"Me" questions

Every once in awhile we each should ask ourselves, Why am I me? I do it every year on the week of my birthday.

With every asking, every year, there comes a different answer based upon my experience and growth at that moment of asking.

Why am I me? An answer for me is to participate in this time and space, in this place with infinite choices and live in the moment with the nearly six billion souls who have come to experience life together.

In each generation, perhaps in each lifetime, special souls are born to help us find, accomplish, complete, and create new paths to the Source that give understandable meaning, knowledge and elegant grace to life.

Sometimes those souls will manifest in science and philosophy – Einstein and Epictetus; sometimes in literature – Dostoevsky and Miller; sometimes in leadership – Churchill and Lincoln; sometimes in music –Beethoven and Berlin; or art and architecture – Michelangelo and Wright and sometimes in belief systems: Moses, Christ, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammad, Krishna, Gandhi, and thousands of others who taught by example that the way to The Source was through positive deeds of choice and unconditional love.

If we look at history we find greatness and charismatic leadership in all fields of creative endeavor. We can go to any country in ancient or modern times and find individual greatness that influenced nationalistic culture and global history and we can find individual dictatorial greed and cruelty.

The Balinese of Indonesia have a perfect saying: “Bhuta ia, dewa ia”, Man is a demon, man is a god." Both true.

If you’ve never experienced the plague of war, the degradation of prison, the pain of torture, were never close to death from hunger or event, then you are better off than 500 million people.

If you can worship without the fear that someone will assault or kill you, then you are more fortunate than 3 billion people.

If you have plenty of food, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the rest of the world.

“Why am I me?” begs different questions. "Why am I so fortunate and what do I need to learn from the experience?" It makes you think doesn’t it?