Conservatism

Recently we have been talking about the limitations of labels and how the use of language has limited our ability to communicate. It seems odd that Language may limit our communication, yet it does and it does so under the radar of conscious awareness. A week or so ago we were investigating separatism and how living in isolation separates us from all that life can offer. I of course, rejected this concept on the basis that I do not live in isolation, how wrong I am.

We humans have a rational brain capable of analysis and independent thoughts. It is also a difference engine, one that has a tendency to identify things as different from ourselves, separating us from that thing. This tendency is natural and important for survival in identifying risk to ourselves, self preservation. Ok, so what, well add labels to that, language. Now look around and see what we have labelled as different. How many things or people do you separate out as being different? It gets better, how much of our behaviour is governed by social norms of acceptability. How freely can we actually express ourselves without crossing boundaries of social conservatism before running the risk of being labelled extremist or eccentric or just plain different or weird?

There is no such thing, my friends, there is no normality, no average and conservatism is another label like mediocrity or average. I am a normal person, sorry, I am anything but normal, and that also holds true for my lovely partner and everyone I come into contact with. We each have our own personality, or special gift, our song to sing, or sculpture to carve, or bride to build. We each have our own faults also, yes! Are they faults, or are they aspects of ourselves that we have identified (labelled) as being below or different from the standard based on our own interpretation or opinion of what is normal.

How many so called weaknesses have we hidden away to avoid shame or embarrassment? Now, ask yourself, how many times have I hidden away that talent, that spark of brilliance, that uniqueness that is our true note for the same reason? Now ask yourself, how many of them are the same thing. How many of our so called weaknesses are also strengths.

Where I am going with this is to state that we identify what is comfortable, what is acceptable, and what is permissible at an early age, and then we proceed to build a life to fit this model of our selves so that we fit in. Yes, so that we conform to what we understand is the conservative normality. We also treat with suspension anything that is outside of that normality.

Today I was part of a conversation where religion was the topic, and how peoples of that religion are all to be regarded with suspicion because they are different to us. That is an extreme example, and to be fare it was not a heated discussion, but it was an extreme example of how we label others, by religion, politics, nationality, and colour. They are all labels that separate us from them, but what is really happening is that we are isolating ourselves from them, from life itself by labelling things as different.

I invite you to turn that difference engine around and look for similarities, better yet turn it off all together and seek not to differentiate at all. Simply be with what is.

I may live by a different book of beliefs than you, speak a different language, be a different colour, even be too conservative for your taste, or not conservative enough. Live and let live. OK we got that far, now can we apply the same philosophy to ourselves from the inside out. Can we live as we truly are regardless of the perceived social constraints? I am not suggesting anarchy, no, I am however recommending that we all investigate the labels we use to define who we are and how far we are prepared to go and how they control our true nature and camouflage themselves as inhibitions, or prohibitions on expression.

Tolerance of others is important but pointless if we just tolerate the difference. We must have the presence of mind to be as we are and full unconditional acceptance of others. This can be achieved by being present and allowing life to unfold around us. As long as we are harmless and work together as a community of lives then we may have a chance.

Perception

Perception seems to be the topic of the day and indeed of this current moon cycle. We have been talking about our own perception. This is an involved and complex maze of different aspects for such an innocent little word so let me see if we can unfold part of it.

At the very tip of perception is interpretation and conception or misconception, or perception with a distorted base upon which one concludes what another is meaning. Communication especially verbal interactive communication is fraught with hazards, yet even the written word lacks in the conveyance of a story. Ever read a book then watched the film. We may hear accurately then bundle it up to fit with our current model of how things are perceived and toss whatever does not
fit.

Moving now to a more abstract view of perception and we step into how so called Facts are accepted by the majority until someone or something challenges that fact, which puts a fact into category of ‘a commonly accepted belief’. For instance does the sun revolve around the earth or does the earth revolve around the sun? Galileo challenged that belief, but I personally have no evidence to form an accurate opinion either way, the only thing I know for sure is that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, but so does the moon. So what you may ask, and indeed you may for we accept many things as given, a given reality of the way things are and therefore accept the information that is passed to us without question. Oh you say but I do question it, I say, do you, do I? We are surrounded with many schools of thought all proclaiming to be the truth, yet within each are contradictions of the others. Religion, Philosophy, Science, Art, Education, Construction, Architecture (ouch), the list goes on. We see or hear things and accept that which support our own perception. Thus we form an opinion of ‘what is’ based on the information we have that supports our opinion, but do we ever re-evaluate the perception.

