"We are not separate from our fellow humans. It's only from that higher viewpoint that you can know what it is to love your neighbor as yourself." -Peace Pilgrim
I don't know about you, but I could use a little inspiration right about now. What the world needs now is LOVE! However, I have not been functioning at full throttle this week due to an acute case of APPR anxiety (New York State public school teachers' least favorite acronym) as numerous deadlines loom. So instead of attempting to inspire with my own words and images, I am going to share two particularly inspiring and uplifting videos that I came across recently.
The first one is a 17-minute documentary about the radical shift in consciousness experienced by the Apollo 8 astronauts upon glimpsing Earth from outer space for the first time during their 1968 mission to the moon. Seeing our blue planet suspended in the vastness of space without any political borders was a transcendent experience of awe and ecstasy. A realization of total unity and oneness that revealed the fallacy of the Western emphasis on independence and individualism.
Having not experienced this myself, perhaps the closest connection I can make is the way it feels to glide along the surface of the quiet river amidst a stillness in which nothing makes sense except for love. Living on the river offers me an intimate window through which I understand the interconnectedness of all life on this planet while contemplating the wildlife that comes and goes and carries to other locations the toxic realities of this tragically polluted river. This perspective - so small in comparison to the astronauts' experience - fosters in me a desire to listen to and care for the river and the diversity of life it supports. The boundaries of river become quite blurred when I witness and consider the implications of both wildlife migration and the water cycle. But take a few enormous leaps outside of this picture frame to a vantage point from which the river becomes the whole planet, and the shift in consciousness that takes place must be downright ineffable. I won't attempt to describe it any further. Do yourself a favor, and watch this powerful video by clicking below:
OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." -Viktor Frankl
The second, somewhat shorter, video is about Alice Herz Sommer, a 108-year-old Holocaust survivor who teaches us about experiencing joy and gratitude by being aware of the bad but always looking where there is good - and never allowing herself to be poisoned by hatred. This woman is a gem and a beacon of joy and wisdom.
Email followers: Click HERE to view "Everything is a Present."
I hope you will find these videos as uplifting and inspiring as I have!
With love and light,
Susan
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© Susan Meyer and River Bliss, 2012-2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photos, without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Susan Meyer and River Bliss (www.riverblissed.blogspot.com) with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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