Who do you think you are?
I like to start my talks with a joke. There was a cartoon showing an old man standing near the “grim reaper.” It clearly is the grim reaper: a figure dressed all in black, holding a sickle, with a hood so you can’t see a face. The grim reaper says “I am death.” The old man says, “That’s OK sonny, I don’t hear so well either.” Who Do You Think You Are? is the title of a book of poems and writings by Brian Jones. Brian is the leader of our Course in Miracles group. It’s a great book and I recommend it. You can buy a copy from Brian. But today’s talk is not about his book, it is about its title. It raises a very important question that is easily missed. Who do you think you are? Or to rephrase the question, “Who do I think I am?” Several years ago, I gave a talk with the title “Half and Half.” That is, we are half Human and half Divine. And this is true as long as we are in this Life. We are Human First I want to talk about my Human Half. When I was young, I remember thinking one day that I was a lot of different people. I was an Engineer, working at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. I was a Son, a Husband, a Father, sometimes a Teacher. And I was remodeling our house. So at times I was a Carpenter, Electrician, Plumber, Painter, or whoever was needed. We had a small farm near Kingston, and - over time - we raised animals, including pigs, chickens, cows, and ducks. We also had horses and I learned to take care of them, including trimming their hooves. In short, we could not afford to hire things done, so I would learn to do them. Quite a challenge, since I was raised in the city, and knew nothing about living on a farm. I became an Engineer by studying for four years at the University of Washington and getting a Mechanical Engineering degree. My job at the Shipyard involved classified information. So I could not talk about my work outside the Shipyard. The Shipyard is a secured area, so my family could not come inside. Sometimes they would drive the 30 miles from the farm to Bremerton, pick me up, and we would go out to dinner. I was not always able to leave on time. Close to the main entrance to the Shipyard was the JC Penny building. It had parking on the roof and it was a great place to meet. The family could park and then go inside shopping. So it didn’t matter if I was delayed. At that time, if you asked me, ”Who do you think your are?” I would have said, “an Engineer.” However, if you asked my family, you might get a different answer. One day my wife, Kay, overheard our young daughter telling her schoolmate that I worked at Pennys. Kay told me, “Don’t confuse what you do, with who you are.” When talking about the Human Half, I need to include ego. Ego can sneek in when I least expect it. I recently read that ego can be thought of as a collection of thoughts or thinking. I have found that useful. Through circumstances I have forgotten, I learned of a documentary titled, Framing John DeLorean . It was released in 2019. I was able to find and watch it. You may remember the DeLorean car from the 1985 movie, “Back to the Future” staring Michael J. Fox. As far as i know, it was the last movie to play at the old Poulsbo theater. The old theater was in a store on Front Street and had one screen. I think that “Back to the Future” was there for weeks. My family loved it, and we we went back to see it again and again. I was not familiar with DeLorean’s story. From the documentary here is what I think applies to this talk: DeLorean was a raising star at General Motors who left and started his own car company. This was last done by Chrysler in 1920 and was believed to be impossible. DeLorean was able to do it against seemingly impossible odds and had everything, including a mansion, a super model wife, and two children. However, his company was running out of money. When he went looking for money, the US Government tried to entrap him in a cocaine deal. Although he went to jail, he was able to win his case in court. The jury decided that the Government had gone too far to try to entrap him. However, the company folded and DeLorean lost everything. I believe that he forgot who he was and ego took over. One thing I found important is how differently it affected his two children. His son never got over what happened. His daughter did. The contrast between the two was startling, and important. Kay would say, “Don’t confuse what happened to you, with who you are.” In the same year I give the Half and Half talk, I gave a talk on Community. Community is very important. More important than I realize. I mentioned being an Engineer, a Father, a Teacher, etc., which I thought I was depended on which Community I was in. In the talk, I listed these as my four main Communities: 1.Family 2.Neighborhood 3.This Church 4.My Alohem Meditation Group While writing the talk in October 2022, I came to realize that my feeling of Community had been significantly reduced by the Pandemic. It had been reduced in all four communities. As Pandemic controls ended, I had some important decisions to make in order to strengthen my feeling of Community. So what and how am I doing now? 1.Family - On January 11, Carole and I will be getting married. Due to circumstances, I have seen all of my immediate family this last year. But beyond circumstances, I have taken steps to make this happen. 2.Neighborhood - I am reaching out more and have taken steps to help individuals. 3.This Church - All of our weekly meditations are now in person. We have moved to 3 pm during Winter and our sense of community is growing. 4.My Alohem Meditation Group - We have added some new members and our sense of community is growing. I really didn’t think of this until I was writing this talk. As a result, I can see progress, but there is still more to do. Why? Because Community is an important part of who I think I am. It is very difficult to raise above our surroundings. Community is our surroundings. Community effects us in ways we don’t realize. We will experience this during the meditation. Recently in a talk, I heard the phrase, “Authentic Self.” What was meant was both positive and negative. That is, to experience the “Authentic Self,” it is important to recognize both. That bothered me. Than I realized that what the speaker was calling the “Authentic Self” is still within the Human Half. I want to recognize both my Human Half and my Divine Half. I want to recognize my “Whole Self.” We are Divine I have talked about the Human Half, now lets consider the Divine Half. We are all Divine. What varies is our conscious awareness of our Divinity. Most of you have heard the story of how I went to the other side of the Earth in search of a specific Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Nepal. I did that based on what I believed was “a call.” A call that was essentially my “Best Guess.” After weeks of traveling and trekking, I reached the Monastery. Four years later, in mediation, I learned that I was to be a Mystic. When I asked how to become a Mystic, I heard, “You already are one.” That happened when I left my ordered and safe life here, and set out alone into the unknown. So if I am asked “Who do you think you are?” I might say, “A Mystic.” But I want to go deeper. I have spoken before about a vision that I had decades ago. I have had other visions since, but it still remains my most important vision. Put simply, I was sitting in a circle of people. The physical faded. I saw a light in each person’s chest and I heard, “This room, this building, these bodies, this Earth, shall all pass away. But this shall remain.” Then the physical faded back in. I knew that I was the only one who had heard the message. I decided that this vision was part of my Mission, to remember the “Light Within,” and to remind others. One of the books we have read in our Course in Miracles group stated that Light and Love are the same. This is important for me. When I think of the “Light Within,” I need to remember that I could also say the “Love Within.” Just as “GOD is Love,” “We are Love.” So if I am asked “Who do you think you are?” I can say, “I am Love.” At the start of the service, we have a ritual. We light a candle and rang a bell. Rituals can take on a life of their own. We can get caught up in the ritual and lose sight of the Spiritual. That is the reason for the spoken reminder that “We light this candle and ring this bell as reminders of the Divine Light within each and everyone of us.” That Divine Light is what we are. This building, these bodies, this Earth, will all pass away, but the Divine Light will remain. To remind us that we are Light, we light the candle, we ring the bell, and today we sang, “This little light of mine.” In Summary: Who do you think you are? We are Human and Divine. We have different answers, for our Human Half. But the same answer for our Divine Half. We are Light. We are Love. Why the same answer? Because, in the Divine, we are One. Meditation - Breaking the Cosmic Egg
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