Soulbyte for Sunday September 13, 2015

Not all beings are interested in that which lies beyond physical reality, but the truth is, sooner or later all beings will find themselves there. Is it not beneficial to at least be curious? The truth is that it is rare to be totally closed to the idea of other realms of existence, for the human mind is curious even if the physical body is afraid. Fear, however, is as much an enigma as the possibility of other realities. Nothing is real until it is experienced. Seek experience over dogma. It’s all that really matters, as proof and truth lie in experience.

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Saturday September 12, 2015

The work of knowing the self requires honesty and willingness; honesty to be able to accept that the truth IS the truth and willingness to face all that comes up as the truth. The truth is often painful and necessary, but the truth is also liberating. It will free you.

Accept yourself by accepting others. Accept your truths in everyday thoughts, desires, behaviors and encounters. The truth is all around you, part of you, inside and outside of you. It is what you seek. Know yourself. Be willing to be honest and truthful. It’s a good place to start.

– From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Lessons in a Life: A World Without Borders

In the 1970s I lived in Sweden. I went there to live with my boyfriend. He later became my first husband. Entry into the country on a visa was easy. Since I was living with him, I had no problem. Had I been a refugee the process would have been a bit different but not too much more difficult had I been able to prove refugee status. After six months my visa was renewed for another six months. Permanent residency took a lot longer to achieve. We waited somewhat nervously for the authorities to approve my staying on. Eventually, after several years, full residency was granted.

As soon as I entered the country and applied to stay on, however, I was automatically granted entry into the system, into the state medical plan, into the sick leave plan, into higher education should I want it, into Swedish language classes. If I remember correctly I could vote too, at least in local elections. There were schools for retraining. Had I arrived with no discernible means of making a living I could have retrained, for free, in any number of occupations or skill sets. It’s a Socialist country after all.

The Buddha reminds us that we are all compassionate beings... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The Buddha reminds us that we are all compassionate beings…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The Swedes have had a working system in place for dealing with migrants and refugees for a long time. During World War II they began taking in people fleeing the Nazis. I knew of a couple, in their late fifties when I met them, who had escaped from Germany, as seventeen year olds, along with a group of other children of all ages, led by members of the underground, all heading to Sweden where they were welcomed with open arms. They traveled on foot for weeks during the cold winter months. The woman, Dora, lost several toes from frostbite. She and Herman met on that long trek, fell in love and married upon arrival in Sweden. They were inseparable.

They told of being compassionately cared for upon arrival, given everything they needed, though they were frightened and couldn’t speak the language. They were given the opportunity for new life and they never forgot it. They spoke always with gratitude for the compassionate people who had risked their own lives to help them along the way and for the Swedes who took them in. They did learn to speak the language fluently and eventually became Swedish citizens.

Sweden, whose population had been slowly dwindling, had invited in foreign workers during the 1960s and 70s to temporarily work in the car manufacturing plants, providing badly needed labor making Volvos and Saabs. By the time I arrived their intake system was well established and pretty seamless.

I read in an article in The Telegraph the other day, that along with Germany, another country that also took in guest workers during the 60s and 70s, Sweden is one of the key destinations for the Syrian migrants as it is offering permanent residency to all Syrian asylum seekers. That’s compassion. It has already gotten 64,700 requests for asylum. For a small country that’s an awful lot.

The article in The Telegraph addressed the dilemma that the Danish police faced as they tried to stop the migrants, who had come by ferry from Germany, from entering Denmark. The migrants had no intention of staying in Denmark; they just wanted to pass through. Many were attempting to walk along the highways in the direction of Sweden when they were stopped.

After a while the Danish police released the migrants. They did not want to fight or harm anyone. They let them stream into their country. They opened their borders for that moment and let the people go to whatever fate they chose. No borders that day.

There is no easy solution to what is happening to the Syrians and others who are running as fast as they can from the approaching apocalypse, as they see it, but perhaps the compassionate Danes, in stepping aside and letting those desperate people travel safely through their country, offer one solution. And perhaps that’s all it will take, at least for the time being, making decisions based on what is right in the moment. True, they could have also let in ISIS adherents traveling among the migrants, but they took that chance for the betterment of some many hundreds of lives.

It’s always time for compassion,
Jan

Read the article here: Denmark Blocks Motorway

Soulbyte for Friday September 11, 2015

It is often hard to hear the truth. But the truth sticks around. When you are ready to hear it, it will be ready to speak to you. If you are not certain of the truth, look to your fears, for they do not lie, and sometimes they are easier to acknowledge. The truth lies right beside them. Find one and you will find the other.

– From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Thursday September 10, 2015

Change may take some time to institute. Sometimes it is easier to make incremental changes, working daily toward a goal. Sometimes it is easier to simply and abruptly shift into a new mode. However one goes about it the decision to change is usually a good one if one’s purpose is to grow and evolve, to allow the self to expand and have new and beneficial experiences.

To change simply because one is restless or feels a need for something new, however, may not be the best time. Far better to sit with the restlessness or need until it becomes clear what it is. It may not be in fact a need to change at all but a need to remain steady and present where one already is. For often it is in the sitting, in the confrontation with what is that one changes the most. Not all change requires action. Some change just requires a shift in mood or idea. Sometimes just a change is thinking is all you need to spark new life.

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR