Sunday, July 10, 2011

Experientially Yours...


"Judgement can be acquired only by acute observation, by actual experience in the school of life, by ceaseless alertness to learn from others, by study of the activities of men who have made notable marks, by striving to analyze the everyday play of causes and effects, by constant study of human nature." -B.C. Forbes


A phrase I oft use and genuinely mean is "It's your world. I'm just visiting." By this, I am being neither witty nor sarcastic. I offer these words at face value.

Not one single person who has ever roamed the earth has been anything other than unique. Could I have written that sentence more straightforward? Certainly, but then it would lose the meaning that I am trying to impart.

Wait, wait... run that by me again.

Supposedly, all snowflakes are unique. We must take that for what it is worth because as far as I can tell, the amount of snowflakes that have fallen on the earth, over the entire history of the planet, is an "unreal" number. This, to me, is a number that essentially is real but can never be known.

Such is the way of human snowflakes; No two the same nor even inhabiting the same world.

Think about your parental units and siblings. These are the people who are closer to you than any others in the world in terms of genetics, background, upbringing and many other factors. You may have tremendous similarities to them. You may even have been born as one in a pair of identical twins.

Are you the same person? Are you cloned and identical to your twin, your parents, anyone else? Are you seeing the same world as they do?

No. It is your world, entirely unto you and of your observation and making.

We all pick and choose what we want to experience, to take in from this infinite bounty of life. Sometimes we choose things that don't seem to be good for us. Maybe other people are telling us that what we're doing is wrong, inadequate, off base etc. It could also go in the opposite direction and meet with tremendous approval and praise.

Stimuli and response, cause and effect, good and bad. It really comes down to how you define it.

How you choose to mold, shape, define, see it. Breathe life and meaning into it as it becomes part of your world, all by your beck and call.

We have all had our episodes with judgement, either on the giving or receiving end. I always remind myself... re-mind my-self, that when I judge something, I have made it part of my world, magnetized the essence of it to me. In the overwhelming majority of cases, I consider that thought before wandering into the "judging fields" and then make a sharp turn to avoid them.

I'll ask myself, "Do I want to play with you?" I look at the energy of their game in light of who I am in the moment, and then wish them well and let them pass.

I don't understand their world, at least the glimpse that I saw of it from my perception. Why would I want to venture in and open Pandora's box? (More on this aspect in another post.)

I'll simply visit and be thankful for the gift, that being of the experience. One can travel thousands of miles away (as I did when I went to Tibet and Nepal) to gain experience and thus broaden the scope of their world. It can also be done in your backyard by seeing things in a new way, thus gaining a different perspective and the opportunity to re-create, to define differently and thus alter your world.

To me, it is awesome to be conscious and actively engage the process. It never ceases to amaze me how "everything old is new again" once this is chosen and embraced. How can things reorient themselves so quickly after being seemingly "stuck" for so long?

Thus is our power, our personal gravity, each in molding, shaping and creating our own unique, individual world.

It is my world, and I choose to make it a place that I like to visit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1pLCruKc8c

8 comments:

  1. Rich, Truly I am 'amazed' by your posts. Thank you for sharing. My comments do not do your posts justice! The song is awesome! Take care.

    Peace, Nico

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  2. Thank you, Nico. I love Dar and her songs and I didn't even realize how relevant that one might be to you and others.

    Quite the coincidence, hmm?

    Namaste.
    Rich

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  3. Hear, hear - the awesome, consciuos process..... I love the zen term "Beginners eyes" gives you a new life every time you wake up in the morning :-)
    Thank you Rich, beautiful post.

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  4. Agree with tparker- love the last line. It's simple, yet speaks volumes.

    The entire post and the concept of accepting accountability for your world was expressed beautifully. It made me think of someone close to me (no names mentioned) who is constantly blaming everyone for "screwing up" their world.
    Great post and I appreciate reading about your experiences!

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  5. It seems like I found something that resonates fairly well today with many. Even writing this brought up some things for me that (thankfully) I was able to process with my body worker / massage therapist. It just so happened we had our monthly session scheduled today. Who knew! ;-)

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  6. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Shakespeare - "There is nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so."
    It is what it is, till you decide to judge it.
    Thanks for this!

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  7. "How you choose to mold, shape, define, see it. Breathe life and meaning into it as it becomes part of your world, all by your beck and call." - my favorite part of your beautiful post, Rich!

    LOVE, 'all by your beck and call' - especially.
    Says it all.

    And we always have a choice and a new perspective to try. See if it feels good. See if you want to stay and play.

    Thank you!
    Maya

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