People make fun of me because I love reality TV shows. Specifically, I love Survivor and Big Brother. I love them because they are microcosms of life and society. They are distilled down into small groups and put on display to entertain us and to learn, if we are up for it. There is no one right strategy to winning and I learn a lot by watching them.
One thing about these shows that always amazes me is the people go batshit crazy in just a few short days/weeks. No contact with the real world, no news of what is going on at home, no television, no internet, and the stress of the game breaks people down so quickly it continues to fascinate me. The mention of someone back home will bring tears to their eyes. After a couple of weeks, they’ll kill each other just to get a letter from home. On the latest season of Big Brother (the celebrity edition) two players begged to be voted out Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from the Cosby Show) and Metta World Peace both, within a few days, asked to be voted out.
I find myself yelling at my TV. “What is wrong with you? You signed up for the show. You knew the deal. Did you watch the show? You know it’s only 40 days right? Why can’t you suck it up and tough it out? You know your family is waiting for you. Stop being a whiny baby.” Then, it hits me. This is just like me. They are me. Here I am on the mission I signed up for. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But, I signed up for the mission because I wanted the rewards. I left the comfort of Home to come into a crazy environment where I knew I’d be tested, where I’d face lack, where I’d have to compete to survive. And, here I am whining about the game, while I’m in the game that I signed up for.
I’m reading a series of books “The Team– A Mother’s Wisdom from The Other Side” As I’m reading them, maybe for the first time in my life, I’m really getting that I’m not here alone on this island. The main theme of the books, as I see it, is we don’t come here just for spiritual growth. We come here to benefit our team and the world. Everything we do helps the whole. A by-product of helping the whole is individual spiritual growth. This lines up with the experience Natalie Sudman had (chronicled in Application of Impossible Things) where during her NDE, she found herself in an arena surrounded by beings who were downloading and benefiting from the experiences, knowledge, and wisdom she gained during her life on Earth.
Shayna told us that she can watch our family from where she is kind of like we watch TV. In the days since this concept of the team has become more real to me, I picture Shayna yelling at the TV and at me the way I was yelling at Metta World Peace. I know Shayna and my team are right here cheering me on, waiting for me, and saying “C’mon Brian. You know it’s not that long. Suck it up and do what you went there to do. We’ll all reap the rewards when you come Home.”
