After all, birds have the ability to fly far higher than the path of an automobile. Yet, I can still see the sparrow's panic as he snap-rolled hard right to avoid the on-rushing automobile in the opposite lane. Succeeding by inches, but disoriented and blown violently by the near miss, the bird wobbled into my lane, disappearing below the hood.
Sure enough, I felt that fleeting instant of hope, then the small thud, and then the cartwheeling mass of feathers in the rearview mirror revealed the fate of the bird's two second judgment error.
Why, I wondered, do birds fly so dangerously low when they're capable of flying so safely high?
Was he hunting for food? Following others? Or just unaware of what he was doing?
One thing was certain. Even though he had superior skills, failing to use them was the same as not having them. His momentary consciousness level had caused him to make a monumental error. And my radiator grill was not forgiving.
Sound familiar?
Fly into any radiators lately?
We knew better, but still made that biting remark to the co-worker. Or perhaps we'd joined in spreading gossip with the rest of the gang. Or ate an entire bag of cookies while watching TV.
Unawareness is the same as flying into heavy traffic. No matter what our talents, once we sink to that lower level, they do us no good. We're only as high - or as low - as our level of consciousness. And we're limited to seeing only what our level provides.
A bird in traffic sees only huge cars aiming right at him. No matter where he turns, he's facing another menace. He's buffeted by circumstance and the world seems a very dangerous place.
But if that same bird would just fly higher -- raise his consciousness level -- he'd find he was safely removed from the buffeting. His higher vantage point would reveal that all the dangerous cars were stuck on one level -- a level that he need not visit at all. By merely flying higher, we leave our problems behind.
The world is not the way we envision it. We're all stuck in our own consciousness level and can see no further. Don't believe it! There's always something higher! The way to rise is simple, although not always easy.
Merely open our minds to the possibility that something higher exists. Try to detach from the immediate problem. The only one forcing us to dwell on any problem is ourselves. Most of our problems are only dangerous when we're on their level - once we rise higher, we get safely out of their path. We discover that the only power they held over us was that which we gave them. It's like discovering that the only thing causing our headache was ourselves pounding our own head!
We all have the ability to fly higher. What one man can do, any man can do. To truly learn how to fly higher, look to the masters who've already done so - and trust that you can too.
Unless of course, you like radiators.
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Mike Johnson is an energetic writer & entrepreneur. Learn more about Mike's offerings at www.MikeJohnson.biz