the desire of specialness

A strange "thing" can happen in spirituality: the desire, sometimes a burning, consuming desire, shows it's ugly little face. It is the desire to be special, the desire to be seen as being special, the desire to be recognised, praised & revered, as being "special".

I must confess that I have fallen into that trap of giving people the "special" tag...you know, "this person is so special". Well, of course a person is special....we all are so special, not just the people who go out of their way to be seen as special. And usually the person to whom I, & others. have attributed this amazing quality of "specialness" to...has, in fact, gone out of their way to convince others of their unique specialness.

All of us...we are so alike in so many ways. And yet we are each so different in so many ways. And being on this Planet of Blue, we then share some common "things': for example, the planet now has a global culture, so now we are less & less isolated from one another. This global culture is part of the karma...or...things that will come to pass...for our lifetime, in this era. And we are involved, in some way or another, with this karma. We have inherited it, just by virtue of being alive, right now.

We also inherit our country's karma. And our families'. Our DNA carries influences from the family lines that we belong to. In many ways, this is why the Maori culture's emphasis on Whakapapa (family lineage, race, creed etc), is so emphasised. It matters with our own karma, & our own specialness. For example, I am a descendant of the Tainui tribe in Aotearoa (New Zealand). What has happened over time within the family lineage, within that tribe, in some way or another, will affect me. I will have longings, unseen longings & pangs that are to do with the history of Tainui, even if I do not know about them, even if I do not know about being part of that lineage: it will affect me.

Similarly, I have Jewish DNA. Does that affect me? Absolutely! I can tell you that it does. With war, persecution, cruelty, it affects me in every cell of my body: I can feel it.

I have Scottish ancestry too. I can tell you that I long to go to the Scottish Highlands & to live there.

From all the different racial & ethnic influences that we each have...it does create a uniqueness. Then when we add our own personal karma of the journey through lifetimes.....this makes each & every one of us even more special. Each & every one of us is special. There are no duplicates.

But on the other hand, we all "have" similar "things": love, hate, wants, needs, hopes, dreams, our individual purpose of each incarnation. We are souls traversing this realm & the lives between lifetimes. Sharing similarities & yet also having our own special blends. It is this combination that is so special, not what we are promoting as "being" special.  I would so love for everyone to know how special that they are.

And in a way, this is one of the outcomes of being a sincere spiritual seeker. One comes to love each individual (even though we disassociate ourselves from those who misbehave!!). One comes to recognise & respect each person's specialness & uniqueness.

For us to truly have the unique specialness, it truly arises really from the attitudes...such as caring...or indifference...or bigotry....that we apply to whatever happens. And the choices that we make in any situation. Not what we say, such as in saying the "correct" spiritual things, because, as my Mum used to say: "words are cheap", but with our attitude & in what we do. Not everyone can save the world, but at least, the very least, we can give up 2 cafe coffees a week to sponsor a child, or donate to a charity that truly does do something that matters. We can be kind to others, we can "stick up" for others, we can exercise our "special" rights to be humane, & loving, & caring. This is truly how & when we are each so very special.

And we don't have to do any spiritual practices nor join any groups nor "follow" another to be & do these things.