When examining literature, film, poetry, perhaps every sort of art, It is well to ask one self, "What is the meaning and what is the experience?" Art is said to be a visual manifestation of ideas. What meanings and experiences precipitated the art event and what they tell us in their own language as well as where they take us along the paths of our own experience bring us awareness and insight beyond our reach without the use of these specific media of expression. In basic cybernetic terms, messages (information) flow(s) out, (is) are filtered by the recipient, ascribed meaning, then responded to. How we make meaning, or sidle up to it so others can jump on, or off the train from a temporary perch of our description, is not as important as doing it. The meaning that I hope translates through each and every one of my posts is that I care. You, dear friend and reader are loved...
The hardest meaning to bring others to seems to be the agape love that I have for all humankind, Creator's multitude of critters, the flora, fauna and indeed the very living Earth which we inhabit. All of it resoundingly echoes the eternal spiritual center around which each and every one of us revolves.
I have stepped off the ride, not intent on gaining perspective, but because of insights gained early. Ram Dass put it well...and I will need to paraphrase here. I remember from a lecture how he talked about how many of the greatest intellectuals of his day, would stalk around seeking union, but never wanting to let on that they were unfulfilled. After all, and you see these people today, having things must surely prove that you have it all. If it did not, there would be no reason to amass fortune. When Frank Lloyd Wright met his last and final love, it is said, he overheard his next conquest ask about an assembled crowd of rich folks, "Does everyone not look like they are asleep?" Those who have not experienced the quiet awake phase, or who do not recognize how important it is to cultivate it will never understand the nature of things as those who have stepped off the ride can.
When you are in a car, for instance, the far off horizon seems to go slowly and things closer seem to dash out of our way before we can attend to them. On the ride, our reality is beyond the grasp of many of our attentions because we do not understand or perceive them as possible. Like the rushing foreground that we can see in a moving car, if we slowed down to inspect it carefully, we might be surprised at what we might have missed "asleep" at the wheel. I looked to far off goals for many years, spending far more time than was needed to envision a possible direction or outcome for my life. As a young tee, I saw myself making movies, my first professional love. When I turned my attentions to learning the skills to become a sign painter, it was in relation to the movie maker that lives inside me. However, things took a turn for the worse for both those incarnations I had developed for myself and as I decoupled from the dreamy illusions that hovered out over the horizon, I tripped on a milestone and had to confront the mundane verge and beyond that both hill and dale, fen and swamp at a plodding walk.
In my experience, as much as it was deflating to have to walk both toward and away from professions that I was well-suited for, losing the momentum allowed me to appreciate the texture of a life lived at a more humane speed. I honed my perceptions, broadened my vocabulary and continued to learn from experiences that had to be lived rather than viewed though the window of a hurling contraption. Without a viable shaman or mentor, much of what I took to be "problems" shook me from foundations that were worth holding on to, however, letting go is how I got flung off the ride and finally gained some perspective. The agape love that I have for all beings, all creatures and the planet itself is beyond the realm that can be distilled down into mere words. Language falls flat. Even saying that I love you like a deity sounds corrupted because so many terrible attributes have been put onto our conception of deity. My love cannot sanction or abide retribution. My love cannot be defiled by jealousy or grief, pity or desire. My love for you is based on the fact that we make each other richer and deeper for our experience of one another as well as our ignorant passing. Without you, without this Earth, without each and every creature and organism, life itself would be diminished. The love I have for all of these things, as well as yourself are transcendent and not only fill this moment but break the bonds of time, extending out like the lotus blossom, infinitely.
I have been to the place where we can exist independent of physical form and I love you as protoplasm loves the cell wall or a nutrient loves the muscle it helps nourish. We are one and as more and more of us realize this eternal truth, the mother rapers, the exploiters and the oppressors will come to find that they are not welcome among us. In contrast to the abiding love that I share for all life, those who would deny our intimate relation with one another must learn that whatever terrible injury they have sustained, we still love them. Everyone learns to stop loving the same way...either through abuse or neglect. It has been a hard won trip back to love, but getting off the ride and slowing down to see what life was like for a while was well worth each tiny step.
The hardest meaning to bring others to seems to be the agape love that I have for all humankind, Creator's multitude of critters, the flora, fauna and indeed the very living Earth which we inhabit. All of it resoundingly echoes the eternal spiritual center around which each and every one of us revolves.
I have stepped off the ride, not intent on gaining perspective, but because of insights gained early. Ram Dass put it well...and I will need to paraphrase here. I remember from a lecture how he talked about how many of the greatest intellectuals of his day, would stalk around seeking union, but never wanting to let on that they were unfulfilled. After all, and you see these people today, having things must surely prove that you have it all. If it did not, there would be no reason to amass fortune. When Frank Lloyd Wright met his last and final love, it is said, he overheard his next conquest ask about an assembled crowd of rich folks, "Does everyone not look like they are asleep?" Those who have not experienced the quiet awake phase, or who do not recognize how important it is to cultivate it will never understand the nature of things as those who have stepped off the ride can.
When you are in a car, for instance, the far off horizon seems to go slowly and things closer seem to dash out of our way before we can attend to them. On the ride, our reality is beyond the grasp of many of our attentions because we do not understand or perceive them as possible. Like the rushing foreground that we can see in a moving car, if we slowed down to inspect it carefully, we might be surprised at what we might have missed "asleep" at the wheel. I looked to far off goals for many years, spending far more time than was needed to envision a possible direction or outcome for my life. As a young tee, I saw myself making movies, my first professional love. When I turned my attentions to learning the skills to become a sign painter, it was in relation to the movie maker that lives inside me. However, things took a turn for the worse for both those incarnations I had developed for myself and as I decoupled from the dreamy illusions that hovered out over the horizon, I tripped on a milestone and had to confront the mundane verge and beyond that both hill and dale, fen and swamp at a plodding walk.
In my experience, as much as it was deflating to have to walk both toward and away from professions that I was well-suited for, losing the momentum allowed me to appreciate the texture of a life lived at a more humane speed. I honed my perceptions, broadened my vocabulary and continued to learn from experiences that had to be lived rather than viewed though the window of a hurling contraption. Without a viable shaman or mentor, much of what I took to be "problems" shook me from foundations that were worth holding on to, however, letting go is how I got flung off the ride and finally gained some perspective. The agape love that I have for all beings, all creatures and the planet itself is beyond the realm that can be distilled down into mere words. Language falls flat. Even saying that I love you like a deity sounds corrupted because so many terrible attributes have been put onto our conception of deity. My love cannot sanction or abide retribution. My love cannot be defiled by jealousy or grief, pity or desire. My love for you is based on the fact that we make each other richer and deeper for our experience of one another as well as our ignorant passing. Without you, without this Earth, without each and every creature and organism, life itself would be diminished. The love I have for all of these things, as well as yourself are transcendent and not only fill this moment but break the bonds of time, extending out like the lotus blossom, infinitely.
I have been to the place where we can exist independent of physical form and I love you as protoplasm loves the cell wall or a nutrient loves the muscle it helps nourish. We are one and as more and more of us realize this eternal truth, the mother rapers, the exploiters and the oppressors will come to find that they are not welcome among us. In contrast to the abiding love that I share for all life, those who would deny our intimate relation with one another must learn that whatever terrible injury they have sustained, we still love them. Everyone learns to stop loving the same way...either through abuse or neglect. It has been a hard won trip back to love, but getting off the ride and slowing down to see what life was like for a while was well worth each tiny step.
No comments:
Post a Comment