One of the gifts we have as human becomings is that of a creative spirit, whether we recognize it or not, whether we use it or not. Like a pilot light, the flame holds constant in a quiet place until sparked by desire, need or magic to shine a light on a new thought or a new idea.
We also have a kind of invisible bubble around us that can either limit our ability to access that creative light or set it free. I’ll call that bubble our personal paradigm. The boundaries of that paradigm are defined by our beliefs, age, upbringing, education, experiences, history, society, gender, genetics, how we are wired up and so on. It is a filter system through which we see our world and the possibilities in it. Part of that system we create ourselves to either be open or closed….at some point in our lives…out of the choices we make. If open, your system or filter may be more easily willing to accept new information. It will help you adapt to change, new perspectives and points of view…even gladly seek them out. If, however, you operate from a more or less closed system, chances are you’ll resist new thought, you won’t grow much and you’ll pretty much stagnate in the status quo, left behind in the domain of the mediocre, a rigid relic. Hmmmm. I’ll discuss later the stuff that stops us cold from ‘hearing or seeing” it.
The other gift as individuals is choice. In fact choice is a universal imperative. Either you choose or the world, someone or something else will choose for you. No pressure there. Choice can redefine or shift that paradigm and change the lens through which we see. Seeing differently, in turn, influences what we create. With each choice we create new possibilities and new perspectives. We grow. We get smarter. Whatever you do,whatever your choice, “you can’t learn less”, as Bucky Fuller said.
There is, out there, a school of thought that we have no free will…at least not as much as we thought we had….that we respond to external stimuli based on our wiring and that the choices we make are governed by some genetic factor. Well, that is possible. I’m choosing to believe otherwise until I don’t anymore. I think most things need to remain possible in order for our collective human experience to elevate itself to a higher level of consciousness. So, I have no position at this point on free will…except curiosity. It was an interesting discussion on NPR so I am sharing it.
A former associate of mine, now a doctor in education, once said to me: “I wish I could see the world through your eyes for just ten minutes.” It never occurred to me that I was seeing any differently And, what did she really mean by that? I find it curious that I never forgot that statement and how many times I have wondered myself, how ‘do’ I see the world? How do you see it? What influences it and why should we care?
We should care, I decided, because how we see our world and how we translate it informs the way we move through it and how we relate to it. We should care because how we operate in the world makes a difference.
One does not have to be a painter, a sculptor, a writer, musician or a designer to demonstrate ‘seeing’ in a unique way. How one hangs a painting, places a sculpture, selects a design created by someone else or connects with a complex riff is, in its own way, a demonstration of that. How one translates life experiences, good, bad or otherwise is an expression of that unique quality in observation skills…the ‘how‘ it is you are looking at “it”. So, it’s not so much what you see but how you look. Maybe.
Being. Seeing. Expressing….unique as a personal life’s blueprint, impressionable and malleable.
Next Post: Noticing life between the lines.
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