Genealogy

What Matters Most…             Commentary by Jim High

The branches of our lives, where we come from and who we are made of is something all of us have thought about at some time.  Many people spend countless hours and lots of money researching their past ancestors.  It is lots of fun, they tell me, like being involved in a real mystery story, which it actually is for most of us.

I was lucky; one of my distant relatives did all the research on the High Family Tree.  She published a book of over 12,000 Highs going back to the first one of us to come to America, Thomas High in about 1660.  I bought a copy of her book and easily traced back through the twelve generations that resulted ultimately in me.  A couple of times along the way I almost didn’t get to be here, because my some of my great, great, great grandfathers almost didn’t have children at all, or “heaven forbid” did not have a son to carry on the line.

Isn’t it interesting that most genealogies work their way backwards through the males.   But in those twelve generations from “old Thomas” to “old Jim” there were twelve mothers also, and every one of them has a genealogy.  This could get really complicated.  And it is, because those of us living today are the product of a vast array of people from the past.  We have some of all of them in us.  It makes us who we are.  I know about twelve generations of my Father’s family, but only three on my Mother’s side.  I’d love to know more; maybe I’ll find someone who’s written a book about her family, which is the only way I’ll know.  Doing the actual research is hard, time consuming and costly.  I’m going to pass on all that effort at this point of my life.

I was lucky in another way.  When I was growing up in the 1940’s, four generations lived in our house.  I never knew my great grandfather “Private” John Allen, a United States Congressman from 1885 to 1901, but until I was eight years old, his wife, my Great Grandmother lived in the downstairs bedroom.  Upstairs were my Grandfather and Grandmother, Father and Mother, Brother and Sister – we all lived together in that house.  I lived on there until I was the only one left – 61 years.  My brother and sister are still alive, but they had moved out long before my Mother died. 

One of my prized possessions is a photograph of me at three years old sitting on the living room couch next to my Great Grandmother.  She is reading to me.  That picture and four others taken by my father when I was three hang in my apartment.  They keep me grounded in a way.  I am reminded of where and who I came from and all the branches of my personal genealogy. 

It is a very moving experience to look at yourself in the mirror.  I don’t mean just a glance, but for a long time studying your own face.  It is even more powerful to look at yourself back when you were just three years old, with your whole life ahead of you.  My great grandmother, my grandparents, and my parents all set me on the right road, gave me a good start and I think they would be pleased with how I have turned out.  I know that I am.

What Matters Most however is the future, not the past.  Are you setting your children on the right road and giving them a good start?  And if you don’t have children of your own, are you doing this for the young people you come in contact with?  Our lives will all come to an end some day, but we can all live on in the lives of those who come after us.  Your future genealogy is way more important than your past genealogy.

© 2008 #6 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467

Pets and Plants

What Matters Most.........Commentary by Jim High

My family had a series of dogs as I was growing up.  My favorite was our little Chihuahua.  He/She, I can’t remember, use to lie on top of my stomach while I lay on the floor on my back.  “Frisky”, our Boston Terrier, was run over by a train.  Fortunately I didn’t witness this event, but it was a traumatic time in our family, never the less. 

What’s my point?  Most everyone has had a pet sometime in their lives and understands the connection you have with them.  And be it a dog or cat, a bird in its cage, or even fish in a beautiful aquarium, you feel in some way attached.  Everyone talks to their pets, and most will say that in one way or another they talk back.  It’s a wonderful feeling, and also a huge responsibly, because your pet needs you and depends on you. 

But have you ever talked to other animals?  Communicated with them in some way?  I have and do all the time.  Once while reading a book and sunning myself at my lake cabin, a small yellow butterfly was buzzing around my head.  I waved it off over and over again, tried to catch it in my fist, but it seemed to be winning this battle.  Then I had a flash of insight.  I held out my finger and mentally invited the butterfly to land there.  In a few short moments it did.  I then slowly turned my hand until we were looking eye to eye.  And using a soft voice I told my butterfly friend that it should leave me to my book and the sun’s rays, because it risked death should one of my swats reach its target.  I said we both had a right to our peaceful enjoyment of the afternoon.  Then I gently shook my finger and it flew away and bothered me no more.

