A MEANINGFUL LIFE
A Short Fiction Story
By
Don Crawford
Published in May 2016 issue of Ashvamegh
Introduction to the Author:
The author of this story received his Masters of Social Work degree from the University of California at Berkeley during the turbulent 1960s. His 40 years of clinical experiences were varied. As a result, he became a lifelong student of human nature and the human condition. His lifelong search is for a Truth he can accept and absorb. He discovered such a truth in a study of Theosophy and The Ancient Wisdom; the only truth he could accept and absorb. At one time or another, he has been a member of various International Organizations concerned with the spiritual development of humanity. Now retired, he spends his time studying Theosophy (Occult Science), World Goodwill literature, and writing both fiction and essays or non-fiction pieces.
“Ladies, welcome to this month’s meeting of ‘Women’s Concern For Equality.’ Today, we have as our featured speaker, Mr. Weston Wright, whose essay on women in the Broadboard Journal some of you may have read. So, without further ado, I give you Mr. Wright.” She stepped back and the group clapped in response to his introduction by the group Leader, Carol Mitchell.
“Good afternoon, ladies. To begin I must warn you I am not a public speaker. I am a silent writer. But, I’ll make an effort to deliver to you my short talk, the title of which is: ‘The Role of Women in the Age of Aquarius.’
“As most of you know, for the last two thousand years we have been under the Zodiacal sign of Pisces. This is a masculine sign and as you are fully aware, and has been a world ruled over by the male species, with all that that has entailed. We are now and have been for some time under the sign of Aquarius. This is a female dominant sign and for the past thirty or more years has brought into our society more and more women who have made dramatic inroads into the masculine world. Inroads into politics, science, religion, and businesses and philosophy. There have been more female Supreme Court Justices than ever before; more women in Congress and more women as CEO’s in the business world. Some other countries have had women as Presidents and Prime Ministers. With the further advent of the Aquarian Age this will become much more in evidence, and that is the gist of my speech: What that role should be for women in future?” He paused and paced a bit in front of the room.
“What has happened so far is that women have displaced or replaced men in these various capacities. They are becoming a dominant and dynamic force in our society. But, let us ask, is that what the role of women in future supposed to do, or be? To displace men as dominant in all human fields of endeavor? I can hear the silent ‘yes’ in the room, but let us stop and ponder that question more fully.
“Women have qualities finer tuned than men. The ability of women to bond quickly; to have a natural affinity to each other is more prominent than in men. Your sensitivity to the unspoken feelings in others far surpasses that of the male. Where the male dominated society creates separativeness and diversity, the female gender brings unity and togetherness.
“I want to mention something that might be a first heard here today. Unbeknownst to the great majority of humanity, there is a Cosmic Plan operating in our solar system and is repeated in our planetary system. That Cosmic Plan proceeds via the medium of evolution. The purpose of that evolution for humanity is the gradual expansion of the human consciousness. We start as savages with a sensitive instinct toward our environment. As evolution unfolds the human entity gains self-awareness and a consciousness of being an I. This is referred to as ‘self-consciousness.’ Then, the diverse ‘I’ begin to relate to each other as separate beings. Gradually, as the mind develops we gain in intelligence and with that intelligencer we develop a society of ideals and technology.” Again, he paused and sipped some water.
“The Piscean Age was one of devotion and idealism. With the use of these ideals we have developed a view of the world as we know it today, to state it briefly. That view is rooted in a materialistic paradigm. But, what of the future? As evolution proceeds, what can we expect to change, especially in this Aquarian Age? For one thing, as the Christ promised, there will be ‘Life more abundantly.’ What this means is that there is nothing but energy in our universe. All is energy and the “Law of Energy,” will become more revealed to humanity. There are various energies, each with its own rate of vibration, which manifests as diverse levels of consciousness and being. Like the f-stop on a camera, the more open the human mind, the greater the amount of light that enters. Light here means knowledge and as we gain in wisdom, which is the correct application of our knowledge for the benefit of the whole of humanity, we gain in Intuition, which is considered the conscious level of the Christ, or Christ Consciousness; that above our ability to think abstractly. And, Christ Consciousness is Group Consciousness. When we gain in wisdom, we gain greater and greater insights into the goals and purpose of human existence on this planet.” Again, he paused to look over the group, wondering if they were following his comments.
