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A Time Of Blossoming
by Stan Rosenthal
1. From the seed there grows the shoot, and then the bud appears, a tight but secure knot, providing its own protection. But the bud does not remain the bud for ever, for as the plant matures, the bud begins to struggle to free itself, and with a mighty effort, bursts open to become the flower.
2. From the baby there should grow the child, secure in the environment which its parents provide. And the baby should grow into the adolescent, who, through maturation, develops into the self actualized adult, safe and secure in the knowledge of his or her own being.
3. It would indeed be wonderful if we lived in a society in which childhood and adolescence were accepted as the time in which the bud appears, and with the tremendous strength with which youth should be endowed, begins to blossom into the flower of self being.
4. What a great joy it would be, if in the process of maturation, we became open to receive experience, just as the blossoming flower receives the summer dew, and became free to accept ourselves for what we are, which is the birthright of every being, just as the life giving warmth of the sun is the right of everything that grows.
5. The society in which we live cannot allow us complete freeedom. Indeed, the very nature of man prohibits such a society from ever existing. But this is not to say that we cannot blossom as does the flower. To become fully alive, to live our lives to the full, complete in our self being, we should accept as a gift, every moment of life.
6. We should use life for the purpose for which it was intended, for living. If we choose to use it for that purpose, the whole of life becomes a time of blossoming.
7. One of the major inhibitors of human blossoming is probably life itself, for in living our lives to the full, we are required to accept that much of what we will experience cannot be described (in terms of our 'I'ness) as either beautiful or enjoyable. Because of this, we might erect barriers to the reception of experience.
8. One of the experiences which we sometimes deny ourselves is the experience of love. This denial may easily result from our fear of failure because we may fear that by becoming worthy of love, we might win love, and might then become unworthy of it, and thus lose it.
9. Fear of losing love is caused by the fact that we live in a society which values that which it terms 'success', and condemns that which it calls 'failure'. And yet, it can only breed success at the expense of those whom it describes as failures. We must learn to live without this fear of failure, and so allow ourselves to live within our human right .....to live. 30 If we erect barriers to the giving and receiving of love, we may, in our folly, inhibit both ourselves and those who love us, from blossoming into true being.
10. We must each look into ourselves, and so find the courage to break free from those concepts of ourselves, which we have allowed to predetermine what we are, what we should be, or what we should remain.
11. We should realise that there is no limit to human potential, other than those limits which we ourselves set, or allow others to set in our name.
12. When we can accept that there are no limits to our potential, then we can begin to find that energy which changes the whole of man; for just as the parting of the petals which form the bud, allows that bud to blossom into the flower, and thus change the face of the earth, so does the blossoming of one indiviudal into a self actualized being, change the face of mankind.
13. The flowers and trees have sun and rain to aid their blossoming. As human beings, we should have love to help us grow into self being. 42 When we live in true being, self being, we gain the ability to love, for love has many forms. We may gain the ability to change the shape of things with our hands, and thus change the function of those things. This may be an act of love.
14. We may gain the ability, by the use of our hands and minds, to produce things which have beauty, and whose beauty may be shared by those who are open to accept it. The creation of such a thing as has beauty is an act of love. The acceptance of the beauty in a thing which a fellow being has created is an act of love.
15. When we have true being, self being, in which to dwell, then we may learn to love our fellow beings. When we can see our own imperfections as readily as we can see the imperfections of others, and when we can allow those others their imperfections as readily as we ignore our own, then it may be said that we love our fellow beings.
16. When we can accept others for what they are, rather than try to change them to what we would have them be, or even wish that they are something other than they are, then we perform an act of love.
17. When we have true being, self being, instead of 'I', then we have the ability to become one with our fellow beings. This we may achieve only by ceasing to consider ourselves as the primary subject, and our fellow beings merely as objects which are there for us to manipulate. This act, the act of treating others as we would ourselves wish to be treated, this act is an act of love.
18. There is the love between brothers and sisters. This form of love may develop and grow where wise parents do not use one of their offspring as a goad or spur to the other. Treating our offspring as equals is an act of love.
19. As parents, if we can see that our offspring are not mere 'objects', and no less 'subjects' than are we, then we can cease to manipulate them. Thus, we allow the child to become the adolescent, and the adolescent to become the adult, to the mutual benefit of all.
20. In parental love, we should place the development of our offspring before our own wishes, and even before our own self delusion. When, as parents, we give our offspring the same rights as we give ourselves, and thus prevent ourselves from inhibiting their development, then our offspring may grow into adults, secure in their own self being, as a result of our act of love.
21. Although all acts of love are transcendental in themselves, most are but minor forms of the greatest act of love, which is therefore the greatest transcendental act, the act of sharing love. Only when we have true being, self being, and so no longer need the 'I', then we are ready to take part in this greatest act of love, for, in sharing love with the one who is our counterpart, and so helping them to become complete, we may ourselves become complete.
22. In the act of sharing love all other forms of love are manifest. We each accept that the other has the same rights as we have ourselves.
23. In the act of sharing love we are not jealous of the achievements or attainments of the other, but welcome and share them as our own, for they are the fruits of our love.
24. In the act of sharing love we do not look for the imperfections of the other, but accept each other for what we are, in our totality. We look for our own imperfections, and we each ask the other to help us overcome those imperfections; and thus we help each other to grow. Each of us ceases to consider our own 'I'ness, and so banish our own needs in subordination to the needs of the other.
25. In the great transcendental act of sharing love, all other transcendental acts are also encompassed. In such an act as sharing love we may change our function from that of satisfying our own needs to that of satisfying the needs of our counterpart, this is a transcendental act.
26. In such an act as sharing love we may use our bodies to create a beauty which both may share, and so become a part, this is a transcendental act.
27. In such an act as sharing love we cease to consider ourselves as the primary subject, and thus may become one with the other with whom we share our love, this is a transcendental act.
28. In the act of giving love there is no concept of who we are, of what we should be, or of what we should remain, for only in the act of giving love may we receive and so share love.
29. In the act of sharing love, there is no subject and no object, for both are one. This union of the two is a transcendental act.
30. When we give and receive love in the greatest transcendental act of all, then each of us (who is one) and the universe (which is one) unite to become the absolute. Then there is no longer even one, for we are part of it, and it is part of us, all in the now. We thus become free to give and receive that which only true love can provide, Peace and ecstacy, and the freedom to grow.
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