wandering
This was on Salon.com today. I liked it. But probably because I love wandering.
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Wander. Know that you are a creation of the universe. When I say this, I fear it sounds a little proto-mystical or New Agey. To me, it is not hyperbole or mystic silliness but simple fact, whose meaning we ignore as we pursue the projects of our own will. Meditating on the fact that we do not actually control our own existence but were indeed brought into being by some other force beyond our comprehension has a certain effect; it places us, conceptually, at the mercy of this grand creative force; it places us inside the universe rather than against or on top of the universe. Walking to work this morning along the water I looked around and for a few blessed moments became the subject/object of this force located in the sea; I became the man walking along the water seen by others; I became the random creation not much different from seaweed; seeing myself thusly freed me, momentarily, from my obsessive worry about money and reputation and control of events.
That is just me. But you can start taking the pressure off yourself by realizing that you, too, are a created creature with certain needs and a certain fate. You are not just a bucket of potential. You are not just a developmental project of your parents, your schools, your government and eventually your business or career. You are a worthy person, a wanderer, a soul on a journey.
Yep, there, I said it. Sounding New Agey again. Perhaps "soul on a journey" is not the best way to put it. Let's say that because of your own psychological makeup, your age and experience, and because of your place in the human community, you must now undertake a new and unstructured phase of life in which you make certain decisions based not on empirical evidence but on the strength of intuition and the power of the emotional moment. There. That sounds more reasonable.
You have been given certain gifts and certain powers. But to what end? That is what the journey is about. You must let life bruise you into sentience and humility.
The great thing about wandering is that you do not need to make the right decisions. Aside from surviving the challenges that meet you in the dark, there are no right decisions during this period: There is only the wandering, and the accumulated strength; there is only distance and duration, after which, at a certain time, you go home.
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Wander. Know that you are a creation of the universe. When I say this, I fear it sounds a little proto-mystical or New Agey. To me, it is not hyperbole or mystic silliness but simple fact, whose meaning we ignore as we pursue the projects of our own will. Meditating on the fact that we do not actually control our own existence but were indeed brought into being by some other force beyond our comprehension has a certain effect; it places us, conceptually, at the mercy of this grand creative force; it places us inside the universe rather than against or on top of the universe. Walking to work this morning along the water I looked around and for a few blessed moments became the subject/object of this force located in the sea; I became the man walking along the water seen by others; I became the random creation not much different from seaweed; seeing myself thusly freed me, momentarily, from my obsessive worry about money and reputation and control of events.
That is just me. But you can start taking the pressure off yourself by realizing that you, too, are a created creature with certain needs and a certain fate. You are not just a bucket of potential. You are not just a developmental project of your parents, your schools, your government and eventually your business or career. You are a worthy person, a wanderer, a soul on a journey.
Yep, there, I said it. Sounding New Agey again. Perhaps "soul on a journey" is not the best way to put it. Let's say that because of your own psychological makeup, your age and experience, and because of your place in the human community, you must now undertake a new and unstructured phase of life in which you make certain decisions based not on empirical evidence but on the strength of intuition and the power of the emotional moment. There. That sounds more reasonable.
You have been given certain gifts and certain powers. But to what end? That is what the journey is about. You must let life bruise you into sentience and humility.
The great thing about wandering is that you do not need to make the right decisions. Aside from surviving the challenges that meet you in the dark, there are no right decisions during this period: There is only the wandering, and the accumulated strength; there is only distance and duration, after which, at a certain time, you go home.