Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

It is said that comparisons should not be made because every thing or person are the way they are, therefore their uniqueness cannot be compared to any other thing/person's. This sounds true, although at times you cannot wonder about the huge, almost unbelievable transformation technology, customs, morals have undergone just in one century. 'Yesterday' it was scandalous for a woman to show her ankle, now women proudly post nude photos of themselves for everybody to see - everywhere. Yesterday it took days, even weeks for a handwritten letter to reach its destination. Today a message written on a computer arrives instantaneously. Yesterday strict rules were followed about pre-marital relationships, today people often hardly know each other before starting being intimate. This is yesterday compared to today. What about tomorrow? Will there be an even more disinhibited way to exhibit one's body? A way of communicating that is faster than instantaneous?  A relationship that happens even before people meet? 

The "Interesting" Isn't Interesting

It is interesting to realize how interesting things aren't interesting for most people. Certain topics, due to their own nature, should arouse curiosity, interest, attention. Therefore a great number of individuals should be attracted by them. It is not so. If you talk, write, make a video about politics, entertainment, money, fashion, famous people, crime, folks are willing to listen, read or watch. On the other hand, if you talk, write or make a video about subjects of paramount importance such as the true nature of the "self", the mysteries of the cosmos, the infinity of time, consciousness, ethics, the mind, just a few will take the time to pay attention. Why is it so? Possibly because the voice of the 'outer' world is louder than the voice of the 'inner' world. The needs of the spirit are drowned in the ocean of the senses. As sad as this is, yet it is an undeniable fact. It is "our" world.

The Inter-Net

If you think at the 'nature' of Internet, an interesting observation can be made. The words 'inter' (between/among) and 'net' (uniform mesh of thread) provide you with the image of a sort of web where all the threads are joined together in a pattern that extends from virtual points in all directions. Such pattern is symbolic. It shows the tendency towards globalization, a word that has become a household term that even children know and use. Such tendency indicates the desire of the 'one' to be connected with 'all' (=with the other "ones" existing around the world). This desire - in itself - is very positive because, in reality, all human beings are already part of a bigger "One". The question (the subject of this reflection) should be: Is such direct and instantaneous connection with everybody else really capable of creating a sound global community? A community that is not only of words and minds, but also of consciousnesses?

When Action is Needed

 If you don't like the view, you look somewhere else. If you don't enjoy a tv program, you change the channel. If you dislike a song, you press a button and make it stop. But if you perceive a smell that you dislike, what do you do? You can hold your nose, but it's not very practical,  the 'holding' can't go on forever, and probably it's not even totally efficient. This metaphor can be applied to the way you may face a problem in your life. There are different kinds of action you can take. Sometimes the decision is easy: you can ignore the problem, or focus on something else. Other times it is not so easy. If you realize that a firm course of action must be taken to solve it, deciding to look for its cause, finding out what originated it, discovering if there was something or someone responsible for it, can be of help. Once the suitable action is undertaken, the solution is its natural outcome.    

Asking Questions

Most people wonder about different 'stuff' because the desire to know is an intrinsic feature of the human nature. Desire to know what? Anything. It depends on the single person's interest: it can be a spiritual doubt, a philosophical thought, or a more prosaic wish to find the solution to a physical or material problem. Does everybody get an answer to their wonderings? Again, it depends. If yours is an easy question, yes, you do. If it's a difficult one, you may get it, but you also may not. What counts is how you look for such answer. The wish to know has different degrees, according to its intensity as well as persistence. When you relentlessly search for something and never give up, it means that you need it. This is the 'key' to receiving. When your 'want' becomes a 'need', you will eventually get it: you will receive your answer, your inspiration, your request. But you must never be in a hurry. According to the importance of the question, it might take  a shorter or a longer time. Asking for insights about spiritual matters will probably take longer than wondering about how to lose weight! 

 

Mysteries of the Mind

One question, that might be interesting to find an answer to, is: "Why do people believe what they believe?" It may seem naive to even take the time to ask it, and useless to try to answer it. True: most will judge it meaningless because it is undeniable that everybody believes in something (some even believe in 'no-thing!). Such beliefs often involve opposites. 'A' is sure that this is white, while 'B' swears that it is black. And both are perfectly sincere so, from their point of view, they are right. The question can also be considered useless because an answer is impossible, as the human mind works in mysterious ways. Some believe in what one political party says, or a religion, a cult, conspiracies, aliens, parallel universes, quantum physics, Darwin theory etc. - while others deny all this and are convinced that the opposite is true. The only sure thing is that you will never be able to convince a firm believer that he is wrong. After all...who knows? He/she/thy might be right! 

