I’ve written many times about the random chaos of
the cosmic sea around every activity we undertake, and I’ve drawn some unsubstantiated
conclusions from cosmic alignments, orderings and the part each and every
thread in the fabric of our lives goes into making up our experience and
perception.
When I talk to people about the ‘amazingness’ that
brings us to the here and now – the very present moment in our life – the
responses I get fall into what could be described as a pattern spectrum. This
ranges from the wide-eyed ‘spacey’ look at one end to the curled lip ‘what-a-load-of-crap’
retort at the other.
The truth about every response, however, is that it
is – in so many ways – a microcosm of our world view, our map of the world. The
way we perceive our journey across the vast cosmic sea is encapsulated in where
we are placed on that particular aforementioned pattern spectrum.
The
Family Tree
The family tree is good illustration, and when
expanding on the unique power associated with every NOW moment, it really can make
people reconsider their place in the scheme of things.
Although the random alignment of our parents’ lives
that shaped the crucible of our very existence upon this Earth is often quite
jaw-dropping in itself, we get a real sense of the amazingness of the from-NOW-toward continuum when we go
back a generation to our grandparents.
Here, before they meet, are the equally unique lives
of four individuals. Their seemingly random ‘coming together’ in different
places and different times, puts us where we are today. It is stunningly
simple, and yet extremely complex.
And if we go back further generations our presence in
the now becomes even more amazing. Their lives back then have a huge
significance in our lives right now and, by the same token, our lives right now
have a huge significance on those of our children and grandchildren.
Random
influence
We may not consider – in microcosm – the relevance of
the detail of our lives upon those around us, yet it is there every single day.
“My life changed the day I met xxxx,” is a statement of huge significance – and
for each and every one of us, our lives are full of such statements.
Of course xxxx may be a person, or a book, film,
concept, ideal etc. Influence is what we make it – and that goes for the
responses I get on that aforementioned pattern spectrum as well.
The curled-lip responder has not been influenced by ME
to go on an inner conceptual search, yet he will be influenced by something or
someone else and probably very soon – if my understanding of ‘random’ cosmic events
serves me correctly!
The wide-eyed, ‘spaced-out’ responder will be hugely influenced by ME, and perhaps in ways they have no conscious perception of either. Now, this raises some possible questions about responsible influence. And these questions concern all of our encounters with others at THAT end of the spectrum. Such folk do not hang a sign around their neck that says, “Very susceptible to easy influence,” and so we only know how influential we are – particularly for them – when we see their response. Even when we don’t see a response, I know that seeds have and are being sown that may well germinate and later become influence.
The wide-eyed, ‘spaced-out’ responder will be hugely influenced by ME, and perhaps in ways they have no conscious perception of either. Now, this raises some possible questions about responsible influence. And these questions concern all of our encounters with others at THAT end of the spectrum. Such folk do not hang a sign around their neck that says, “Very susceptible to easy influence,” and so we only know how influential we are – particularly for them – when we see their response. Even when we don’t see a response, I know that seeds have and are being sown that may well germinate and later become influence.
Self
influence
The thing is, influence is happening to us in our every
conscious moment. When our eyes open we commence to influence ourselves in an
unending stream called thought and thought processing. Our responses to
everything influence our continued orientation to every waking moment. If we
are feeling good or if the sun is shining, those responses influentially orient
us in a certain direction. We’ll perhaps describe this as ‘colouring our day’
with feel good or sunshine – we are making our day more vivid, with those responses.
If something negative comes along then our
susceptibility to respond to THAT influence is tested – and this is where our state
of wellbeing (our conditioning) can play a significant part. If our
conditioning is below par then we will be more susceptible to negative
influence; likewise if our conditioning is at a good level then we’ll be less
susceptible.
The biggest element to self influence and
susceptibility I believe is our world view, our map of the world. The way we
perceive our journey across the vast cosmic sea not only places us on that
particular aforementioned pattern spectrum, it also calibrates our susceptibility
to influence, and self influence in particular.
Now, how I arrived at that belief from a position of
susceptible self influence would occupy a book in itself, so I will avoid the
temptation to fill these remaining lines with even a tempting prologue or
overture – save perhaps referencing this scene from Forrest Gump:-
Shoes,
Chocolates, and Momma
In terms of the microcosm of Forrest Gump’s life,
his biggest influence was undoubtedly his Momma and her particular metaphors of
shoes and boxes of chocolates. He never questioned the vast cosmic sea or was
susceptible to any of the vagaries of a simple though dramatic life. We’d
describe him as uncomplicated, almost simple – yet was this down to his
influences and his susceptibility, or was it the way his brain was ‘wired’?
And, for us, leading our over-complicated and
complex lives, is this too down to our influences and our susceptibility – is this
about the way our brains our ‘wired’?
What I do know is that on the from-NOW-toward continuum, the NOW is both a landing and a launch
pad. And like all landing and launch pads, there should be nothing lying around
and the decks should be clear.
The
“Dove from Above”
So all this profound and microcosmic pondering came
about during a recent promenade along the local sea front where I live.
It was a very pleasant afternoon, the sea reflected many
shades of blue, a light zephyr blew and late spring sunshine bathed all the
holidaymakers and I in a frame of relaxation and pleasure without time
constraints.
I was queuing to get an ice cream from “Mr Hockings”
van and, after some time working my way forward in the scheme of things of
queues, like that, I reached second place. My mouth watered, I licked my lips
in anticipation and I got my change ready to pay.
The lady in front of me had presumably drawn the short
straw, and was buying a variety of choices for the members of her family – six in
all, as it happened. And then, as random as the cosmos can be, IT happened!
A silent, yet probably gleeful, seagull passed
overhead and blessed her with unerring accuracy.
Her reaction to this aerial box of chocolates said
everything about her life and her shoes. The ice creams were unscathed – only she
had been hit. She asked the ice cream man for some paper napkins and wiped herself down,
loaded up with her cargo and set off.
Not once had she shown any susceptibility
to adverse reaction.
Would I be next in the firing line? Well, the cosmos
is as random as we want to make it!
