A Moment in Time: July 1st, 2012. Bug Haters: Fact or Belief?
Happy to be here again my dear friends! I hope these last couple of weeks have been gentle on you all. As you may already know, people dedicated to writing —and I happen to be one of those— are curious observers of all that’s going on around them! Yesterday, as I was going through one of the old and moldy books I used as reference for the last story that I’ve been writing, I noticed with great confusion at my behavior as I almost “killed” a little, almost invisible, animal that came out of nowhere walking on top of the page I was investigating. Just before I put my finger on that exposed little creature that was doing no harm to me, my heart sent a signal to my brain so I would stop what I was about to do. There I was, staring at this little animal walking on a page which happened to have my enormous eyes (compared to the bug’s size) on its written information. If only it would have known that I almost killed it in an instant only because…because what, only because it was a “bug”? Goodness, we humans —including myself— have certainly learned some very strange behaviors! I even felt ashamed of my heartless and mechanical reaction which had led my mind to believe I should kill the bug just because…goodness again! I didn’t even know where that belief of “killing bugs” had come from!
As I observed the self-absorbed little thing that was still walking freely and getting ready to jump to the next page, without even noticing that it had almost been “erased” by a cruel and more powerful being, I started going back through my memories as a kid to see where my behavior had originated.
For the last couple of years, I have become aware of the importance of my relation to all living things. I try to spend many of my days in nature, loving her and all of its creations. I love animals and I love plants, so how come I had been able to even think of “killing” a bug, a living organism just like me? The only explanation I find is that it is an old belief that I was conditioned to believe: Bugs are carriers of disease, at least so we are told, perhaps this is why we find so many people in this world who do not like bugs or even have developed phobias to them.
What I’m describing is a moment in time where I was able to identify one of my old beliefs and decide if I would keep it or change it. It’s funny how each day we just go about our business, without even noticing the repetition in our patterns of behavior. It is fascinating to observe the very thin line that exists between what we consider a fact and what is only a belief… Why would I kill a living creature just like me, with equal rights just like me to live on this planet Earth? Only because I was “trained” to do so? I think we should all take a moment to reflect on the many behaviors that we constantly repeat as daily routines, without even being conscious if they’re good or wrong. Just as with this bug, this “selection” of what stays and what goes out of my life is a miraculous practice I have recently adopted and it is working wonders, I do recommend it!
The encounter with this little creature seems like such a foolish thing. Truth is it has allowed me to reflect on the nature of our beliefs. We kill bugs, just because they MIGHT bite us or infect us with a disease, or even just because they’re disgusting according to our standards of how nice or beautiful things should be. But, isn’t this only one possibility of the many possibilities there are for us to consider? How about having a new certainty that bugs can’t do us any harm IF we believe that they don’t have the power to do so?
Of course, I’m not an activist defending a bug invasion or the like! What I am suggesting is that we should all start exterminating every act of violence —no matter how small is it— that is needless in our lives.
This little bug has certainly been a great teacher to me, it probably had a short lifespan anyway but the important part is that I wasn’t the one deciding on that this time. I love how life is constantly sending us “messengers of change” to let us know when we need to correct or replace a belief that is not serving us anymore. Are you listening to life and all of its “messengers of change”?
Until next time and don’t forget to be love!
