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THERE are paradoxes and contradictions in the perspective through which we live and view life on a daily basis.
Once again the theme of this article being symbolic, I would like to touch upon the so-called trivial things in life, which at times appear to carry no importance and at other times seem highly significant ... 'the paradox'. Why do we rate them as such, and how does this lead us to taking things for granted?
These so-called trivial elements may be the link to this whole puzzle known as life. How our life is often uncertain to us, how we do not understand the events fully, why and how they shape, occur or appear to us the way they do.
Let's take the example of a dream. We dream of a pen sitting on a table, amongst various other imageries. We wake up in a blur, but surrounded by curiosity, the mind trying to figure out the significance of that pen it saw.
Imagine a pen - something so trivial, something so insignificant to us. If we saw a pen sitting on a table while at work, we would have never questioned it, it would have never caught our attention, but seeing it in a dream, suddenly we start to give it some sort of unexplained significance, trying to find the answer or link to it. Why?
I will not answer this question yet but I would like to ask you all, to just switch your current frame of perception to this following pattern: imagine you are in a dream while you are living your daily life. Everything your eye witnesses - every object to every view - try looking at it all as a symbol or various symbols, which may be pointing you to something, or in some certain direction. Instead of imagining the direction, instead of assuming it, try following the lead of these symbols. They only appear as symbols as we are not clear about their meaning yet; as we are too used to predefining things before we actually experience them.
This art of viewing details and events as symbols may just help us establish a relationship with them, an opening to a new, evolved perspective approach, a new understanding.
To make this exercise more reasonable and acceptable for the faculty of human reasoning, I would like to highlight the structure of assumptions, how they are formed and how they impact upon us.
Our assumptions are formed based on our current patterns of understanding, our bank of likes and dislikes, formed by the impressions collected over the years. This creates a certain lens, through which we assign certain parameters to analyse everything, to accept or reject everything.
We are viewing life through the lens of memories; we are judging current views from that very old lens. With this approach, are we really living or merely existing?
How about we drop that old lens just for a day? Let curiosity take over, the same curiosity which befriends us each morning as we wake up. Consider a fresh new slate of mind, with no impressions of the past. Instead of judging the view of life through the lens of old impressions, let's view it with curiosity, a wondering state.
Let wondering instead of judging, for this one day. Allow yourself to step beyond pre-defined understandings, allow the objects to freely reveal their true state to you.
To find more contexts for this subject, you can refer back to my previous articles, starting from March 23, online at www.gulfweekly.com
