How can you go through life without questioning things? Without questioning yourself? Without a healthy amount of skepticism? One of the many invaluable blessings of traveling all over the world is that you see the ways in which culture, environment, society, and family shape reality. I remember after I had spent about five months in Australia, I was having dinner with my host Gordon and we were having a lively conversation about Trump and politics in America and it felt like I had lived in Straya' my whole life. I was so absorbed in the experience I forgot for a moment that I actually grew up in a place called the United States! Traveling expanded my mind in such a way to where I could first appreciate my childhood, and then examine it and my own conditioning and be open to living a different way.
It's 3:56am right now. I was just getting cozy in bed and had an intriguing train of thought, and in these situations I've realized it's best to put it all down on paper. Quickly. Before it fades. In other words, get my bony ass outta bed! This morning, along with my customized stretching I love doing to get the energy flowing, I said a prayer to my higher Self. Something along the lines of, "I just want to uplift those around me today." With that intention in mind my day flowed along those lines. Tonight, or shall I say last night, I spent a few hours with a cousins family I don't usually see much. They have four little girls, and being in this situation where there are adults and kids present, I tend to always hang out with the kids. Why? The mind of a child is so fascinating and curious and playful and fun and open and free. Before all the programming and dogma of society and religion and the structures of identity imprison the mind in a box of beliefs and conditioned responses, there is a purity of psychic freedom in the moment that most adults (myself included, but I'm working on it) simply don't have. I've never spent any time with these kids, and within minutes we were running around playing tag and jumping on the tramp and just having a ball of a time. I was sitting down for a moment to take a breather from lifting these lil superwomen into the air, and Abigail walked up to me and sat on my lap looking straight into my eyes. How much more beautiful and joyous this life would be if adults had that much freedom to just Be? To have that trust and fearlessness and ever present childlike love. I whipped out my hoverboard and took everyone for a lil ride. They all loved it so much. A brand new experience. Before I was about to head out Abigail said to her Mom, "I wish Andrew could live here." So sweet!
Of course, right when I got in my car, the external goofiness that is my personality dove headfirst into my inner inclination towards deep philosophical thought. How is it that in less than two hours, a little girl who I've never spent time with, already wants me to join the family? Equal ground. It's all about equal ground. Seeing other Beings as equal, no matter what age or race or sexual orientation or personality. What, just because I'm twenty seven years old (which means absolutely nothing to me) I supposedly know more about life and have to act like a big ol' responsible adult? Yeah right, more like the other way around. I wonder what the world could be if everyone adopted that attitude? Being on equal ground not just with other people, but with plants and animals and rocks and insects and trees. I'll call it the equal ground principle. Part of the problem that frustrates me about cultural and societal dogma, is that it creates barriers. It perpetuates the idea of me vs you. Or us vs them. Like if you don't follow the prescribed path of society or religion or what your parents tell you to do you won't be accepted and happy in life. What nonsense! It creates a subconscious wedge between you and other people. I love the way Richard Alpert words it, "Lets lay down our righteousness and just be together." Meaning, lets lay down our preconceived notions and judgements and moral high groundedness about how other people (as well as ourselves) "should" be and just be in the moment with the way it Is.
What is free will? What does that even mean? Am I really free to make my own choices, day in and day out? I don't believe it's a black and white concept. Take for example the subconscious mind. The majority of our choices and behavior comes from that place that we have no real access to in day to day life, unless you are a child and your mind is still in that wide open space, or high on psychedelic drugs, or perhaps severely mentally handicapped or schizophrenic. If you stop and think about a full day, how much of your behavior is the same as it always is? Is it really you choosing to brush your teeth or drive to work the same way or shop the same isles at the grocery store? Or is it simply programmed behavior hardwired into that gray mush in your skull to enable you to use your energy efficiently? My vote is on the latter.
What about a lil guy that is born into an abusive family? Parents are both alcoholics and there is a lot of violence and anger in the home. Fast forward a few decades and that same man finds himself abusing his own wife. And then drinking to numb the pain from his childhood and his own anger fueled violence. He swore to himself he'd never be like his parents... yet here is... doing the exact same thing. Could you honestly say that he made those choices himself? I don't think you can. It's subconscious programming. Could he do things like meditate and pray and practice watching his own reactions to then be able to choose a better way? Absolutely. But see that's where free will gets really sticky. The subconscious, your genetics, and the environment you grew up in, is ultimately the controller and creator of your reality, not your own "free will." That' what I believe anyway.
