I was traveling with someone recently and we both had very different recollections of an event that had occurred in a shared space.
The difference in our accounts, presented to me, another opportunity for contemplation.
It appears that Shakespeare was onto something when he highlighted the themes of appearance vs. reality in most of his plays. And so, I am also learning that the world appears as I see it and not as it is or isn’t…
If I have stillness in my mind, the world and everyone in it appears to be blissful and happy. But the inverse is also true.
Have you ever listened to someone when you were feeling irritable or angry? What did you hear? If they were expressing their unhappiness about something that you had allegedly done wrong, how did you hear them? How did you react? Did your mood filter their words?
And what happened when you were feeling light-hearted and joyous? Did you find that you were more receptive to their speech, more willing to listen with compassion and love?
I have observed, through my own experience that the words I hear are translated and distorted by my mind’s perception. And I hear mostly what resonates with the track that my mind is playing, at any given moment. This makes relating complex, for nothing is ever as it seems and words are seldom received as they are intended.
If I feel victimised, then everything that is spoken feels like it is against me….
But when I am equanimous and thus free from being victimised by my emotions, I am able to not react to whatever is said to me, whether positive or negative. However, this is not yet the natural state of being for me. I am still human 🙂
But at times, there is an inner knowing, that understands that no words can be formed against me. Due to the formlessness and impermanence of everything that can be formed.
Words are fleeting, they flow like water. I don’t know from where they come nor do I know their final destination.
If I don’t enquire about them, their whereabouts, ambitions, aspirations and hopes, they exist only in the moment that I experience them. Some may make an impression, but I soon forget about them if I do not engage with the temporary nature of an observation.
I can be the observer of their perceived impact on my moods and not enquire about their mission, for it’s impossible to know anyway. Ha-ha. I can enjoy them while they last and move on to other things, hopefully.
If I can to train my ears to hear only what is said and not what I interpret. And if my mind can forget what has been said and let go of the moment that has already passed, my life would be eternally blissful 🙂
