Sunday Story...Passages

Sunday Story…Passages

It’s the time of year we see a lot of passages…graduations, weddings and more. A time of finishing things and starting new ones. We often think of the New Year as the time to set resolutions and goals for the year. But it is June when we graduate.

What are you graduating from? What are you graduating to? How graduated are you?

Another lesser known meaning of graduation indicates a scale…in other words a graduated cylinder, one with marks on it to indicate different positions of fullness. It gets filled up gradually.

Too often we think of graduation as position of completion. What if, just maybe, graduation was another point on the bottle? When I graduate from high school, as momentous as that may be, that point is just a mark on the bottle that will be my life. It is certainly not the end of my education, even if I should decide that formal education is not for me anymore. It would be horrendous to think about knowing all you would ever know at 17 or 18 or even 50 years of age.

And now we see kindergarten graduations, and 5th grade and 8th grade graduations. Maybe we should have graduation ceremonies after every grade? Why not? Isn’t just as important to celebrate those accomplishments? If I sound a little confused it is because I am. Milestones are important to recognize and celebrate. We do the same things with birthdays…21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, and others. Maybe we should give each birthday the full treatment! After all you never know when it may be your last one.

So when I graduated from high school it was a moment when I passed a certain mark. A mark that some people never pass, or never get to. My cylinder has become a little fuller.

And what of the ultimate graduation…death. In that moment there is no more. I am completely and finally finished…even if I am not, according to my plans. At that moment there is no more learning, no more anything in this physical existence. My cylinder is full.
But what if that graduation is not even the final one? What if that graduation, that passage is merely the opening of yet another gate? Many of us have a faith, a belief in some sort of life after graduation. Our belief system may teach us of another, finer place for us to go and spend an eternity in. Others believe we are destined to be born again until we achieve liberation or enlightenment and our job is to evolve to such a point that we can be liberated. Yet others believe that when this physical emanation is done that is all there is baby and there ain’t no more.

In any case, in any scenario this graduation out of this physical plane is going force us to do and or be something else. There is a learning there. A learning about learning and what it means to be alive here and now. You are going to graduate…this is not a pass fail class --- you will pass. How you pass is really up to you.

Will you pass in comfort, and gratitude? Or will you pass in pain and angst? Maybe in sadness and regret? We spend a lot of time making sure that we pass high school or college with good grades so we can go on to the next thing with confidence and assurance of success, why shouldn’t we be trying to graduate out of this life with confidence and success in the next iteration, whatever it may be?

There is no guarantee that you will be here tomorrow. Many of us remember the child’s bed time prayer…”know I lay me down to sleep…if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take…” If you don’t wake up tomorrow how will you pass? With highest honors? Or just barely getting by? And what would the measure be or your success? Money? A completed “bucket” list? A life spent in contemplation and meditation?

I would postulate that a successful graduation is up to you. Not me. Not anyone else. Sure we can talk about it and discuss it all we want, but in the end your graduation from this plane is up to you.

For me I want to approach life with abundance and gratitude. I want to see the world as place where the best of human kind is out there for me to see and enjoy. A place where the natural world is wondrous and amazing. Where rocks, move, trees speak and animals smile. When I lay me down to sleep I want to go there with a smile and a sense that I have in fact loved enough today.
And tomorrow when I awake I awake alive and full of life, I get to arise with gratitude and an anticipation that I get to make a difference in the world today. That the world will be better today because I got up and learned, and loved and laughed.
And if I can do that every day’ until I graduate, I suspect my time will be very well spent indeed.
Get ready for your graduation…you never know when it will be.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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