Now you can think I’m crazy or you can begin to try it yourself.  Just remember that not even people who hear and understand our words always do what we want.  But talking is always better that killing, and talking always brings understanding, if not action.

I think I get my love of house plants and gardens from both of my Grandmothers.  The one I grew up with worked every day in her outdoor garden, and the one we went to visit every month had a house full of plants.  This is where I learned that the best fertilizer for a plant is love and recognition. 

Yes, I talk to the plants in my apartment and outdoors.  They respond in the most wonderful of ways.  They bloom and grow and thrive.  I use to have some large elephant ears growing just outside my garage, and every morning when I left for work I would roll down the window, reach out and touch the nearest leaf to say goodbye, and whatever else came to mind.  It’s kind of amazing what you will find yourself saying to a plant.  And in the evening I’d stop to say hello and ask if its day had been as good as mine.   That leaf grew to be twice as big as all the other elephant ear leaves and lasted the whole season.  I really missed it when the winter weather finally killed it.  Obviously, I still remember it, and that yellow butterfly.

What Matters Most is the understanding that everything in this world of ours is connected to everything else.  Everything has its place and its life to live.  Everything is important.  When this realization becomes a part of who you are deep inside, your relation to the whole world and every living thing takes on a deeper meaning which enriches you life.

© 2008 #11  Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467

What Matters Most………Commentary by Jim High  

Dawn 

Dawn is the most important time of each day and most people rarely see it.  If you don’t see it, you will never understand its power.  And you will have no chance for that power to change your life. 

I’ll admit there was a time in my life when seeing daybreak in the mornings was not a high priority for me, and then I visited Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, one of my all time heroes.  During the tour we were told that Jefferson would get up before dawn and walk the lawn in front of his home waiting for the sun to bring dawn and light to the land again, and thinking about his approaching new day.

It was a powerful and moving story.  So much so, I started to get up to see what the dawn might do for me.  As a practical matter, I realized that being up early would give me extra time for taking care of the many details of my daily life, maybe even time to read, learn, and understand some new things.

I had the perfect place to try out this new practice, my cabin on Pickwick Lake.  Early in the morning before the sun begins to appear over the hills on the opposite side of the lake there is no light anywhere, no noise to be heard, nothing but quiet and solitude.  I thought of it as “My Monticello”.  I would set the alarm, get up, fix coffee, take my cup out to the deck overlooking the lake and sit quietly waiting for the first rays of dawn to appear.

When you can get yourself to a place like this your mind actually slows down and your thoughts become more organized and clear.  After only a few days of doing this I came to understand I was witnessing the beginning of a day that had never before appeared on this earth.  Yesterday is gone and can never be changed, and whatever yesterday contained does not have to be repeated, unless of course, it was wonderful. 

You don’t have to go anywhere special to experience the dawn of a new day.  Dawn happens wherever you are.  But since the exact time of dawn changes from day to day, I picked a time early enough to be ahead of it year round.  That time has now become 4:50 a.m. every morning; not just at Pickwick Lake, but at home and even while on vacation.  Dawn over the ocean or in the mountains brings its own special benefits.  The two extra hours in my day has allowed me to read and learn from nearly a hundred books a year since I began my practice of greeting the dawn everyday like my hero Thomas Jefferson.

There are all kinds of dawns -- clear, stormy, foggy, hot and muggy, cold and crisp, and every dawn is a promise of a new day.  Dawn is when the Universe speaks to you if you are listening.

What matters most can best be said by the words of this poem by Kalidasa, the renowned Classical Sanskrit poet who lived in the period 370-450AD.

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence.

The Bliss of Growth,

The Glory of Action,

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And Tomorrow is only a Vision;

But Today well lived makes

Every yesterday a Dream of Happiness,

And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

                                                © 2008 #18  Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467

Eternity

What Matters Most…                      Commentary by Jim High

Eternity

In 1970 I purchased a small cabin at the edge of Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River.  It is a little over an hour’s drive from my home in Tupelo, and about as far north as you can go and still be in Mississippi.  I can sit on the deck and look across the lake at Alabama.  And just a mile or two down the river is the spot where Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama all join at a single point.