Now I’m going to put this on a personal footing, for this I think is where the real value is. Perception of myself, who I am and how others perceive me, note here the mismatch, my perception of how others perceive me. Think about that for a moment and consider how much of your own perception is based on the perceived perception of others. How much of it is accepted belief and how much is a distortion of reality? I have just figured out that my entire life to date has been walked with a distorted reality identified and conditioned within the first seven years, supported by the next seven, and by the age of twenty one it was so ingrained in my belief system that I had accepted this reality as fact and thus it could not be changed. ‘Just do the best you can with the tools/lot/cards you have’. The original seed was fact or reality, but the perception and resulting compensatory reaction to it by others coloured their perception and behaviour and thus my perception of reality.

This is a complete distortion of reality, served up by well meaning and loving family members including extended family and friends. We can see this with actors being type cased into a specific roll, public perception of a persona locks an actor into one and only one roll and is very difficult to shake it off. In the process of growing up we are type cased and in my case accepted that roll as reality. So we grow up learning about the world and how we fit into it, learning how to perceive things, being guided by family and friends, who may also be operating with distorted perception.
As we walk through life we are occasionally presented with a ‘life challenge’, well I am, anyway, it is important that we walk through those challenges, be they personal, relationship or professional. If we have a perception of ourselves that prevents or inhibits us from walking through these challenges then the perception itself is the challenge. Whether we succeed or fail in the challenge is actually irrelevant, the success is in having walked through it, the outcome is secondary.

The main point to all this and I do think there is one, is that any perception that limits or stops us from walking through a challenge needs to be discarded. Easier said than done, yes, but so is walking through a life challenge, but walk it we must, it may be that dropping a limiting belief of ourselves is the lesson or just a bonus. Question, then your own perception, especially the ones that limit you or distract you from walking your path, question every perception, is it reality or not, does it exist without my belief in it, can it be contradicted, countered, challenge.

There may be more to this that first meets the conscious brain, after all consider the power of phobias. We all accept these as cases of a distorted belief, yet near impossible for the person afflicted by such a belief to just consciously decide otherwise. These are unconscious or subliminal beliefs operating here and not something I’m qualified to comment on, only as far as this is an extreme example of a limiting perception or belief, one that limits the full expression of the self. Some of these limitations or perceptions may be hidden, subliminal, the point being examine even the resistance to something, it may be a false or distorted perception that limits us.

All of these distorted perceptions or false beliefs may in fact be fear based on something that the instinctual animal man needs for survival. Ask yourself ‘Is it fear that stops me?’, and if the answer is yes then walk through it, my friend, because the very belief that stops us, may be transformed into a strength. Easier said than done I know, but facing the fear, challenging the belief has got to be easier that being paralysed by it.

life and the energetic field

Nearby is a small sports park, a sports complex with a field that many people use. It is lined with beautiful mature trees.  What you can see in the first photo is only one corner. Standing in the foreground are two oaks. Beautiful aren’t they.

 
There were three! Actually pretty much every tree you can see in both photos are marked for termination, 33 mature trees in total, why? A bigger field! I cannot express how outraged we were when we found one of our favourite green spaces had been raped like this. Yes that is a strong word but it is a mild expression of how I feel about this. In total we found some 14 trees had already been terminated. If you are a movie buff then by all means think about the Terminator, it is quite relevant in this case, mindless mechanical termination. With all due respect there is no blame or accountability to the people that actually cut them down, they are just doing their job. The reason for my rant is twofold; firstly to express my outrage, the second is to understand the impact.

Life is a field of energy that holds us all, each of us play our part in this energetic field. Anyone who has lost a family member will understand the impact, the birth of new life changes that filed; even the resignation of a work colleague changes the field.

Now back to the park and the grass, trees and the people that use it. This park like any natural area has a field of energy that most of us are either unaware of or simply take for granted. Life in any environment has an energetic field, whether it is a forest, and park, a simple house garden or your own family. It creates a field for the whole and for each life within, and when considering each life it does so as part of the whole, for each life is both part of the whole and a whole life within itself.

Each life has to be whole and complete to contribute to the whole forest. It must however first and foremost maintain its own balance and integrity. Often one life is stronger than another and in this case it can either dominate or support depending on the life and environment. In a healthy cooperative environment, one life may extend its own field out to aid or compensate for another but without compromising the integrity of the other or the whole. All life must balance itself to flourish. When one part of a forest is cut down, all within and therefore the whole is affected and must adjust to the new conditions. Re-establish the harmonic balance of life. This is part of the natural cycle of life, the old pass over and the young mature to take their place to make their contribution to the life as a whole and thereby benefit by the health and wellbeing of the whole. In the natural life cycle, death is the decision of each life and in conjunction with the whole, the lives in and around make adjustments naturally to compensate, allowing the old to pass. But the sudden, deliberate and mechanical termination of individuals from this place must throw the whole life into stress and confusion, much like natural disasters do for us, why would it not be the same.

