How wrong are we?
How possible is it that a large percentage of our lives are just one big misunderstanding? A long line of missed points, ignored possibilities and huge oversights, and how much does that really matter anyway?
I mean, first of all we should acknowledge that this might very well be the case and still facilitate a happy and fulfilling life. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? Happiness!
Having said that, how can we be sure that another way of living, this way that we have been totally ignoring or overlooking, wouldn’t lead to an increase in that happiness? Or perhaps even lead to a level of happiness presumed not to exist? In a similar way to the feeling of being in love for the first time and that feeling in its entirety, being put into perspective or even recognized as ‘not really love at all’ when later in life you meet someone that completely blows your mind and shows you a much higher, infinitely deeper and all consuming level of love that you never knew existed until that very moment.
What if we’ve been missing out? What if our understanding of happiness is actually a distorted view based on quick fixes and injections of sensual gratifications that are ultimately unfulfilling?
We could live out our entire lives not really ever understanding what it is to actually live as human being on planet earth.
Is it not a truth that humans are both creatures of habit and rather weak in conviction regarding change in those habits? In our personal lives we may tend to lean toward what feels good, what tastes good and what is easy, even if that means we eat the wrong foods, drink the wrong drinks and generally treat our bodies in the wrong way in nearly every respect. But it feels good so it gives the impression that life is good.
There are many reasons as to why we follow this path, some obvious and some not so obvious. One of those that falls somewhere in-between is that this path is laid out for us. Quite simply it is a large part of the world that has been created around us. In addition, this particular path is neither good or bad, it just is. These choices are not forced upon us. They are choices. We are however, subconsciously guided toward a state of being that may very well be against our best wishes and certainly we are urged to go willingly but perhaps we are fooled that we do it knowingly.
I look at my child and he reminds me of the nature of human perfection. He sits with naturally straight posture. He breathes naturally from his center. He has no vices and no addictions. He is pure of heart and mind. He wakes up happy and happiness and excitement comes to him easily.
I could go on but you get the drift.
I hope to encourage these beautiful ways of being and to sustain them for as long as it is within my power to do so. I see it as my responsibility to help him to understand the importance of such simple and natural states of being as now I see that rather too rapidly there will come attempts to strip them away from him.
As his parent I also take great responsibility in what he consumes and because he is in a natural state of being he sees fruit in a similar light to sweets. He also naturally enjoys vegetables and eating healthily. He drinks water and often chooses that over cordial that may be offered as an alternative.
The point being is that I see him living well and living right with total ease and I see the benefits. I see the purity and health of his almost brand new body and it is an incredible gift. Its fascinating how blessed we are with this machine that carries us through this journey. So I see the beginning state in all its awe-inspiring beauty, and then I can’t help but see where it can lead if he is left unguided and uninformed. He has not begun to understand the path that is waiting for him. He is only just feeling the pull and the beckoning of sensual gratification above sustenance, not that the two are mutually exclusive, in fact that may well be another falsity suggested in this world of thoughtless consumption based on the shallow senses rather than the same gratification through health sustaining practices, which I believe will always hold greater pay offs.
Lets return to adults. Whatever they are. Regardless of the definition or what makes an adult, it is us that are generally firmly somewhere deep along our journey and have certainly found our way ushered down the path.
This is what gives us the ability to question and comment. This experience and understanding is what enables us to take a birds eye view of the tapestry that we live in, rather than choosing to remain a bug crawling around amongst the weave clueless as to its design or grandeur.
Therefore it is always a combination of awareness and the desire to evolve for the better that leads to change. You first have to care that a large percentage of your existence as a human being is built on misguided, inadequate and self-defeating practices, routines and habits to then bother to do anything about changing it.
If it tastes good, feels good and is easy, quick and gratifying then for many that is what it’s all about and there is no further thought process, inquiry, effort or intent added to the equation. Fair enough.
The concept is that many of us eat without understanding nutrition. We drink without acknowledging the need of fresh water. We breathe without understanding breath. We stand and move without understanding posture. We sleep without understanding beneficial positioning. We think without understanding our own minds. We can’t even control our own minds. We act without true control and we drift through life on its surface without ever truly understanding the beauty of its depths that are there for us to experience if we would only choose.
We overlook the importance of so many actions that we take for granted. We exist on the surface of the ocean and ignore the depths.
Perhaps we have got it all wrong and in the quest for happiness we deny ourselves a level of happiness that far exceeds anything that we have experienced to date.
How wrong are we? And what does it matter anyway?