My first trip overseas was also in 1970.  I went to Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore.  We were gone a month, and since then I have traveled all over the world.  I even once rode a camel across the desert sands to the Great Pyramid in Egypt.  But every time I come back to Pickwick Lake it still seems the best place on earth.  I’ve often said that it is my little bit of heaven on earth, so to speak.

Well, last week that comment took on new meaning.  Let me explain.  During the past few years I have read over 100 books on Spirituality, studied different religions, and have adopted the philoshpy of Unity, Science of Mind, Tao and other belief systems that tell us that everything in the Universe is connected to everything else, that there is a power and an order behind Creation, and that we are all a part of the on-going process of Creation.  It is all good, and all we have to do is be aware enough to recognize it, and then just accept it and use it.

I was at Pickwick spending a few days alone and one afternoon I sat on my deck for nearly three hours just looking at the lake.  No boats, no people, no cell phone, no text messages, nothing to disturb the peace and quiet of that moment of eternity, except the occasional bird in the air and the natural sounds of Nature.  Yes, that is exactly what it felt like - ETERNITY, where time does not exist.  My little piece of heaven became an example of the whole world existing in eternity, and I was able to sit quietly and just observe it.  My feelings and thoughts were about the endless expanse of time and the slowness, but always moving forward nature of Creation.  I was a witness to eternity during this short time on the edge of Pickwick Lake, and knew that I was a part of it.  I could feel it.

The next morning I was up at 4:45 AM before the sun.  To see the sky begin to turn from darkness to light, and then to see the bright red sun rise over the trees on the far eastern side of the lake is a truly mystical experience.  When the sun is near the horizon you can actually see it move and feel the power and the motion of the Universe.  Coupled with the experience of eternity the day before as I sat on the deck looking at the lake, well what can be said, except that it was all perfect, and all was well in my world.

What matters most is that each of us needs to experience, from time to time, the awareness of the infinite, timeless Universe in which we live.  Find this peaceful experience of ETERNITY as often as you can, where ever you can, and all will be well with your world, too.

© 2008 #1 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467

What Matters Most…                         Commentary by Jim High

Death

I read a friend’s obituary a few weeks ago.  He died too early.  We are all going to die someday, but everyone hopes they will live a long and full life.  When I think of all the young people who die before they even get to be adults, I wonder what they would have become, what they would have done with their lives.  Death is the ultimate question mark for all of us.  We are aware, we think, we create, we imagine.  What happens when we die is the one thing that we don’t understand, and will never understand.  It is probably the only thing that we ultimately will never know.  What happens after we die is the one thing that science will never figure out.

I think it was the fear of death that caused man to believe in some higher, greater power than himself.  This fear created the many Gods of ancient history that have become today’s single universal God.  But is death really to be feared?  Does a tree fear death, rot and decay?  No, a tree comes forth from a seed and grows to maturity and old age, if it is lucky.  And along the way provides all sorts of things that benefit the world - oxygen for the planet, shade, a tree house for kids, home for the birds, or lumber for a house or furniture.  The point of a tree is that it lives, and provides what it can for everyone that it can.

Death is not to be feared.  And people will no longer fear death, if they come to understand that their purpose is to live with all the fullness of life that they can muster.  We don’t get any promises for anything in our lives, and I think that most know and understand this.  But we also have no real understanding of life after our life on this earth is over.  We should all accept the fact that we must live and live well, care for others, for our environment, our family, our close friends and all the people of the world.  Live your life fully and full of love for everyone and everything.

My friend lived a good life, a full life, a life full of love.  He will be missed, just as we miss the old oak tree that we use to play in, sit under and maybe even used to make something of tangible value that lives on beyond the life of that single tree.  My friend’s life and his memory will live on in the lives of all of us that knew him.

What matters most is for us to understand this life doesn’t depend on the next life or even if there is a next life.  Our thoughts now and our actions here in this life matter a great deal.  We live in a paradise and we create our own reality every day.  Yes, I believe that there is a force for good behind the Universe, and that there was a beginning some 14 billion years ago.  But our time is now.  Live with your heart and mind always guided by love, and if death is the end you won’t even know it is the end.  But, if there is some afterlife, as many believe, let it be a bonus for the good life you had during your time in this life on this earth.  And you will never again be afraid of death.

                                                                        © 2008 #4 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS  38802-0467