We have been back from vacation a week now, and many of us have celebrated Christmas. Many of us however, have not.
These days, fewer of us have something to celebrate that does not originate within the bounds of human understanding, and more of us reject anything that smacks of mystery or cosmic meaning.
This means that any meaning we have in our lives, is limited to what the world can offer. Or less.
It is fascinating, but upsetting, to see someone trapped in a pit of negative thoughts and feelings, and at the same time not be able to speak of any hope of transcendence or even an alternate perspective. It becomes a case of “my reality” being the only reality, and making up one’s mind, even in distress, not to consider that there is anything else.
A case of “paranoia” comes to mind.
Sally was afraid. She was afraid that something would go wrong, that somehow she would come to harm or that her children would be run down by a car. Her fears so overwhelmed her that at times, even for a week or two on end, she could not step foot outside her front door.
This means that she could not keep a job, and depended on her husband and provincial health care to stay alive. In all of this, oddly enough, she was not suicidal. It may be that she was afraid of what lay beyond death as well!
Sally was trapped because she could not, or would not, consider that her perspective was nothing on a cosmic scale, or that there even was a cosmic scale of things, or even an ordinary balanced “human” scale of things.
I offer this as an extreme example of what happens to us when we allow ourselves to become trapped inside the workings of our own mind, and cannot look beyond the bounds of our own personal experiences.
It seems that many of us shape an identity based only on what we can delve from the well of our own minds. It follows that we run up against the perspective of others who live in their own minds or who allow more than one source of inspiration to build up their self-awareness.
It is true enough that we all should be free to live as we choose, but that means that each person should be ready to hear that someone else has rejected the way he or she has chosen. Getting twisted up into knots about the fact that my neighbour disapproves of my life-choices simply makes life more stressful for no real reason.
If I happen to be looking for something that could make a positive difference in my life, I should be brave and examine all ideas and possibilities, and even seek them out, so that in the end, my failure to find an “ethelred” or high-minded idea, will not be for lack of effort.
“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.
