The food on display was appertising. It was one of those occasion you struggle to focus on what is happening, you are not slightly distracted but hugely by the aroma and display at the back of the hall. I couldn’t help noticing after doing a quick head count that there seem to be more people than enough food to allow each person to have whatever they want from the buffet spread. I reason that, depending on when your table is called, it might be one of those where you get whatever you get. I mutter a silent prayer within my heart, that the order in which the tables are called will be to my favour, so I can be free to choose whatever I wanted. And that was exactly what happened. I got my wish. When I arrived at the display I sure was not disappointed, you will be pleased to learn I was disciplined, I didn’t overdo it, went for the choice food, well presented and nourishing, went back to me seat with my carefully chosen but moderately looking plate, ate my food with happiness, thanking my maker for my good fortune in life. The event was successful, good food, good company, good organisation, went home a happy bunny or so I thought.
Off to sleep I went, a few hours into my sleep, something was not right, my tummy was troubled, it started rumbling furiously, I became very sick, I will spare us the details, but I was ‘there’ more times than I care to recount, throwing up at the same time. It was a bad case of food poisoning, I ended up in hospital admission for a number of days, badly dehydrated and on drip. When I was strong enough to talk, the doctor came to ask me what was it that I ate, I did my best to list everything, none looked suspicious I assured the doctor, but it was clear something I ate from the buffet was responsible. I had more than enough time to reflect as I laid on the hospital bed, wishing there was a way I could have sniffed out the ‘bad guy’ and stay away. I pondered whether I should stop eating out, avoid buffets all together, research the caterer before hand, only go for a la carte at choice restaurants, etc. The question was, how would I know to avoid food poisoning? The answer was not in the looks, it all looked right, even smelled right, on this occasion I could only know by the repercussions, the after effect.
In the same vein, I have always wondered about poisons, how do people get to know that one plant, bark, fungi or whatever is poisonous. Poison mushrooms do not look much different from the non poisonous ones. I watched a programme once about the poison garden in Alnwick, it was one of the most beautiful garden I have ever seen, yet filled with deadly plants. On it’s website it states “… filled exclusively with around 100 toxic, intoxicating, and narcotic plants … Visitors are strictly prohibited from smelling, touching, or tasting any plants, although some people still occasionally faint from inhaling toxic fumes while walking in the garden…”. To tell that these plants are poisonous, at some point or another someone or some organism would have had to ingest it and the consequences observed because how else would they know?
That brings me to soul poison. In the same way that our body can be poisoned, our souls can be poisoned. Some people sadly are toxic, poisonous to our spirit, to our soul, but how do we know? Some have a very sensitive tummy, they can very quickly tell if certain food are not right, others accumulate toxin in there bodies over a long time before finding out. Some can quickly discern an ‘off’ person irrespective of the outward appearance others are clueless and fraternise with the poisoned one for so long and then wonder why they are constantly sick. Some people loath to hurt other people’s feelings which I can appreciate, but someone is toxic and out of some twisted sense of obligation and niceties we continue to accommodate them until we become terribly sick. Sometimes we leave our house in the morning with a clean, peaceful and calm spirit, by the time we return home, our heart is all agitated and troubled, not because of a particular incident but it might just be a person or people we encountered. People bring to us the spirit they possess, they bring their aura, if they are sweet and nice, that is what they leave with us, if they are toxic and bitter that is what they leave with us. We can’t necessarily tell by the outward appearance or by the relatedness to us. Good people are good people whether they are friend, family, neighbours, colleagues, church people or strangers and so also are bad or toxic people. It is pointless saying but they are my friend, family, church people or whatever, the question is how do you feel after an encounter with them? Does your spirit, mood drop or are you lifted? Are you more burdened or lightened? Are you confused or enlightened? Are you light or heavy? The only way we would know is to be conscious and aware, to take the time to quieten our spirit and check the temperature following each encouter. Let go if it is wrong for you, don’t be shy or timid about the preservation of your soul or your space. Like the poison garden, as we go around in life, strictly prohibit yourself from touching, tasting, smelling or walking around the poisoned ones, otherwise you might just inhale and faint
How would you know? Check in with your spirit.
Beautiful Ivory 