Karma, Mother Nature and Bonsai...

Good Morning!

Dee shared a really motivational quote with me a while back that I have carried with me throughout this ordeal! I learned an interesting thing about the "things" that we gather and retain...they are indicators of what we believe and cherish...DUH!

But I ask you to think about that...take a quick assessment of the "life axioms" that you have gathered...and the "treasures" that you have amassed...

I said that to someone the other day and they said...I have no "life axioms" and nothing that is really special (treasures) to me..."I stand for nothing...it is safer that way!"

Without belaboring the point...allow me to share this tidbit of life with you...

"I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature." John D. Rockefeller

How cool is that one?

The sad fact of life is that the world (in its entirety) hates a loser! The world itself has been designed around hating losers! Evolution does not reward losers...only winners! It is in the fundamental design of everything...down to the sub-atomic particles! We are designed to win...

We attribute "karma" to some religious group...but the fact of the matter is...it is simply an observation of a fundamental principal...

We have categorized a set of immutable laws to a bucket called "Mother Nature."

We have legitimized many of these observations to sciences...physics...mathematics...and so on...

It is an interesting thing!

It is so funny that a commonly misused axiom is that one "can not beat Mother Nature!"

I was reading about a guy in the mid 1600s who took a bet that he couldn't push an 1 inch diameter, iron ball through his body (below his rib cage and above his navel) and live. The amount of money wagered was huge...and he took the bet...

Weird bet...but go with it for a minute!

He took the ball and used a belt and tightly strapped it on the location....and waited...every few days he put more pressure on the ball...

Low and behold...over time his body gave way to the ball and healed around it.

It was soon internalized!

Then he used rods or something to keep pressure on the ball...

After a little over a year...the ball exited from his back...

The entire ordeal left only 2 small scars...one at the point of entry and the other at the exit...

He collected the money...and lived out his life!

Whether it is totally true or not...it is a good example of how persistence, even with Mother Nature can create a winner!

If he would have tired to do it in an hour...or a day...or a week or even a month...it would have killed him!

Mother Nature is the unforgiving, when one is impatient...

But when one is persistent and knows the limits and tolerances...of "Mother"...it will conform in ways that are unimaginable!

That is the way of Bonsai!

Nature in miniature, doing unnatural things!

I love this discipline!

True Bonsai trees are really no less than a quarter century old...before that...they are in training!

If one tries to make a Bonsai in a week or a month or a year...and bends the branches too quickly, or trims too much of the plant...it will break or die! That is a law of Mother Nature...

But the plant can be taught to do things that no natural tree will do, by applying persistent pressure (within Mother Nature's limits)...and guess what? She conforms...and rewards the persistence with a unique masterpiece!

Our lives are like that! The need for immediate gratification makes us slaves to Mother Nature's rules...VERBATIM!

If we are patient and persistent living within the limits of her rules...she rewards in ways that are unimaginable!

The last piece of this intellectual puzzle is 'karma!" How does karma fit into this scheme?

It is simple...the entire world is governed by cause and effect! There are no random events!

Break a rule and there is recourse!

Breaking the rule is the cause...the recourse is the effect!

Karma is simply the recourse for any action...

Good actions spring from persistence and patience...

Bad actions are spurred by impatience...

Patience and persistence are actions growing from Knowledge and Wisdom...

Impatience is born from selfishness and stupidity!

So those who abide by the rules and stay the course...do not reap the harvest of BAD KARMA!

Although this sounds like a VERY eastern philosophy...it is simply common sense!

If you are impatient...or selfish...you will reap a certain set of rewards!

If you are patient, persistent and stay within the limits...you will reap the rewards!

No deed goes unrewarded!

He who lives by the sword dies by the sword...

I love that...for we are guaranteed that all injustice and selfish decisions will catch-up with the idiots who believe they are immune! No epistemological set of beliefs will protect them! It is a comforting thought...

Many may be upset by this concept...that is a good indicator that there may be something to worry about...

Karma is not a sum total game...ten good acts do not make up for one bad act...

Every action creates an independent string...with its own recourse!

Like the prodigal son...it will return to the one who raised it!

Plant good seeds!

Be constantly aware of what you are doing and its true relation to the laws of Mother...

She is vindictive and ALWAYS justified!

Enough Said!