To See Ourselves Trapped in Our Cage?

Last Friday on my visit to Wolston Farmhouse I was enjoying seeing all the birds that were flying around outside the house and then I came across a sight that I wasn't expecting to see ... a dead bird in a glass case -
Wolston Farmhouse and Life on the Farm?

The story of why the bird ended up on display is told in the photo of its owner pictured next to the glass case. 

I've been reading the late Wayne Dyer's book 'You'll See It When You Believe It' and I was up to chapter 2 in the book.
And on Saturday afternoon I took the book outside into my back garden to read and get some sun and continued reading the book from where I left off, which was a subsection of chapter 2 titled 

'You Are the Dreamer of Your Dreams', where Wayne writes about his belief at the time anyway, of his theory that when we dream at night, we leave our bodies and enter a dreaming body.

I don't believe that we do, because I had an OBE once and it was nothing like a dream, it was more real than real life to me, but to believe me you would have to see it for yourself I guess:-)
"Linda Came Back to Me as a White Squirrel"? Paul is Nuts?-)

Anyway, I still like the analogy of a dreaming body and dreams compared to real life, but what hit me in this chapter as I sat in my backyard watching three mynah birds taking turns in the birdbath while I was trying to read was this section about a caged bird -
"While we are in the dreaming body we are convinced it is real, but it is real only for the dream and becomes an illusion when we awaken. 

Everything that we experience in our waking consciousness is also real to us.

To die while we are alive gives us the only opportunity we will ever have to get outside of this package that houses us temporarily. 

An ancient parable repeated generation after generation by the spiritual masters of India illustrates this point:
A traveler from India went to Africa to acquire some local products and animals and while in the jungle he saw thousands of beautiful multicolored talking parrots. 

He decided to capture a talking parrot and take it back as a pet.
At home he kept his parrot in a cage and fed him wonderful seeds and honey, played music for his pet, and generally treated him well. When it was time for the man to return to Africa two years later, he asked his parrot if there was any message he could deliver to the parrot's friends back in back in the jungle. 

The parrot told his master to say that he was very happy in his cage and that he was enjoying each day and to convey his love.
When the traveler arrived back in Africa he delivered the message to the parrots in the jungle. 

Just as he finished his story, a parrot with tears welling up in his eyes fell over dead. 

The man was alarmed and decided that the parrot must have been very close to the parrot in the cage and that was the reason for his sadness and demise.
When the traveler returned to India, he told his pet what had happened. 

As he finished his story, the pet parrots eyes welled up with tears and he keeled over dead [?] in his cage. 

The man was astounded, but figured that his pet died from the despair of hearing of the death of his close friend back in the jungle.
The trader opened up the cage and tossed the dead bird outside onto the trash heap. 

Immediately his pet parrot flew up to a branch on the tree outside.
The trader said to him, "So, you are not dead after all. Why did you do that?"
The parrot answered, "Because that bird back in Africa sent me a very important message."
"What was the message?" the trader inquired impatiently.
"He told me that if you want to escape from your cage, you must die while you are alive."
We must indeed die while we are alive in order to be able to look back at our waking consciousness and see ourselves trapped in our cage, which in our [glass?-] case is our body. 

And then we will see how unnecessary it is to remain caged." 

A mynah bird not caged on the veranda of the Wolston Farmhouse   

As I wrote in this post -  
Don't Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle: How to Break Free of Negativity and Drama?

"At end of last year I bought a book that I saw on a supermarket shelf written by a lady named Doreen Virtue who I had seen speak live in my hometown years ago in a Hay House tour.
I didn't go to listen to Doreen speak, I went to listen to Wayne Dyer mainly and was curious to hear what Deepak Chopra had to say.

I think Louise Hay was the other speaker on the program that day.
I never would have paid the $320 for a ticket out of my pocket to see these speakers.
I saw a competition in the local Brisbane paper for two tickets to this day long presentation and there was only one winner in that newspaper competition ... me.
I just went with the flow and mailed in an envelope to the paper thinking if I'm meant to go this gig "the universe" will let my envelope be the winner.
I've got to say that I was glad that I didn't fork out any of my own money to go to this day out.
I have never read any of the books by these authors since that day I saw them speak, but I do have a Wayne Dyer book I bought just before he passed away three years ago, to this day, which sits on my bookshelf still unread."

Not anymore though, although I am yet to finish reading it.

But timing is everything when it comes to reading a book it seems.

You Can't Get What You Want If You Don't Know What You Need?

But then again, I don't know Jack, do I?-)

The Crow Butterfly outside
my kitchen window in 2017

There is Harmony in Everything, It's a Butterfly Who Waits for the World?

A magpie not caged on the veranda
of the Wolston Farmhouse:-) 

Life can be a strange trip, especially when there is still a "way" to go.

Just sayin';-)