Princes or paupers

Have you ever wondered about the subtle differences between the way we act and the way we want to be perceived?  Often and all too common are the juxtapositional motivations that cause actions not necessarily wanted but sought-after none the less, as a means to mitigate the discrepancies of what we are with who we think we should be.

There are those who have balance and find that calming peace of serenity at the joining of these two often divergent motivations.  They have balanced and justified their actions and their motivations and find them to be one in the same.  Too often our actions are divergent points of pressure that move us away from who we really are and into the realm of misgiving and misguided guilt.  That guilt is a process that either grows or shrinks as our personal actions dictate.  It is our unconscious hope that our actions always align with the real person and not the “natural man” fighting to emerge and destroy the spiritual man within.

Each of us has these two opposites fighting for supremacy and it is truly the great man who masters and controls that battle.  There are but a few who have completely mastered these eternal struggles with the spiritual leading the charge to show supremacy over the Natural tendencies that are so prone and active in all of us.

The fight is often once sided due to the evil incursions by others, so traumatic that the spiritual you, may have little choice over the physical demands caused by that trauma.  Self inflicted and habitual practices also prove effective in squashing the spiritual power, shutting out those soft whispers of encouragement with the over bearing screams of self fulfillment.  That still small voice is however always there, always guiding and encouraging even if our own ears have failed to listen, our pursuit of selfish and pleasurable endeavors booming over those quite but ever present words.

It’s as if we were born to royalty but did not know it.  Some cruel trick to test our loyalty to a crown we don’t recall.  Being a prince when you know you’re a prince is hard enough but can you image the struggle of acting like a prince when all you have is the word of a mother or father telling you that you are of royal blood?  You don’t have the perks of royalty, not the wealth or celebrity, nor do you have the support and protection; all you have is the promise of a name and lineage to guide your decisions.  Do you act like a prince regardless or do you forsake the words of promise and follow a more mundane existence?

If we believe we have a spirit, a conscience then we must suspect, at least in a small measure the divinity of our creation and if there is a glimpse of the divine within then our actions must be in accord to our principles (prince scruples), for it is only through our actions that our royalty will be realized.  Are we of royal birth or just a common mistake of nature?  Do we have a reason for being alive or are we simply trying to stay alive as long as possible fearing the endless darkness and finality that is death? 

What is your purpose in life?  Why are you here?  Where did you come from?  Where are you going after death?  These are real questions that separate us from the rest of creation.  Man has devised a universal understanding that there is something more to life than simple existence.  In virtually every culture, every society,   from the first to utilize stone tools to the lost Micronesian tribes in Bora Bora, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern America the undertone of belief has always been connected to a supreme creator, making this notion of princely potential a universal constant not just an encouraging word from a worried mother to her sons ears.  We are the children of God and with that lineage come the very real responsibility to overcome those natural tendencies. 

We may doubt and say we strive to be good but without a god to guide why bother, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die…the motivation toward goodness has to come from God or at least the belief that man is more than a genetic mishap of proteins and electrolytes from some ancient pool of goo and grime.   The coincidences of life are too astronomical and the chance meeting and conditions so unthinkable that creation at least shows some form of possibility.

There are scientists who proudly claim that we are all there is.  There is no life out there; it happened here yes but in order for nature to duplicate those conditions the statistical value far out ways the possibility of a repeat performance.  I often ask my students to tell me how many stars are in the sky.  Some come back with hundreds and hundreds and some with thousands, only a few ever get the reality of saying there is really no way of knowing, trillions and trillions, one student said.

As the sands of the seas the stars shine their light telling us all that we are not alone.  These stars shine over planets that circle those suns in perfect harmony to the billions and billions of other stars and planets, balanced in perfect accord to the principles of a divine mission for all of us to understand our own sense of royalty.   With that understanding perhaps I can start to overcome some of those pesky habits that divide my loyalties from what I do to what I really am, a prince in the Royal Courts on High.