 Earlier this month, on the beaches of Sri Lanka, an Indian man asked me this: "If you were to summarize all the collective wisdom and experience you've gathered in life into one thought, what would it be?"
Wow. I decided not to overthink and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Most people in the world (including myself) want to do good. They want to connect. But we are all terribly blinded in the snowstorms of fear." Now I'm passed this question on to others. The lady at my Yogyakarta homestay quoted the Roman Virgil "Fortune favors the bold." Another said, "Live your life. Enjoy the experience of existence." One of the many things I learned at Burning Man is that by eschewing perfunctory questions (which are frowned upon) we have to search for more unique ones. "What's your job?" will get a well polished answer. To ask "Who are the kinds of people you most respect?" would immediately plunge the listener into contemplation, create appreciation for a well crafted inquiry, and produce a genuine bit of knowledge. The conversations I had in Black Rock dove immediately into the profound and vulnerable. They brought out real insight gained from a wealth of life experience different than mine. They created a stronger bond between the discoursers. How would you answer the above question? And what is a question you employ to get a better answer?
6 Comments
Katy
1/18/2017 06:59:32 am
We are born to compete in evolution, produce offspring and die. Our behavior consists of a base - the instincts of the monkey, and a cultural superstructure, which builds in the course of life thanks to our hypertrophied brain. This brain gives un unlimited possibilities of knowledge. It's only entertainment, not boring, that can fill our life in the absense of necessary of the struggle for existance
Jonathan
1/21/2017 05:56:00 am
That's an interesting one Katy. I can see how one could classify most human behavior to this day as more advanced survival and mating strategies. But I would like to believe that there is a ghost in the machine which has come alive. Some of the things we do, like using contraception, betray our genetic top priorities. Hopefully what replaces those primal drives is more than entertainment, but something higher like love, connection, and transcendence.
Katy
1/21/2017 12:09:37 pm
Sorry for my english, i'll try to explain more clearly. People use contraception, and also destroy environment in which they live, destroy themselves sometimes or do sex change. As you can see, to have a mind is not meant to be a reasonable man, unfortunately. The mind can sometimes be quite a problem. The Nature, for example, doesn't have a mind but it's made rationally. The wisdom is to use our mind in a positive direction - learning, travelling, creating, connecting, loving. I believe that for doing good we should know ourselves, who we are, where are we came from, but without illusions about divine origin (it is very presumtuosly considering how much trouble man had done:) Illusions increase the chaos. But your message is very positive!!
Basia
1/18/2017 08:56:06 am
The answer (one of multitude : ).. We become like whatever we worship. The question is.. Who/what do you worship and why? Bless you!
Jonathan
1/21/2017 06:02:33 am
Thanks for the words Basia. Interesting take on things. What if you worship nothing but see the divinity in everything?
Basia
1/22/2017 03:57:14 pm
"to worship" I mean literally and lyrically.. Leave a Reply. |
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