It's 3:56am right now. I was just getting cozy in bed and had an intriguing train of thought, and in these situations I've realized it's best to put it all down on paper. Quickly. Before it fades. In other words, get my bony ass outta bed! This morning, along with my customized stretching I love doing to get the energy flowing, I said a prayer to my higher Self. Something along the lines of, "I just want to uplift those around me today." With that intention in mind my day flowed along those lines. Tonight, or shall I say last night, I spent a few hours with a cousins family I don't usually see much. They have four little girls, and being in this situation where there are adults and kids present, I tend to always hang out with the kids. Why? The mind of a child is so fascinating and curious and playful and fun and open and free. Before all the programming and dogma of society and religion and the structures of identity imprison the mind in a box of beliefs and conditioned responses, there is a purity of psychic freedom in the moment that most adults (myself included, but I'm working on it) simply don't have. I've never spent any time with these kids, and within minutes we were running around playing tag and jumping on the tramp and just having a ball of a time. I was sitting down for a moment to take a breather from lifting these lil superwomen into the air, and Abigail walked up to me and sat on my lap looking straight into my eyes. How much more beautiful and joyous this life would be if adults had that much freedom to just Be? To have that trust and fearlessness and ever present childlike love. I whipped out my hoverboard and took everyone for a lil ride. They all loved it so much. A brand new experience. Before I was about to head out Abigail said to her Mom, "I wish Andrew could live here." So sweet!
Of course, right when I got in my car, the external goofiness that is my personality dove headfirst into my inner inclination towards deep philosophical thought. How is it that in less than two hours, a little girl who I've never spent time with, already wants me to join the family? Equal ground. It's all about equal ground. Seeing other Beings as equal, no matter what age or race or sexual orientation or personality. What, just because I'm twenty seven years old (which means absolutely nothing to me) I supposedly know more about life and have to act like a big ol' responsible adult? Yeah right, more like the other way around. I wonder what the world could be if everyone adopted that attitude? Being on equal ground not just with other people, but with plants and animals and rocks and insects and trees. I'll call it the equal ground principle. Part of the problem that frustrates me about cultural and societal dogma, is that it creates barriers. It perpetuates the idea of me vs you. Or us vs them. Like if you don't follow the prescribed path of society or religion or what your parents tell you to do you won't be accepted and happy in life. What nonsense! It creates a subconscious wedge between you and other people. I love the way Richard Alpert words it, "Lets lay down our righteousness and just be together." Meaning, lets lay down our preconceived notions and judgements and moral high groundedness about how other people (as well as ourselves) "should" be and just be in the moment with the way it Is.
What is free will? What does that even mean? Am I really free to make my own choices, day in and day out? I don't believe it's a black and white concept. Take for example the subconscious mind. The majority of our choices and behavior comes from that place that we have no real access to in day to day life, unless you are a child and your mind is still in that wide open space, or high on psychedelic drugs, or perhaps severely mentally handicapped or schizophrenic. If you stop and think about a full day, how much of your behavior is the same as it always is? Is it really you choosing to brush your teeth or drive to work the same way or shop the same isles at the grocery store? Or is it simply programmed behavior hardwired into that gray mush in your skull to enable you to use your energy efficiently? My vote is on the latter.
What about a lil guy that is born into an abusive family? Parents are both alcoholics and there is a lot of violence and anger in the home. Fast forward a few decades and that same man finds himself abusing his own wife. And then drinking to numb the pain from his childhood and his own anger fueled violence. He swore to himself he'd never be like his parents... yet here is... doing the exact same thing. Could you honestly say that he made those choices himself? I don't think you can. It's subconscious programming. Could he do things like meditate and pray and practice watching his own reactions to then be able to choose a better way? Absolutely. But see that's where free will gets really sticky. The subconscious, your genetics, and the environment you grew up in, is ultimately the controller and creator of your reality, not your own "free will." That' what I believe anyway.
I find much more value in practicing self love and acceptance than in trying to be a version of myself that is created by the expectations of society, other people, and any other external factors.
