8 years.
https://www.facebook.com/jakesmission.co.uk

Image by Lisaleo

At 60 years a toddler,
Finding I have new legs that I can run with,
Setting off like the wind, and falling
Needing to be picked up, dusted off and reassured.
You’re not disappointed, so nor am I.
I am off again,
Running, growing in confidence.

At 60 years a toddler
Finding I have new skills I want to give a go
Daubs of colour, words on paper, that
Need to be interpreted, understood, appreciated.
You’re not disappointed, so nor am I.
I am having another go
Exploring, growing in confidence.

At 60 years a toddler
Finding I have many feelings I didn’t understand
Layers, onion like, that make me cry
I need to find the truth, the false belief from where they start
You’re not disappointed, so nor am I.
I am setting myself free
Its joyous, growing in confidence.


Share D’All. 2019
All rights reserved

.

Light had been happy illuminating many worlds, but it became dissatisfied with its lot.  The seven separate colours of light that, when shining in balance together, created the brightest, whitest light most often admired and sought after, each wanted more of a chance to be seen and appreciated separately, for each was beautiful in its own right.

So it was that Light approached the ‘Source of Everything that Is and is Not’ and asked for a world of its own where each part of it could have an equal opportunity to be seen and appreciated separately. The Source was familiar with such requests as all things it made were created from parts of itself that had temporarily separated out in this way, so it agreed.  

In the same way as it had brought all things everywhere into being, the Source allowed parts of its energy to become all that was needed to create a new world. In this new world, so that there were beings able to see, appreciate and respond to the diverse beauty of each colour of light, the Source created conditions able to sustain Life in all its fullness.  

As was usual, whilst the Source agreed not to interfere in the world once it was created, its care for each separated part of it was not diminished. So, in the very fabric of all that was in it were placed messages about the truth that everything was all part of One; all part of Everything that Is and Is Not. Nowhere was this truer than at the core of every sentient being. Whilst remaining a tiny part of the Source itself, each was given the freedom to experience being separate. Each had a mind and body that enabled them to live life fully, and enjoy developing their own existence and experiences, through their own choices and responses to the world they lived in. Yet deep in the spirit of each was placed the gentle knowledge that they were part of a greater One, so that, should they choose to remember, they should know the truth and that they were never alone.

Spread around the new world, so that it was available to share, was placed a bountiful supply of different resources, distributed widely so that there was plenty of everything needed to sustain life. This distribution gave the fullest opportunity for the nature of each colour of light to provoke different characteristics.This also meant there would not only be plenty overall, but also the chance for exchange, and the possibility of different contributions to be made, in both skill and material resource. 

The seven colours of Light were incredibly pleased with their new world which they called Kauri. They divided the world into seven areas and each of the seven colours in the spectrum of light chose an area where it alone would shine – the Source had asked only that they would come together high up above the world so that, as well as the beauty each individual colour of light provided, there was somewhere where the beauty of them together could be seen, even if not always by the Beings on the land.

As usual the Lights were very keen for ‘Is Not Light’ (which the Beings came to call Darkness) to join them on their world because it had two important functions. It gave them, and their Beings, time to rest; but more importantly it provided contrast, an absence of light, which meant that each new morning the Beings would eagerly anticipate the Light in their land returning. Thus, the existence of Darkness, and its passing, made each morning a glorious celebration of the particular Light that shone in that area.

In each Light Land the Beings, who became known as people, started to take on the character of the Light that ruled them. In other worlds Light had paid little attention to the Beings, but here each they felt they owned their land, and therefore also the people in it, and they encouraged this development.

Thus, the people of each Land took on ways that most reflected the nature of their light colour; they had their own languages, beliefs, and ways of doing things. They each developed particular strengths and found different materials they relied upon and wove their lives around. 

The Lights came together regularly to proudly tell each other how well their land was doing and to hear how different each land was becoming. It was beautiful to them to see and hear how wonderfully their diverse beauty was expressed in each of their lands. Each Light felt their Land was the most beautiful reflection of their own colour.

In every land the memory of the Source from which they came started to express itself, but differently. The people valued different aspects of that Source, which they saw reflected in the beauty of their land, and it’s Light. It brought them joy and made them care for the land and the other people they shared it with, and the joy made them shine all the more.

In each land there were different shades and tones of their light colour, but it was always obvious which Light Land they belonged to. Whilst the people of each did not move out of their land much to start off with, when they did, they were interested to see how different things were in other lands. They saw the different strengths and materials each had and started to share and trade. The only areas where things were less clear, was where the border between two Light Lands was on land. Where these areas became populated there was a lot more movement between lands and exchange between the neighbouring peoples. These border people were influenced by the Light from more than one land; they started to form their own ways of doing things that took bits from each of the lands, and Lights, they encountered.  

