Once you realize that the only thing which matters is the reality of the situation which surrounds the building, and not your images of it, you are able to relax, and allow the patterns of the language to combine themselves freely in your mind, without trying to impose an artificial image on their combination. CA
It has been awhile since I've visited this blog. I've been really wrapped up in reading the Cancer Stage of Capitalism by John McMurtry. It is a profound work exposing the inner workings of our system, of our money-value program which comes at the expense of the life values. I have been absorbed in my activism work and very outward-focused. After taking my walk this morning, I felt more inwardly reflective. I finished reading The Timeless Way of Building a couple of months ago, but jotted down a few quotes that I wanted to use in this blog before returning the book to the library. Above is one of them.
This quote is simple, yet so powerful in its meaning. It seems that my mind, and probably human minds in general, are constantly striving to figure everything out and come to conclusions, wide and all-encompassing. We want to have life figured out. The physicists who are working on the theory of everything are not trying to come up with a million theories, but just one that will explain all. Maybe it will happen; I am not sure. It just feels like this kind of searching is more telling about our internal desires to know rather than a reflection of the state of the universe. It's difficult to remain in uncertainty, even though that seems to be the process of the universe. There are certain gross patterns that transcend smaller local interactions. For example, if I deprive a human body from oxygen long enough, it will perish, whether it is in zero-gravity, in the tropics, or in a cave. The more subtle interactions and their effects are not so easily discernible. For example, Ryan may at one time respond voraciously to a gourmet meal, but when his stomach aches or a mood of dispassion sweeps through him, his reaction may be otherwise. And knowing how each individual cell of his muscles is responding to the pressure of each heartbeat's blood pulse is so unimaginably complex, that untangling all of the factors affecting each cell is with current brains and current technology beyond our ability to understand. Cells sometimes misstep too, just like us. We just need to avoid insular thinking that starves us from feedback--information, which the body, and the universe provides us continuously......at no charge!
Sometimes, I try to be so diligent in preparations for future circumstances. Fear of misstepping puts energy into my analyzing of the various contingencies. The subtle reminder that I cannot plan for everything waits patiently for me to acknowledge this fact. Doing so eases me back to uncertainty, the place where living feels wholesome and fluid. Tomorrow, my friend may be a "different person," and if I'm not stuck in my quarantined thinking, I will see that immediately and our relationship will unfold naturally--differently, but naturally. If not, we will be stuck in conflict trying to impose our artificial or historically-created images of how the other person is and is not. The hardest part is releasing what possesses us. The words, the habits, the beliefs that fill my mind and distort my perception are invasive, and I must be aware of them too. They cannot be controlled, only temporarily tamed. To let them pass through takes a different kind of intelligence that does not come from standard thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment