Try Before You Buy

It is interesting (I find it so anyway) that in our local shopping centre there are all sorts of items that can be bought, that are a part of another culture.  I really think different cultures are good and all add to us, but it seems every culture has embraced some sort of spirituality.  

(Something I really cannot understand is we are taking so much “spirituality” from conquered cultures.  My question is, why did they not help at the time of conquest.)

Shamans are really popular these days.  In the Americas drugs were used for the gateway to another realm.  In India it seems everything is a god. In the west it seems materialism is our god.  I find it interesting that people seem to come to our culture and work hard and embrace our materialism even though we have proved that in itself it does not satisfy.  Certainly as someone said, I would rather be rich and need to deal with things, than poor.

What I find disturbing is that something can look innocent, and not be that way.  Just because I do not know something, does not mean it does not exist.

My neighbour had a really really powerful car.  It was the sort of vehicle where one flicked a switch and something else kicked in and took it to another level.  He saw me walking one day and offered me a lift which I accepted.  I then made a really big mistake.  I said “let’s see what this baby can do.”  He took me to roads he thought would be quite and backed into a drive to let the car loose.  Fortunately for me there were too many cars about.  This did not stop him weaving all over a road and putting the car though some of the things it could do.  My one consolation was that he valued his life as much as I valued mine.

One of the things I got from this was, just because I did not know what it could do, did not mean it could not be done.  Not knowing what it could do, could easily be my undoing, if it was put in my hands.

I personal think it is the same with many things I can do in innocence.  It is in my interests to find out things before I embrace them.  Many things can and should be done.  Other things have a sting in the tail. 

Everyone I have ever met has warning bells sometimes sound (some folk have ignored them often enough to build up an immunity to them).  The bells can seem totally irrational but some we ignore at our peril.  Thankfully, people give advice and opinions, but I do not want anyone trying to force their will on me, and I do not want to try and force my will on anyone else. 

The choice of what I should or should not do, should always be mine to make.