Scene #1. You're one of several young urbanites at a campout with a few friends, after a long day swimming, hiking, and now after a fine meal, joking, laughing. You're mellow; relaxed; right? feel it? (No, Reader, now you're not relaxed because you're looking at that big type in the next sentence.) SUDDENLY A HUGE SNARLING BEAR COMES CHARGING OUT OF THE WOODS AND STRAIGHT AT YOU!

Scene #2. You're out hunting with a few friends. (Just go with me on this, PETAfans.) You're armed with a high-power rifle. (Knowledgable gun person insert brand and calibre.) You're hunting a bear that's been known to attack and kill people. You and your friends are highly trained hunters and you are on his trail. (Good old cut-and-paste:) SUDDENLY A HUGE SNARLING BEAR COMES CHARGING OUT OF THE WOODS AND STRAIGHT AT YOU!

Now, if you're an average person in approximately the first scenario, your first instinctive response will probably not be to charge forward, screaming in rage, straight at the bear and lunge for his eyes or jugglar with whatever was in your hand. Ew. Sorry. I just thought of that as I was writing. No, you're probably going to do something like run away screaming in high-pitched terror, faint, freeze, or muss your underoos. You were, in a word, unprepared. Or in another word or three, unready, inattentive, inalert. Wait, is that a word?

If you're an exceptional person in the second scenario, you kill the bear. Readiness is all.

You're hanging out with folks and someone you thought you liked but weren't sure about repeats an ugly rumor about you that you've resented for a long time. You're enjoying driving your Kia on a winding country road and suddenly in your rear-view mirror, there's a six-wheel extended-bed, extended-cab, jacked-up Ford pick-up right on your tail. (Oh, sure, why not:) Driven by with those four hunters who just killed the bear. They're really the nicest men you'd ever want to meet, and no they haven't been drinking, not one beer, but all you see is their truck, attire, and all those guns. Or, you're absorbed in reading an article that's witty, well-written, informative and casual, and someone comes and interrupts you with an urgent phone call from the IRS.

Readiness is all.

Being perfect in your personal realm as God is in all of creation, means readiness. Are you superman enough to charge back at the bear, armed with two pieces of plastic cutlery? Can you be the soul of graciousness when surprised by a harsh spotlight being placed upon you? Can you have completely confident calm control in the face of potentially threatening situations? Are you able to easily migrate your whole consciousness from that absorbing article to deal with your remarkably upset spouse?

We cannot possibly be perfectly prepared for every possible contingency. Sometimes you're hunting the bear. Sometimes the bear hunts you. Sometimes the bear kills you in your sleeping bag and there's not a whole lot you can do about that, so we're talking about the other times.

We can develop a spirit of readiness.

To be ready is to be unsurprised.

You may not know when or even if the killer bear is going to come charging at you, but you know it's out there.

Graciousness is not the natural hallmark of Ego. Tame the animal mind's vengeful impulse, translate its emotional surge into the desire, not to return an eye for an eye, nor even merely to turn the other cheek, but to respond with a practiced dedication to returning good for evil. In love of your fellow child of God, Supremely desire to de-power the unpleasant encounter.by making everyone both comforted and uplifted.

Regardless of what you face from the material world's agencies, if you remain centered in complete honesty with yourself and with the judges of the world, even in the face of the gravest injustice, you can be confident that your soul is innocent.

Best keep those books and records up-to-date, keep your powder dry, and know where the exit doors are. Get in some target practice if you can, just in case. Practice turning your whole intellectual consciousness and full emotional attention away from that almost-finished article to embrace that screaming spouse the way you would in love of a beloved small child weeping over an owwie.

We cannot be perfectly prepared for each and every thing. In spirit, however, we can be ready. Practice being fully prepared by keeping the mind clean, maintaining focus on the lessons learned from inspiration, and keep acquiring the skills of life through perspiration.

One time driving along a narrow gravel road in the mountains above Pecos, New Mexico, we saw a bear cub, its muzzle nuzzling in a hole, right there in the upsloping side of the road-cut, as we passed by a few feet away. We wanted to stay longer and watch the cub. But we drove on. No need to worry Momma Grizzly.