Discovering the Spirit of Romuva- just one of the nocturnal worldviews of ancient Lithuanians

Brushed by death

The following is a poem/short story about what happened this week on Wednesday night during my journey from work to home. I have written this in the first person,present tense so that the reader can experience some of the terrifying experience. After the reading, I want to explain my own reflections and revelations as a result of the incident.

From work to home

Driving through the dark night,

 rainy, windy and stormy,

the car hit the water on the road,

time slowed and felt like it stopped,

the car seemed to glide though the air,

and spin like in a silent ballet.

I hold my breath and feel my heart stop

My eyes wide open, bracing for certain death.

This moment seemed to last forever,

waiting for this ordeal to be over.

eyes squinting, car sliding, sliding, sliding,

through small trees, I felt some ribs break

and with a shudder, crash and a bash,

the car comes to a stop in that grove.

In shock and disbelief, I sit there in the darkness,

alone, stunned, dazed, amazed and humbled.

what am I to do now? I'm alive!

the front doors wouldn't open,

car is snuggled tightly in the embrace of the trees,

I slowly climb out the back door & I'm free

Cars racing by, no one stopping to offer help.

Where are the Samaritans? Where are the Angels?

no one able, no one willing.

To the nearest exit on the freeway,

Walked a kilometre in the rain,

broken ribs throbbing with pain,

rain soaking me to the bone

feeling fragile and in need of assistance, I reach for my phone,

to call a friend to ask for help.

 I am relieved, I am met & rescued.

 The experience was scary and, in short, it renewed my passion for living life, in the beauty of the here and now. The experience reminded me, yet again, that the length of time in each life, that we live here on earth, is finite and every moment,every experience should be valued as though it could be your last opportunity to experience it. The lesson for me is to avoid procrastinating when possible. I understand that life can be fragile, fleeting and brief so take every opportunity to live life the best you can.   Just as most Cicadas only live 4-7 weeks, (some up to 17years), and they achieve their life goal! how much mofre time and opportunities do we get to evolve as a species with 50-90 years?! 

The fatal deception for those who believe in reincarnation, (myself included) , is the belief that time can be wasted in procrastination because there'll have many more lives in which to have the experiences and learn the lessons that aren't experienced in this current lifetime! I believe this philosophy is misguided and contradicts my own understanding of the Universal Truth in this case. I personally believe that the opportunities to have certain experiences may only limited to a particular lifetime or particular lifetimes, and not in all lifetimes. Just one simple example to explain this theory could be when a Soul born into wealth and health will have a different set of experiences and life lessons than a Soul who is born into poverty and ill health.

In so many aspects of this accident, I can truly say that I felt the presence of my Ancestors, Gods, Goddesses and Spirits of Nature. I will explain,firstly, the fact that I survived, relatively unharmed re affirms that the Goddess Laima has bestowed me with a well woven sash of many colors and patterns with many twists and curves, all of which I give thanks to her. A long time ago, at my bEarth, Laima petitioned with Dievas Sky God to have a favorable outcome to this accident and not allow her sister Giltine, (Goddess of Death), to cut my threads to my sash. Even despite the natural activity of Lietuvonis, Audra and Vejas. (God of Rain and daughters of Perkunas, the Thunderer, God of Storm and God of Wind), my thread was not meant to be cut! The harmony of these seemingly opposing forces of Nature, (Celestial,atmospheric, Spiritual and Earthly). These energies are revealed to me, in the form of Spirits, Gods and Goddesses, and I believe, showed me benevolence, by the fact that the small Trees whom I crashed into, cushioned the impact rather than resisting and thereby causing more injury and perhaps even my death. There are so many factors that could have made this experience so much worse but I did feel that I was being looked after.

Lastly but certainly not least, the genetic inheritance from my ancestors has given me my physical constitution and resilience which, I'm sure, is the reason that my bloodline has lasted to this day. I have been influenced and even guided, not only on this day, but also throughout my life by the combination of influences from my ancestral familial fortune and fate, and also by the journey of my own eternal Fire flame, my Spirit, through the Uni-verse and the full Song, (of which no one has yet heard it, in it's amazingly intricate entirety). The fortitude bestowed by my ancestors and ample allotment in this lifetime gives me a confident assurance and even certainty that the Goddess Laima has woven me a great sash which wasn't destined to end in this scary night.  

One more analogy of the accident is revealed in the title of this poem, "From work to home". Work represents to me as the mundane, routine part of my life and ,"Home", represents not only our physical home but also our individual emotional, mental and spiritual home which comes from our ancestral heritage. Our home is our castle as they say, and the strength of our home and self awareness of who I am in my home will determine how much success that I will experience in life. I can honestly say that this experience helped me to re assess priorities, in my personal life, in my home, and once again,  put issues and attitudes toward my mundane world of work in it's appropriate place in my life. Sometimes it takes an event like this to find focus life and sometimes it's just a loud reminder. I just wish lessons like this weren't so dramatic but I guess so long as the point is made and learnt, I won't have to repeat the lesson in possibly more drastic circumstances. What can I say but,"message received with thanks".