Senator Kennedy died last night and the airwaves are filled with tributes coming to him from around the world. Granted, I haven’t listened to any conservative talk show hosts, but the praise for his dedication and hard work over the years in promoting the causes he believed in seem to come from both sides of the aisle. There is a lesson in higher consciousness here.
I am old enough to remember when Edward Kennedy was the youngest son of a notoriously rich, famous, political, and star-crossed family. One brother, Joe, died in the war, another, John, was elected president and assassinated, while a third, Bobby, possibly the brightest of them all, was gunned down while campaigning for that highest office. That left Teddy, a socializer and playboy as the only one left to carry on the dynasty.
He had been elected to fill President Kennedy’s unexpired senatorial term, had broken his back in a small plane crash that killed several people, was re-elected to a full Senate term in 1968, and in July of 1969, drove his car off a pier on Chappaquiddick Island, causing the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, a former aide for his brother, Bobby, who was trapped in the car. In 1980 he tried his hand at the family business of running for president but failed to receive the nomination, also, to the relief of those who felt the family had suffered enough already, failing to get shot in the process.
But for all his notoriety up till this point, it was only after this that Kennedy began to thrive. It was only after he stopped trying to run for ever higher office that he spent his finest hours and made his most important contributions. More and more he got into his work… school reforms, fair housing, immigration, voting rights, meals for the hungry, rights for the disabled, and his pet cause, health care reform. Our country, and in particular, our country’s poor, are much better off today because of Senator Ted Kennedy. However, that’s not where higher consciousness comes in.
The point is that the best of Kennedy came into play when his ego left the game. When he stopped saying what he needed to say to get votes and started to say what was in his heart, when he stopped trying to match his brothers and was himself, that’s when he was at his best. That is the lesson we can learn.
Go back and reread the quote in the left hand column of this page… You are an “instrument of the Divine… an active center of the dynamic world spirit… a creative artist… of new, higher values”. Get rid of thoughts of what you could be, or should be, or might be, or must be. Go inside and feel what you are. Use this life, with all its warts and blemishes, along with all its jewels and treasures, to make this world a better place for yourself and those with whom you come into contact. Fame and power are overrated. Peace and joy are under valued. Happiness and fulfillment lie within. I wish you happiness and fulfillment.
peace……………ag
* * *