Some of the peoples were more interested in science and, over time, they started to develop technologies which enabled them to travel around more easily and communicate across the different lands. This spread quickly and, as it progressed, many became aware of things they liked in other places and started to change some of the ways they thought and did things. Trade increased, and across the world some similarities started to develop, where ideas, thoughts and materials came together and were enjoyed by people in many lands.

When the Lights noticed these similarities, they were not pleased. They had enjoyed seeing their Lands reflect only their nature and did not want this to be changed – they feared losing their opportunity to be appreciated separately. 

Sharing this concern, the Lights started to worry that the Source might also be displeased at their inability to maintain their separate spaces. As they thought on this they started to fear that the Source may be angry and take away their world. They forgot that the Source was ‘Everything that Is and Is Not’ and had only created this separation at their request, so that they could experience joy in who they were separately, as well as together. They overlooked the fact that the Source had no desire to prefer any part of itself to another, and no need of anything, as it was All. 

Unfortunately, with this misremembering in mind, they all agreed it was a problem, and decided to intervene. They came up with three areas of action:

1.    Each Light Land would appoint a ruling group whose job it was to protect the way of living that land had developed; its culture and practices. These people would make rules to manage movements between the lands and keep the relationships positive but controlled.

2.   They added strength to these new rules by sharing with their people their idea that their Source required these things of them; only being happy and willing to accept them if they chose to comply. They introduced the idea that non-compliance would lead to rejection by their Source.

3.   They put in place rules to prevent merging across the borders, announcing that no-one could live near enough to a border to see the neighbouring light every day. They decided that each Light would pull back slightly from such borders so that their light would not shine in the other Light’s territory.

This last action was the simplest for them to implement and so, once they had made their decrees, each Light pulled back from the border areas. This reduction in Light meant that Darkness took a daytime role as well as a night-time one, to reinforce their separateness.

They sought out their strongest devotees and gave them the job of ruling their lands – each Light chose to do this in their own way of course, some letting the people choose the rulers and others choosing for them – but in all cases it was done speedily.  These rulers were tasked with making the necessary changes as quickly as they could, because the sooner this was done the better it would be.

Unfortunately, neither the Lights nor the new rulers, were used to governing in this way. In their haste they did not anticipate some of the consequences of these actions, nor were they experienced enough to know how to deal with them when they happened.

The consequences started very quickly. Merely communicating these rules introduced some feelings that had never been there before – fear and loss.  For the first time they feared the wrath of their Source and the possibility of separation, and they feared the influence of each other and the loss of their identity.

The change escalated as soon as the Lights withdrew from the borders. The people there had not experienced darkness in the daytime before. They had never feared it at night as it was just the sign that it was time to rest, but suddenly it was there all the time, and there was no light. Plants died, and life became unsustainable. For the first time they were afraid in the dark and they did not really understand why the Light had been withdrawn for some.

For the people who had lived at the Borders, fear and loss begat a new emotion, anger. All that they had loved and built up was taken from them; they were forced to leave their homes and move to somewhere else. They lost contact with their friends and neighbours in the other Light Land and were moved to areas where their new neighbours were suspicious of them, because their ways of doing things often did not fit with the new ‘pure light’ version of their land.  

The rulers told the people that they should not listen to ideas from other lands and that this rule was to protect them. The people had not considered they needed protection before and had not had ‘rulers’ to enforce this. Fear and anger continued to grow. For the first time they became mistrustful of each other and protective of their resources.

Many became confused as they had never previously considered it might be wrong to change the way they did things or share what they had. The new Rulers had to sell this idea to the people, as that was their job. Some did it with such enthusiasm that they convinced many and their people immediately became suspicious and fearful of the other Light Lands. Others, particularly those who had enjoyed contact with the other lands, were less sure, and started to feel angry that their way of life was being controlled where it had not been before.

When the Lights saw what was happening, they were aghast; they had expected things to go back to how they were before, so that they could again proudly talk about how wonderfully different each of their lands were, but suddenly they were more like each other than they had been before. Yes, their customs were once again different from each other, like they had been previously, but now the experience was similar in each world – anger, disagreement, dissent, selfishness, violence, inequality, and unhappiness. They knew this was not what they wanted, but they did not realise that fear was behind most of what was happening as they had not even noticed it in themselves.

