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"In immediate consciousness, I appear to myself as free; by
reflection on the whole of Nature, I discover that freedom is
absolutely impossible."

(Johann Gottlieb Fichte – 1762-1814)

There are times in everyone's life where the will to continue on is
challenged, usually by the world in which we live. In the never
ending quest for answers we often times run into situations where
there are none or the answer is not as simple as the problem was.
Some answers come with heavy prices while others are so simple we
sometimes miss them completely.
I've never told anyone that they should be religious or even that
they should believe and hold faith in the things considered by many
to be Deity. In many instances when asked if I believe in the Gods or
some higher power my answer has been "Sometimes".
I don't think that the Gods somehow grant our will and power to us. I
think that it is and has always been part of who we are. When we
reach out to them they may choose to help us in realizing what to do
with our musings but the final decision is always ours alone. And
those who act on it feel comfortable in their actions because of the
plausible deniability that the Gods would not steer us wrong…or would
they?
In my view the Gods don't set around pondering over the lives and
destinies of individual men and women but more so to the whole of
mankind. They would be more apt to ponder "What message can we send
down there to help them all out at once?" We can back that point of
view in considering those who seem to have a natural talent and
wisdom that is above and beyond the standard.
When it comes to the question and answer conversations we have with
the Gods through prayer, meditation, dreams, or any other form of
divine communication the Gods have a funny way of voicing the answer
that is in our hearts rather than in our minds. The mortal mind is
programmed, tainted, and influenced by so many outside details that
it can never offer an unbiased answer. The heart on the other hand
doesn't care about anything except what is in ones soul. The heart
has never heard the voice of the mind and if it ever did it wouldn't
pay attention. And as strong as our egos allow we will never have
enough power or will to tell our hearts what to do. The Gods know
this and it is their greatest tool of insight. It gives them the
power to offer a booming voice to a whispering heart. Which may be
one of the many reasons why they never really ask anything in return
for the service. Like any other child, we sometimes need to be told
twice to do something before we actually do it. Lucky for us that the
Gods have more patience than most other parents, otherwise most of us
would be getting spanked in the spiritual Wal-Mart parking lot.
Then there are times when mortals are mused into doing things or
becoming things that is not in their nature. This all too often comes
out of jealousy or envy. They see someone whom they look up to and
idolize and make the conscious decision to say to themselves "I want
to be just like that!" Or ego steps in and they say, "I can be bigger
and better than that!" They're referred to as the "one uppers". And
they will act on that musing and the following impulse but most of
the time it only leads to failure. We are what we are by design, not
by egotistical or confabulated boasts. It is because of that detail
of mortal being that we can learn to read people but this is not an
easy trade to learn. It can be compared to naming a breed of spider
simply by looking at the pattern of their web.
A true teacher is a teacher by natural design. A true leader is a
leader simply because it is in his or her nature and anything beyond
that nature feels as if it is somehow going against the grain and it
is rather uncomfortable. So there are many times when we go against
what is in our nature that we fall to a life of misery.
Another example of this would be watching someone who absolutely
loves his or her job. They look forward to going to work and are
quite happy when they come home even if they are a bit tiered and
their family, in turn, is happy and thriving. As opposed to someone
who took the first job offered to them despite the fact that they are
really not looking forward to that type of work. So they come home
stressed and completely fed up with life and their life, as well as
anyone involved in their life, suffers for it. And the wise one will
say to the fool "If it hurts, why do you keep doing it?" And the fool
answers, "Because I have no choice." Which is what makes them a fool.
Because if they are not making their own decisions then exactly who
is?
In most cases, anyone claiming that they have no choice in the
decisions they make or the lives they lead are only say thus because
they do not want to be held responsible for the consequences of their
decisions. It's a play out of guilt, a lame justification, and a sad
minimization of a rather large problem. Especially when those
decisions affect the lives of others. Yet, mortals still hold to the
bad habit of acting selfishly. They never seem to feel ashamed of the
world in which they force their loved ones to live in with them.
Now the fool says, "I don't force anyone to stay by my side." And the
wise man answers, "Perhaps not, but their hearts do, and their love
for you doesn't know how not to get hurt."
Now here is the much larger scale:
The web of our being and everything that is in our nature is only a
tiny spec on the web of life and everything else in nature. But just
like us as individuals, nature itself has a design, a pattern that we
are part of. And if there is a flaw in our web there is also a flaw
in natures design. From that point of view we can see how our lives
and the webs we weave affect everything else in creation for better
or ill. For the witch who is "one with nature" this is often a
serious moral dilemma. The answer to which is simple and radical.
You don't have to be perfect. All you have to be is what is in your
nature to be, nothing more. If you push too hard against the web that
is your nature, the web breaks and you'll have to start all over
again.
The Gods never say to us, "Make it perfect." They simply just
say, "Make it." After that all the hard work is up to us. We have to
gather the materials and put things together for ourselves. When we
do make it they gift us with a smile. When we fail they still smile
but add in, "Try again." Thus, the Gods invented learning and gifted
it to the fool. And the reason they gifted the art of learning to the
fool is because the wise man isn't wise enough to know how to use it.
They already know everything anyway and if you don't believe that
just ask them, they'll tell you.
Personally, I would rather be a fool with a tool instead of a wise
man with nothing.

Angel Snowden -2006