The lives of the animal kingdom it is the same; they live naturally in harmony and play their part in life’s harmonic play. Life is perpetuated by cooperative activity in the animal kingdom with that of the plant kingdom. We have seen what happens to the natural balance when man intervenes and one thing is introduced or removed, it throws the natural balance of life out and often a ripple effect is setup.

Humanity however seems to have forgotten this aspect of life and now imposes his will on his own environment, with great speed giving no time or consideration to the life around him, with him, of that life that he is also a part of and is dependent on for his own wellbeing. Is this to be our legacy?

When will humanity realise this and awaken from this insanity, and realise that he must live in harmony with his environment, the very environment that supports him. It may sound idealistic but if man is the son of God or some divinity, he must also realise that animals, plants and the very earth he stands on, lives in a harmonic field of energy. We as a human race were put here for a reason; surly this was not to enlighten the human race at the cost of all other life. It must be to enlighten all life, to live in life, to bring light to all life.

Fortunately for the trees in the green space, the community spoke with resounding outrage and have stopped the termination of more trees.

Sward of desire

In this mechanized world of obligation and duty lies an insidious condition, mediocrity and the mundane, it is relentless and insipid. We just go through the motions of daily life and let it consume us with its endless capacity for the mundane details with the illusion that we are living a full and rich life, successful in our chosen career. Yes, we have it all don’t we, the car, the house, the career, wealth and reputation. But what if this is all a smoke screen, an illusion, what then, I ask myself: What if I am just a fool on a journey? Oblivious to the real potential in this life to actually make a difference to my journey and with luck leave a smile on a few faces.

We are put on this earth to experience life, to love life, to sound our own note, not opera in the shower but the free expression of our soul, our desire, to fulfil the reason we came here for, our purpose in life. This is the sward of desire or destiny, the sharp instrument that cuts through the mundane and mediocre. Yet so often we are consumed by the mundane machine that we live in and allow the sward to get dull.

This is a difficult topic to nail down, because it is so insidious. Thirteen years ago I finally found a job that allowed me to follow my passion, the very thing that made my heart sing, each to his own, mine was computer programming, and I loved it. I could spring from bed in the morning and could not wait to get to work, put in more hours that was required and leave inspired, fulfilled, they even paid me for it. There was space to be creative and my heart was engaged with it. However over the past couple of years, bureaucracy has taken over and all that remains is a stifling environment that extinguishes creativity. My heart is no longer in it.  Why, don’t I just leave, you ask. Well that is the subject of this blog, for the same reason that lots of my decisions are based on, fear. Fear of loss, exposure, embarrassment, failure, future consequences, death, and poverty to name a few. Obligations, this one is covert indeed, family, mortgage/rent, insurance and maintaining all the things I own that define who I am.  So with all the risk taken out of life, there is no room left for anything but the mundane and mediocre. Why not clime that mountain, or parachute from a plain for the same reason we buy insurance.

Liberty is mine, shall I say before I pass over to Elysium, that my soul and my right to express its desire is my god given right, my obligation. However, the question remains: how does one keep the sward of desire (soul expression) sharp when it is constantly being dulled by mundane details of mediocrity. Does one keep the sward just for private use? Do we stand and wield it with the passion that it deserves whenever it is confronted by the dullness of the mundane. We must still eat, sleep, work and play.

Desire must override fear. Duty and obligation to others, our duty is to allow the soul’s desire to be expressed and to be heard, to sound ones note, to write, to sing, to build, or to paint. Whatever sings to the heart. Living is an expression of love, it is that simple. We are put here to live, to love, and to sound our note. Mediocrity may be of our own making, consider that. In this western mechanized life style we have created, the average person is bound to the machine of living. Few find their own song. History is littered with expressions, in all fields of endeavour we find great persons that sounded their note, in Arts, Construction, Destruction, Invention, and Discovery. Our song may not make the history books but what is important is that it is sung, the note sounded, it is what makes our own heart lift and we know it is right to do so. Consider the quality of your own life, if the person you most admire, living or not, had surrendered to mediocrity and just went to work and paid the bills.

So, my friends, may our sward be sharp and our song heard. Let not the mundane stay us, let not mediocrity lessen our blow. Live, love life and be true to our heart’s desire. It just may be what our soul wishes to express. We are all enriched by the songs of others. Add our note to the chorus of life.

Live long and prosper.