Saturday, September 12, 2015

So Tell Me Not About the Weather - But About How You Perceive It

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The quality of light is slightly different at 6:45 am when it’s already 79 degrees Fahrenheit than on a day that has started out at say, maybe, 60 degrees or below, I’ve noticed.  I’m not sure why that is.  Certainly there must be some scientific explanation that might serve as suitable enough a description to satisfy an inquiring mind such as mine? 

Alas, however, I am not a scientist but a philosopher and it is not may way to grab hold of scientific knowledge to tout it about but rather to take it in if and only if it might serve in some way to improve or challenge my understanding of a thing.  To describe my sunny observation of these hot days I have to go into a method of using the words inside of my mind to attempt to convey the richness of the hues, the golden ever so slightly rosy tint of silver everything seems etched in on the early morning of a very hot day and realize this scene and its accompanying set of associated feelings is not something we all notice very often if at all.  I notice it only because I am an early riser and I see this on every very warm day.  Sometimes my perception is accompanied by a neutral nonchalance while at others, a fair bit of trepidation as my mind runs simulations of the days' potential events and future potential resulting feelings.



We’ve been unseasonably hot with much humidity of late in my part of the world but I’m not really here to talk about the weather.  I’m here to talk about the human condition and leading up to that moment when we encounter something we just simply think we can bear not even one more single moment of.  What then do we do?  I suppose our individual environmental psychology might take over then and dictate how we will handle ourselves when the weather is so hot and we’re not used to it.  For many of us, we’re likely to feel quite miserable and no doubt that misery is likely to be shared with all in even remote proximity is some way.  Perhaps we are grumpy and frowning or elated and joyful with the warmth?



Unfortunate or fortunate as that may seem there is something I wish to convey in order for you to consider.  No matter what we face here, life on Earth is tenuous at best.  Our consciousness however, is not.  Many moons ago on a hot summer day I learned about consciousness in a different way and I’ll never forget what I learned.  The impact that learning had on my awareness has nagged me for nearly 20 years and so it is not so surprising I guess that I’m awake staring into the darkness, noticing the stars and the fact that it is still 79-80 degrees Fahrenheit at precisely 5:38 am and I’ve got a full day of yoga training ahead of me.


One thing I’ve noticed is that the mind is so very powerful as is our ability to perceive and make choices.  Although so much seems so involuntary, it isn’t.  Maybe we can’t instantaneously and miraculously change the weather in an instant but we can choose whether we feel good or horrible about it and in so doing, changing our experience and how the experience is written into the archives of the soul that bears witness to everything we experience here incarnate and beyond.  And through the soul peers the observer that holds nothing other than its drive towards existence in the absence of judgement…a curiosity or knowningness perhaps that regardless of heat or not, the individual is going to be okay no matter how he or she perceives, reacts or does not react to a thing or situation.   

When I look at the day ahead this way, It doesn’t much matter to  me whether it is hot or cold.  It matters to me that I learn to understand the data I take in consciously and sort out that taken in unconsciously and then choose my perceptions and experiences carefully.  I also think it is important that I consider well my own ability to help me see my own way home and I’m talking about the home inside of me no matter where I am or go or exist.  I exist.  Smiling at that, I leave you with wishes for a beautiful day.


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© 2015 Jaie Hart (photo/words)
 

Monday, September 7, 2015

The Right Premise- What is That?

Wow is life so very amazing! You may or may not agree and that’s perfect. Your perspectives as I have often written are the filtered through which you learn. Many a famous teacher has pointed out and rightly so that you can take two human beings and put them in the same situation and each is going to perceive it differently, oppositely even if they agree on the basic premises of the situation. In this example, say the two human beings are placed in a tropical rain forest.

Both agree that they are in a rain forest and so begin their perceiving from the premise upon which their perceiving is built. Each perceives then, his or her experience through the filters that have shaped their beliefs about how they view their experience. One may love the showers and the other may detest it. One may love the Earthy smells and sounds and the other may dislike it thinking everything is dirty and unclean. Who is right and who is wrong? How is one person’s perception right and another’s wrong when two perceptions collide even if they agree upon the premise from which they begin?

This is not an original idea. It’s an old one — A very old understanding of the way things work here. But, if you were to spend all of your time following the thread of the way things work here, there is something important you are going to miss, like your own life, for example. It is your life and you can choose to miss it and focus all your efforts externally in blame, seeking conspiracy theories or searching ancient truths to validate the premise from which you begin to project your own perception or you can do something else. You could just decide live.

If you are of an inquiring mind in terms of your own self-development, seek out the patterns and themes that have existed within your life. Your own life lessons will tell you every single thing you need to know – add to that the observer’s “feeling” within you (not read emotion as that belongs to the realm of the small “c” conscious ego). The Observer’s “feeling” is much more expansive and comes from an entirely different place and just from experiencing that place within you, you may realize you have many premises from which you exist and project into this world via your own beliefs about what you experience. Is your world like the rain forest? Is it like a barren desert? Is it like a tropical Oasis? What is it for you?

You chose it for your experiencing pleasure and even though at times there seems not one thing pleasurable about your experience the moment you stop applying pressure to align to your beliefs about who you should be, there will be a moment of clarity of feeling that comes from the observer within you. Pay attention to that. Taste that like it is the rarest most delicious dessert you have ever consumed and be grateful for it for you have just found your true self. And that is very likely part of your true objective and purpose here within this plane whether or not you’ve consciously become aware of your premise.

© Jaie Hart (photo/words)