In order to magically not be like “mostpeople,” one has to stand alone… like a single leaf upon a branching tree… (which is not isolation; it is really joyously and steadfastly being connected to the whole).
“Mostpeople” will not deeply understand this. “Mostpeople” are not able to function via a profundity of much understanding. Do what you want… but I’m not interested in going with the masses of “mostpeople”; they all fall away from “being one with the whole.”
Like most of the leaves of a tree in late fall or in winter… “mostpeople” find it very easy to exist separately, apart from the whole. That is how “mostpeople” cadaverously go about their separate ways.
The “me” is what “mostpeople” are. “Mostpeople” are what they were taught. “Mostpeople” readily absorb and become what they were fabricated to become. “Mostpeople” are the fear of going beyond what they were merely taught; hence, they fear going into the truly unknown… into the truly mysterious. It is easy to become merely what you were (safely) structured to become. (However, such safety isn’t really safe by any means; it is a “being blown apart from the tree of wholeness and wisdom.” Such separation is a form of death.) “Mostpeople” are afraid of standing alone; they are afraid of not fitting in with “the rest of the crowd.”
The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from everyone else. Each thinks that their “me” is what is essentially separate from “other” people, animals, and plants.” They think that there is distance from this “me” to “other” life forms and other beings. The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from the desires and fears that it has. This “me” (according to “mostpeople”) can run from, try to alter, or subjugate its fears. The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from the desires that it has. This “me” (according to “mostpeople”) can chase after, try to alter, or subjugate its desires. The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from the ideas and thoughts that it has. This “me” (according to “mostpeople”) can recall, try to alter, or subjugate it ideas and thoughts.
To “mostpeople,” the “me” is a central, regulatory, decision-making presence that is apart from other beings… and is, additionally, apart from its very own thoughts (that “it” has power over).
To the ignorant and unaware, the following may seem a bit intimidating or disquieting… but (in reality) it is not anything to be alarmed about whatsoever.
To one who may, indeed, be of wisdom, there is not much of a “me”. The wise man goes far beyond what he (or she) was merely taught. The wise man does not merely become what he was molded, shaped, and programmed to become.
The wise man, to a great extent, is not separate from everyone else. He does not feel separate from other people, animals, and plants. The wise man feels responsibility for all… because there are no “learned,” illusory lines of demarcation separating him from the rest of life. The wise man understands that he is not merely something separate from his fears. He lucidly perceives that he and the fears are “one and the same.” He is not separate from what the fears are. The wise man understands that he is not merely something separate from his desires. He lucidly perceives that he and the desires are “one and the same.” He is not separate from what the desires are.
The wise man does not childishly try to run from, alter, or subjugate his fears… for he prudently sees that doing so involves primitive, superficial conflict along with a significant waste of time and energy. The wise man does not childishly try to run after, alter, or subjugate his desires… for he prudently sees that doing so involves primitive, superficial conflict along with a significant waste of time and energy. (This does not mean that he does whatever is desired; that would be foolish!) The wise man is not — unlike “mostpeople” — afraid of standing alone.
The wise man does not childishly (from something internal, with a distance) try to recall his thoughts… because he discerningly perceives that his thoughts are not separate from what he actually is. So, in a wise mind, when thoughts are being recalled, they are recalling themselves; they are doing the recalling… not something somehow magically separate from them that is “getting them to recall.” Any alteration of thought, by a wise mind, involves thought altering and rearranging itself… not something doing it that is, somehow, separate and distant from thought/thinking. (Interestingly, despite its close, non-divisive connection to thinking, the sagacious mind, by the way, in its all-pervading wisdom, is not merely confined to the realm of mere thoughts and thinking.)
The wise mind is not what functions with a lot of separation and needless conflict (between what it is and what it is not)… as does “mostpeople.” This does not mean, of course, that the wise mind will brush your teeth for you (if you can brush them). It does mean that the wise, holistic mind is not likely to be involved in fragmentary wars, ruthless competitiveness, indifferent unconcern, and uncaring debauchery. It may be that the wise mind is an awareness that pervades and permeates beyond all small, limited, selfish, immature lines of separation and restriction. One, major form or type of restriction… involves erroneously thinking that there is distance between you and your thoughts, fears, and perceptions… which, in reality, there is not. You actually are your thoughts, fears, and perceptions. Going beyond such restriction is the only true and real freedom and (wholeness)… and it is not, unfortunately, for “mostpeople.”
In order to magically not be like “mostpeople,” one has to stand alone… like a single leaf upon a branching tree… (which is not isolation; it is really joyously and steadfastly being connected to the whole).
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from E. E. Cummings:
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One winter afternoon
(at the magical hour
when is becomes if)
a bespangled clown
standing on eighth street
handed me a flower.
Nobody,it’s safe
to say,observed him but
myself;and why?because
without any doubt he was
whatever(first and last)
mostpeople fear most:
a mystery for which i’ve
no word except alive
—that is,completely alert
and miraculously whole;
with not merely a mind and a heart
but unquestionably a soul-
by no means funereally hilarious
(or otherwise democratic)
but essentially poetic
or ethereally serious:
a fine not a coarse clown
(no mob, but a person)
and while never saying a word
who was anything but dumb;
since the silence of him
self sang like a bird.
Mostpeople have been heard
screaming for international
measures that render hell rational
—i thank heaven somebody’s crazy
enough to give me a daisy
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eternalfountainofyouth.com
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Connected to the Whole… photo by Thomas Peace c.2013
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 