From our emergence into this world at birth, all the way up until our final rest,
we're taught to view the world in terms of duality. Good and
bad.
Happy and
sad.
Positive and
negative.
Light and
dark.
Beautiful and
ugly.
Right and
wrong. In fact, in the whole spectrum of possible experience it seems as if
we tend to gravitate towards one polarity or another, when, in all reality,
there really is absolutely no difference between either side of that spectrum except for the feelings that we attach to those things. That is to say, for instance, that a thing is only considered
"bad" because we ourselves have attached a negative meaning to that thing that says it's bad and therein lies the nature of all things. These feelings we have not only dictate meaning towards the things we encounter in life, but they also fundamentally shape our perceptions of the world. So, in all actuality,
everything is neutral until we attach meaning to it and, in this way, the duality that we all experience is really merely nothing more than a projection of our own consciousness.
Where do we get these ideas and interpretations of our reality then? Well, some of these ideas we, of course, develop on our own, but also, I think just by nature of being brought up in any culture, we are subject to being influenced by the collective views of society and by the perspectives of those in our environment around us. The truth is though, that, beyond all those things,
everything that happens in our lives, by one means or another,
is perfect just the way it is. Granted, there are a great number of things out there that might bring harm to people and, most certainly, anything that imposes upon the
will and/or
well being of another is a potentially harmful thing to the world, but those things, I think, really come down to more of an issue of common sense.
I'm more referring here to all of those things that each of us do everyday that stand as unique and, perhaps even, unprecendented expressions of who we really are as individuals and of what humanity can truly be. We may not understand all of these things to be sure, but I think that as human beings who are just learning about our lives as we go, that there is always something beautiful to be taken in from every experience that we have.
~ You've got an angry person in your life? Well, you can almost bet that they're only angry because they're in the same process of learning some deeper lessons about life as we are.
~ You've been dumped by your significant other? Well, isn't it possible that you're here to have experiences with more than just that one person in your life and that, by opening ourselves up to new people, we can only learn new and beautiful things about ourselves and about the world?
~ You feel uncomfortable around people who look, act or even think differently than you do? Well, could it be that you're just struggling with that fear that we all have of the unknown and of those things in life that we simply just don't yet understand because they're maybe just a little different from the way that we have chosen to live our own lives?
The point is that
there really are an infinite number of ways to live a life and, although we will certainly never understand them all, they are all beautiful in their own way. In fact, if we can learn to appreciate and even find joy in those differences between us all, while also allowing others to be what they are and to create their own unique expression of the life experience,
I think we'll begin to find that, even after we've probed the virtually infinite depths of the entire universe,
all of those different individual perceptions and expressions of life are probably one of the most stunningly fascinating things about life that we may ever encounter. I believe that once we're able to recognize that too, that then we will no longer feel the need to waste our energies struggling against the world or in self-defense, as our world suddenly becomes much bigger and we are able to look out at the universe with new eyes and marvel in wonder and awe at the magic of all that is...
