That’s a funny saying, isn’t it?
Being: Our default. What is. Life, in its purest form. Without label.
Purpose: A mind-creation. Post-hoc application of meaning. From the Latin pro- (beginning) and the Greek -pauein (to put an end to) … all very time-based.
AAAANYWAY…
For me this phrase points to one of my favourite subjects: separate realities.
As in, we can never see something the way someone else does, because they are literally experiencing a different reality from us. It’s not a case of there being an objective reality that we all have a different view on.
They’re experiencing their own inner world, made up of their lifetime’s conditioning.
(I wonder if that has any implications for relationships?!?! 😬)
An example
When I used to walk my daughter to school, there's one slightly dodgy corner we had to cross, near where we live. It’s often busy. The road is super-steep, down to the junction (I’ve been driving it for years, and still misjudge the gradient at times). Bushes obscure the view.
This day, there are three cars coming down as we scoot across, and the first is coming in hot.
My daughter 👧🏻: “Whoa, did you see that?”
Me 👤: “Yeah, moving pretty fast.”
👧🏻: “They were! I think we startled them.”
👤: [Thinking… Odd!] “Umm, maybe. They didn't really seem to notice us, to be honest. That’s half the problem.”
👧🏻: “Yeah, they did - they flew away, as soon as we came near them!”
👤: [WTF?!!] “Hang on, what are you talking about?!”
👧🏻: “The blackbirds in the bush. Why, what are you talking about?”
👤: “Oh, the traffic!”
One situation. Two realities.
(Three, if you count the car driver. Five if you count the blackbirds.)
But seriously.
How often do we bash on with a conversation—‘at cross-purposes’—without finding out what the other person is actually talking about?
Or start one, assuming the other person is on the same page as us?
Seeing the nature of how we experience the world more deeply… and then more deeply still, has remarkable effects on improving the quality of that experience.
Especially our relationships with others, be that at work, or at home.
💟
Giles
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Giles P Croft
Well? Are you?