“Maybe this is difficult to grasp, but the future will bombard humanity with more and more energies, cosmic, solar and planetary. That is what the Christ meant by ‘Life more abundantly.’ More and higher vibratory rated energy will come to humanity during the Aquarian Age. We will gain in intelligence and wisdom. And as we do so we will gain insight as to the truth of what constitutes a human entity. We are much more than what we normally conceive as flesh and blood; an animal form in which there is a ‘God Within,’ as it is expressed. We are in fact energy centers which collect the various energies from the sun and from the planets and constellations and then distribute that energy. How do we do this? By the creation of thought forms; ideas which then guide our actions and behaviors. But, here is the rub, as Shakespeare would word it: for every decision we make there is a consequence, either positive or negative in outcome.
“Speaking in generalities now, the Piscean Age male has created thought forms that divide and separate and create conflicts and wars and endless chaos in our societies because we cannot come together and agree on very many issues. Each human entity, left to think for itself creates a myriad of different ideals and thoughts. There is little uniformity among men today and this holds among nations as well. Each person has his or her own ideas and opinions on every topic under the sun. The United Nations was established to bring human beings into greater harmony and unity, but this experiment has failed because of the bickering and desire of one or more nations to be in control over others. Among nations there is a constant struggle for one-upmanship, or power.
“It is the responsibility of the woman of the future to try and correct these misguided behaviors of the male species by bringing greater harmony and unity and synthesis into our lives in future. How the women of the world, collectively, will do this still needs to be created in your minds and then applied as one voice, the female voice of the future. And, obviously, this cannot happen if women’s only desire is to displace the male in environmental endeavors. Women must transcend the habits and current beliefs of the masses to be more in line with the Principles given to us by the Christ, Who modeled for us what a truly perfected human being would be like. Universal Love and Compassion for all beings; a world of universal brotherhood and a united effort to bring into our lives more harmony and a correcting of others who have acted out of ignorance of what is Real and what is needed for our future spiritual advancement. The final goal of life on this planet is the attainment of a relative spiritual perfection. I say relative, since there are higher planes than ours on which to continue our spiritual perfection.
“Well, I guess I have given you enough to think about this afternoon, and I hope at least some of what I’ve said makes sense to you. Thank you for your kind attention and for having me here today. My hope is for a better world tomorrow, brought about by the activities of the entire female species on this planet speaking with one voice, united in all their efforts. Thank you.”
As the group began to disburse and linger around this room and the next one, Carol Mitchell came over to him.
“You are the strangest man I’ve ever met.” Her eyes reflected a seriousness without any conscious effort. “When I ask you to be the speaker tonight at our Women’s Concern For Equality, I had no idea what you were going to say. I asked you to speak because of what you wrote in that essay to the Broadstreet Journal. But what you said in your comments went far beyond any of my expectations.”
“I assume you are being forthright in your words.”
“Yes, I am.” She paused, “See what I mean, even now your words are more impersonal than personal. It is as if you speak from some deep insightful reservoir. I’m having real trouble in trying to figure out just what kind of man you are.” He nodded and remained silent. “When you said that ’Women need to unite to bring about a more spiritual future’ you went way beyond what most women want in life.”
“You are saying that most women want a much more personal kind of relationship than that sentence suggests. Perhaps a relationship based upon a giving and taking.”
“Well,” haltingly, “I suppose that is what I mean. But the way you express it, it sounds like we’re being selfish and self-serving though our relationships.”
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about what love really means at the human level. For most women, I assume you want to be needed for your many talents as women. You want to be loved, respected and appreciated and never taken for granted. You want a companion who can share openly and honestly with you in everything important in life.”
“Well, yes. Is that so terribly wrong? I mean the way you put it, is sounds negative rather than positive.”
“What I am trying to convey is that Love is a Cosmic Law of Nature and not at all what most believe; a love based upon a full realization that we humans are all inescapably connected into one complete wholeness, if that makes any sense to you. The normal way today is to pick and choose who we will love at any point in time and space; who we will be willing to share not only our bodies but our emotions and minds, is our usual guide to male/female relationships, or even with those of the same gender.”
“Yes, that describes how most women feel about love. We do want to have the freedom of choice in choosing our mates.” She looked down at her low heels as if to ‘catch up.’ “I am somewhat confused here. Just what is your point?”
“Here is my point. Personal, romantic love is a lower level distortion and disharmonious reflection of a much higher type love: an impersonal, group conscious orientation as to what is best for the welfare of the whole human race; a compassionate love for every manifested form in our solar system. What is missing now in such relationships is something much more profound that most realize. Such relationships are based upon an unawareness of just what constitutes a human entity and what is the purpose of our existence on this planet.
