We want someone watching over us. We want to feel we're being watched over, even if that means manufacturing guilt. We want to abdicate our power, our birthright.
We make ourselves feel guilt because deep down we know, in Reality, there is no guilt, there is nothing to feel guilty about, That we are truly innocent. That there are no moral or ethical consequences. All that is made up; an overlay.
But more, there is no one, no GOD watching over us. Judging us, Approving or Disapproving. Nothing watches over us. Things, experiences happen and ripples are formed, but there are no “repercussions” of right and wrong.
What if there were no “consequences" – no cosmic, religio-spiritual punishment? (In Groundhog Day Bill Murray’s character says this. I think about ALL the things he did to everyone in every possible combination and ways for all the YEARS he was there.) I think people are afraid to realize there is no higher authority.
I can say that I am free and that I can do anything I want and know what that means and all that goes along with it. I think most people would freak out if faced with that. Yet that truth is as true for them as me. We are all free.
They would scream in fear and terror that if they could do anything they want they would do it to excess and society would fail and so on. But, really, I don’t see that as automatically following.
Just because I KNOW I can do anything, doesn’t mean I will automatically do it.
Amsterdam may be (have been) a good example. While soft drugs were easily available, the locals rarely partook and then in light moderation - it’s all the tourists coming from areas w/ tighter drug laws that created all the issues.
So, do something that you have always thought you would get in trouble for. A classic one seems to be: eat a can of frosting. Or 10 Twinkies. And see what happens when we do the one thing(s) we’ve thought or been told or believed would cause the world to end, and the world keeps spinning. Because, really, no one is watching and no one cares. It’s all perfect. All of it. Even the nasty bits.
We want to feel we matter, that we are special enough to deserve attention, and if that means punishment along with it, then so be it.
I’ll take being a "Free Nothing" over that any day.
3 comments:
hey Nemo,
the thought of eating a can of frosting gets me a little sick, so i guess by trial and error i can know what will be enjoyable or not. Not that everything needs to be tried to be denied or avoided... reminds me of a Laurie Anderson song: from "Monkey's Paw" -"I know a man he lost his head He said: The way I feel I'd be better off dead. He said: I got everything I ever wanted Now I can't give it up It's a trap, just my luck! The gift of life it's a leap of faith It's a roll of the die It's a free lunch A free ride The gift of life it's a shot in the dark It's the call of the wild It's the big wheel The big ride But Nature's got rules and Nature's got laws And if you cross her look out!"
The specifics differ from person to person. The question would be to you :
What is it you tell yourself you should not do...
interesting question...
i tell myself i should not (allow myself) to emerge as something new, though i feel as if i am. Instead i act as if i am what i've always been, and to those around me, there is nothing new about me. Not allowing myself to emerge means that i am lost or caught in-between what i was and what i might be. I am content with this situation, but the more i look at it, or think about it, the contentment i claim, is actually conditional.
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