Saturday, June 21, 2014
A moment to ponder
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
A Day without Doubt
There was once this time when I was in the woods....
I'm sure I might receive some criticism for trying to talk to a tree, but I'm only sharing my experience. Out of curiosity, I wanted to ask a tree for advice. I found this one, it was one of the largest on the woods. To my memory, it was an oak. I leaned my back against it and stood in silence. When the time felt right, I asked the tree for advice. And to my surprise, it answered. It didn't speak, it didn't have to. Maybe it was a spirit or entity outside of the tree, speaking on its behalf, but this is what I heard:
It said: "Stop looking to me for advice! Can't you see that I'm a tree? I am not qualified to instruct you to be a human just like you cannot instruct me how to be a tree. Just like I do not need your advice, you do not need mine. You can ask the next tree and you will hear the same answer. You can ask the stream, the hills, or the clouds and you will hear the same answer. You have no reason to question yourself. None of us do."
And in that flash thought, I had my answer. I thanked it and left the woods. I thanked each tree during my exit, then thanked the woods for its hospitality. To this day, I am aware that even this tree lived by a rather Taoist principle: everything is as it is, as it should be. In that moment, my self-doubt was gone. I live, I breathe, I move just as I do, as I should. Everything follows its own path, it's own Tao. Of course I can't tell a tree how to be a tree, just like it can't tell me how to be human. We do this to ourselves all the time, incurring doubt by false instruction. We neglect to allow individuals to simply be and would prefer to instruct others on how to behave.
As the sole thinkers of our thoughts, we cannot philosophically doubt ourselves. We can only doubt those around us, other individuals, or various outcomes. We use that uncertainty to generate doubt in our own minds. Then that doubt becomes a factor to belittle or judge ourselves. Because our minds are our own, we know our thoughts. In reference to your own thoughts, decisions, emotions, or beliefs, only you can know them....therefore, you literally cannot doubt yourself. The tree doesn't doubt itself, it simply is.
I'm sure I might receive some criticism for trying to talk to a tree, but I'm only sharing my experience. Out of curiosity, I wanted to ask a tree for advice. I found this one, it was one of the largest on the woods. To my memory, it was an oak. I leaned my back against it and stood in silence. When the time felt right, I asked the tree for advice. And to my surprise, it answered. It didn't speak, it didn't have to. Maybe it was a spirit or entity outside of the tree, speaking on its behalf, but this is what I heard:
It said: "Stop looking to me for advice! Can't you see that I'm a tree? I am not qualified to instruct you to be a human just like you cannot instruct me how to be a tree. Just like I do not need your advice, you do not need mine. You can ask the next tree and you will hear the same answer. You can ask the stream, the hills, or the clouds and you will hear the same answer. You have no reason to question yourself. None of us do."
And in that flash thought, I had my answer. I thanked it and left the woods. I thanked each tree during my exit, then thanked the woods for its hospitality. To this day, I am aware that even this tree lived by a rather Taoist principle: everything is as it is, as it should be. In that moment, my self-doubt was gone. I live, I breathe, I move just as I do, as I should. Everything follows its own path, it's own Tao. Of course I can't tell a tree how to be a tree, just like it can't tell me how to be human. We do this to ourselves all the time, incurring doubt by false instruction. We neglect to allow individuals to simply be and would prefer to instruct others on how to behave.
As the sole thinkers of our thoughts, we cannot philosophically doubt ourselves. We can only doubt those around us, other individuals, or various outcomes. We use that uncertainty to generate doubt in our own minds. Then that doubt becomes a factor to belittle or judge ourselves. Because our minds are our own, we know our thoughts. In reference to your own thoughts, decisions, emotions, or beliefs, only you can know them....therefore, you literally cannot doubt yourself. The tree doesn't doubt itself, it simply is.
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