“The Cosmic purpose for sex, for example, is to bring onto this planet those advanced souls now awaiting earthly incarnation, and was not meant to be solely for personal, lustful pleasure; advanced souls who can better direct and influence the rightful way to live on earth and bring new levels of wisdom to humanity. That does not mean a couple cannot enjoy sex when performed with a higher motive in mind. In fact, when done according to natural Law and right motivation, they should enjoy it even more. And, in the process they are doing what is more spiritually advancing for themselves.”
“Now, you are confusing me. We are obviously not on the same page. I wonder how many women here tonight really understood your comments. I saw of lot of confusion on the face of the members.”
“Of course, and that is my fault totally. But how can one express extraordinary concepts in words as commonly interpreted? What I wished to do was to bring to the group some concepts beyond the usual and trite; comments not normally expected from a speaker to such a group. And, as I said at the beginning, I am not normally a speaker.”
“You have a much deeper philosophy than one would expect from your essay, which made a lot of sense in revealing your thoughts on the role of women in modern day society. You expressed an equality between the sexes, which is what our group also wants.”
“In one book I read recently, titled, ‘Each Time She Awakes,’ by Katy Tackes, there was this sentence: ‘To be born is to be responsible to others.’ When I speak of equality I am referring to the need of women to be equally responsible to others as every human entity should be. It means to assume your rightful role in any given society as half of any relationship; 50-50, no more or no less.”
“Well, yes, I suppose,” hesitating. “I agree with that statement. We do want to be 50-50 in any given relationship, although I do know a few women who would much prefer if we could dominate the male species.”
“Do not many women marry a man with the idea of changing him into the image of a man they want to love, rather than accepting him as he is when first known?”
“Well, I suppose that does occur; at least occasionally, but that is not the way we usually start a relationship. We assume to accept the man as we meet him, at least until we get to know him better. One thing women want is to be a man’s one and only, and not go cheating around on her. We want loyalty in our mates.”
“But how many women cheat on their husband? You see, in today’s world being faithful to our mates is very unusual anymore. There is just too much temptation out there.”
“Well, I suppose that is true to some extent, but it does not carry across the whole spectrum of womanhood. Some of us would never cheat first and would only consider doing so if the man does it first.”
“I think we are getting way off track from what I want to convey about the human entity.” He looked around to see if anyone else was overhearing their conversation. “Consider this: we each are a center of a collected energies. We receive these energies from the sun and from our solar system. Once received it is our individual choice how we distribute and expend those energies. Do we do so with full intent and conscious, purposeful choice, or are we lead to expend those energies based on habit and ruled over by our emotions more than our minds? We need to gain a fuller control of all our mental faculties and deliberately select every thought we allow into our minds. It is the mind which when controlled properly automatically control what we feel and how we act. By controlling our every thought can we truly be responsible to others.” He stopped and stared deep into her eyes. “What I was implying in my talk was that women tend to be more motivated by feelings rather than mentally. Women are much more sensitive than men to be sure. That can be good or bad depending upon motive and outcome. To be sensitive in an understanding, non-judgmental, compassionate way is positive in outcome. To be sensitive and over react to any and all criticism, or to take offense at any little old thing a man might do they do not like, is a negative outcome. Are you seeing any light here, to dispel the darkness of our way of being in the world?”
“You are a very complex thinker, Mr. Wright. I think not too many women fully understand your position toward women.”
“Please, call me Wes, or Weston. No need to be formal. It is just a means of putting barriers between us. I know your name is Carol Mitchell, and I would like to call you, Carol, if I may.”
“Oh, yes, that would be fine, Wes.”
“To be what we truly are, to realize our genuine humanness, we need to dissolve all the veils and barriers that tend to separate us. Things like opinions, judgments, ideals, dispositions, rules, behaviors, prejudices, hatreds and likes, dislikes, and all the other things that prevent us from considering we are all one humanity, one blood, one essence, which is LIFE, which permeates and penetrates all living forms. To be truly responsible to others means to accept all that comes our way without hesitation, not pick and choose, and to accept others with openness and human love. To pick and choose is to separate and divide; we and them. But the goal of humanity is Unity, Synthesis and returning to the Oneness from which we began our earthly pilgrimage.” His mouth felt dry and he needed a drink of water. He looked around for a source to quince his thirst. “Is there some water available here?”
“Oh, of course. How inconsiderate of me. We are serving refreshments in the other room. I got so caught up in our conversation I forgot my manners. Follow me, and maybe I can introduce you to some of the others on a more informal basis.” He nodded and walked just behind her into the other room.
End