Making Our Way in An
Ambiguous Universe
“Truth
is simple, but Illusion makes it infinitely
intricate. The person is rare who possesses an insatiable longing for
Truth;
the rest allow Illusion to bind them ever more and more.”
Meher Baba
When you look at
the moon, what do you see? Some of us grew
up seeing the image of the man in the moon, later we saw a pattern of
craters
and plains. If we had been from Asia, instead of a man in the moon, we
might
have seen a rabbit. And if we were Native American, we might have seen
a
frog up there. Much of life is ambiguous like that. We project meaning
onto
things and events based on our culture and personality.
It would be
pointless to argue that it’s not really a man, but a frog
in the moon, but how often do we do just that with our other
projections?
We look at the political party that we don’t belong to and project evil
intent.
We look at people from different cultures and project our fears onto
them.
We look at ourselves and see a particular kind of person for reasons
such
as:
“I have
trouble remembering people’s names.”
“I never win anything.”
“I’m scared to talk in front of people.”
“I’m not attractive to members of the opposite sex.”
“I have problems with money.”
None of these
characteristics is unusual in the human species, but
since they may seem to be our qualities, we may find them frightening
and
life limiting. We classify ourselves as that type of person who never
wins
anything, when we could just as easily view ourselves as in that class
of
people who has not yet won anything. The past need not predict the
future,
but if we expect the future to be just like the past, it may well turn
out
that way. If I’m a non-winner, I won’t bother with the raffle ticket.
If
I’m afraid of speaking in public, so I don’t do it, I never get the
skill
or confidence that good public speakers develop through the experience
of
speaking in public.
We don’t know what our capacities are until we use them. We don’t
know what the future will bring. We don’t serve ourselves well to call
ourselves
realists, when we mean pessimist. The world is a tough place. We all do
some
bad things. Some people do very bad things. Pain and death are
unavoidable.
Some people create more of these for others than we would prefer. If
all
we focus on is the horror of it, we must live in despair. We ought not
miss
out on the other side of the story. Along with the horror are
opportunities
for compassion, beauty and joy. Joy doesn’t come from eliminating
awareness
of pain and suffering. More likely, it comes from seeing circumstances
in
their fullness with their pain, and sorrow along with their love,
beauty,
and inherent rightness.
Life comes to us in surprising ways. When we let go of our fearful
projections and look for opportunities to grow, to contribute, to share
kindness,
the unfolding of life’s journey takes on more meaning and we are the
better
for it.
Practice:
Observe your
thoughts. Notice how you classify people,
things and experiences. Labels can be useful, but they can get in the
way
of direct experience. When you find yourself labeling or classifying,
note
to yourself that you are doing that. Then see what happens if you can
let
go of the urge to put something in a category and just experience it as
it
is.
Practice expanding your mind
beyond your fears. When you notice
yourself responding with fear or aversion, check yourself. See if your
response
is based on prejudice or pessimism. Notice the negative projection and
see
if you can give it up.
If you find yourself thinking
too hard about all this, just sit,
breathe, and allow your mind to relax. Just be quiet. Be in your body
with
a quiet mind.
[HOME][THOUGHT][ARCHIVE][PRAYERS]
[POETRY][LINKS][LISTS][BOOKSHOP]
© 2005 Tom Barrett