Each Light called their Rulers in and told them to sort it out and make the people happy and co-operative again. They told them to get their people to focus back on the wonderful elements of their culture that had made them special before, as this is what they had been hoping to achieve.

The Rulers went away. In each land they tried their own approach to making this happen, but when they came back to the Lights again things had not changed. The story was always the same; in no land could they get everyone to agree to one approach, and they could not change things back to how they were before, because the feelings were different, and they were too strong.

The Lights were in despair. This had been their big chance to shine separately but no-one was focusing on the beauty of their lights anymore, or even really looking up at them – they were all too busy fighting with each other and their Rulers.

Eventually they decided to ask the Source for advice, even though they were a bit afraid it would be angry that they had messed up their world.

As soon as they requested it the Source was there with them, feeling their sadness and disappointment about how their world was going, and keen to hear the cause of their despair.

They explained that when they had started to see their colours coming together, and their separate colours merging, they had seen it as a failure and feared the Source’s wrath. They said how sorry they were that they had not achieved what they had set out to do and asked the Source to forgive them and help them, rather than be angry. 

“Why would I be angry?” asked the Source “when I am Everything and Everything is Me? I do not need you to be separate to know you are beautiful, I need nothing.”

It was then that they started to realise that the fear was in them.  They were afraid of losing their unique beauty and the chance for it to be celebrated separately…. and they had passed this fear on to their people, and that had caused them to be angry. They were ashamed and thought their desire to be celebrated separately was wrong.

The Source said gently. “The desire to shine separately is not wrong, you are beautiful separately AND together; this is balance and beauty. Like you, your people want to shine separately but they need to be allowed to shine together as well. The presence of one is not the loss of the other… and they do not thrive when they are afraid, or controlled with tyranny, like you, they are made to be free to choose.”

The Lights were sorry, they said they thought that order was what the Source required.

“I require nothing” smiled the Source, “as I am Everything that Is and Is Not, in balance, and I am free, as you are all made to be. I joy in experiencing different parts of myself, but I need nothing as I am All. Look up.”

They looked up and saw the beautiful bright light they made together. They remembered how wonderful it was when they were all together, as well as how beautiful they felt separately, and suddenly things started to become clearer.

They asked The Source what they should do.

“Tell them the truth about who I Am, and that I need nothing,” the Source said smiling. “Tell them the truth about who you are and let them see your light – separate and together. Tell them the truth about who they are – all part of Us, each beautiful and not one better or more loved than the other.

Then let them be free, as they are made to be. Give them your light so they can see that darkness and light are the ‘Is’ and ‘Is not’ of each other. Use your light to help them see that the ‘Is Not’ of Fear, is Love, so that they know how to change the balance. Shine on them so that they have courage to be who they want to be, knowing that all is safe in the end … we are One.”

It took time … but as the truth was told, and the lights shone – separately and together, love spread instead of fear, and gradually the ‘Is Not’ was put back into balance. They learned to shine together, as well as separately, and gradually their world became beautiful once more.

© Share D’All (2020). All rights reserved.

I am frequently struck by the beauty and symmetry of the natural world and the universe we live in. Scientists tell us that everything is made of the same stuff, and yet there is incredible diversity, even in our world, let alone the known universe or beyond. We, as a species, all look so different and yet we too share so much; we have bodies, minds, feelings and desires, as well as the ability to create at so many levels. We too are gloriously diverse and yet amazingly similar and, although we appear very separate, we are intrinsically linked, not only to each other, but to the bountiful world we depend upon and are custodians of.

We make our own futures, both separately and together, and in each of our lifetimes must make our own decisions about who we are; these decisions often driven by being, or seeing things in others, that we don't want to replicate.  We are in a constant process of self-definition, even if for much of the time we are not doing so consciously.

This process is rooted in what we belive about ourselves, others, life and even God (if we believe in one) as our own perspective on these things act as filters  through which see the things that happen around us and the choices we maske to cause and respond to the events of our lives. The choices and actions that demonstrate who we are at that moment. These choices are the real tales of our universe, and they happen at every level of our existence, from individual to worldwide.

I too am in this process  in my own life and some of the tales here are from my experiences of deciding who I do and don't want to be, and of reviewing how my beliefs and actions support that. Others have been inspired by the world around me, and the questions, hopes and desires that have arisen in me from what I see. 

These are my tales of the universe. I share them in the hope that in some small way they will inspire us to become more conscious of the choices we are making; so that as individuals we make more choices that truly reflect who we want to be, and so that the choices we make together are truly in line with the world we want to see and live in... not by ourselves, as our lives are never really disconnected from each other, but together.