Happy or Unhappy?

Ask yourself how happy you have been in your life. Ask yourself "if" you have been happy in your life. Some people will answer, "Yes". Other people will answer, "No". Many will probably answer,"I don't know". Those who answer 'yes' are focusing on the happy times, while those who answer 'no' are focusing on the hard times. The fact is that everybody, in the course of their lives, face happy times as well as difficult ones. Actual happenings are different for each individual, but the "experiences" are similar because everybody needs to know the feeling of being both happy and unhappy: it is a requisite for being alive. Therefore, the people who answer "I don't know" are probably uncertain about the amount of happiness versus the amount of unhappiness they felt in their own lives. It's up to them, it's up to you to choose which experiences you want to focus on.

Reflections of a Non-Follower

A word that has become very popular, and very much in use in the recent past is "follower". Some people like to 'follow', others love to be 'followed'. A new need has been created by the so-called social media. An actor, a singer, a reality-show personage might feel the desire to check their popularity (and consequent work cachet) constantly, therefore they are willing to expose to public curiosity the most intimate facts of their private lives. But... why do so many people feel the obsessive desire to know everything that is going on in the lives of their 'idols'? As they clearly don't get any tangible benefit from such 'idolization', what kind of satisfaction do they experience by constantly 'following' them? Is it the mere interest of a nosy neighbor? Is it the obsession of a stalker? Is it the wish to virtually share in their fame, glamour, beauty, wealth? Is it a slight feeling of dissatisfaction with their own lives? Or is it a deeply hidden emptiness, loneliness, lack of fulfillment with their personal achievements that make them to somewhat identify with people who -to their eyes -appear to have made their dreams come true? 

All Roads Lead to Rome

"All roads lead to Rome": an ancient, popular saying. Imagine you are a traveler and Rome is the destination you intend to reach. You have a lot of roads in front of you (all the beautiful roads built by the Roman genius many centuries ago!). You have to choose one, knowing that it will lead you there. Out of the metaphor, there are many ways available for you to reach your ultimate goal.  Maybe you believe that the material path of physical beauty, fame, or financial success can lead you there. Maybe you choose a spiritual way, such as following a well-established religion, with its rules and rites, or doing a lot of personal inner work. If you are more inclined to rationality, your path could be that of science, looking for answers through scientific research, or philosophical studies, finding fulfillment in purely mental work. Any path can lead you to your destination, but you also need a trustworthy guide. While proceeding, pay attention to the 'signposts' scattered along the way. They are named fairness, compassion, joy and love.

Your Life as a Movie

When you watch a movie, you see a movement that does not exist. Nobody walks from one place to another, nothing is displaced from here to there in a continuous motion. It's just a set of photographs joined together, one after the other, and projected on a screen. The illusion of movement is given by the speed of the projection, that is greater than your eye's ability to perceive each photogram. Everybody knows this, it's no great discovery. But... have you ever thought that also your life could work in a similar way? The time that you feel like "flowing", may be an experience you are having in one single instant, after which you pass to the next one. Like in one photogram after the other in a film, there is no actual movement. It's just a sort of "quantum leap" from one position to another. But this only a reflection, though. It changes nothing in your life. Yet, if you really think about it, you might find it quite intriguing. 

A View by Night

A fascinating, yet mysterious sight is the view of a city by night. Myriads of windows with a light behind them make you think of homes, rooms, people. You wonder who those people might be, what their thoughts, their feelings are. You try to imagine their lives. Behind the window of a tall building you can see a clerk who is hurriedly endeavoring to finish their work in order to go home to their family. Or maybe it's a big boss who is getting ready to go to a party or a night on the town. Behind the window of a house in the suburbs it's easy to imagine a family around the table having dinner and sharing the day's happenings. On the other hand, the clerk may be heading to an empty house and the big boss may be going to face a quarrelsome partner. It's also possible that the happy family in the suburbs is having dinner in silence, each member by himself, angry, dissatisfied or resentful. So many lit-up windows, so many people, so many stories. You know nothing about them, they are strangers to you. Yet, one of their stories might be your own.

Whine, But Just a Little

Life is not perfect, people are not perfect, therefore also the interactions you have daily with others cannot be perfect. A friend annoys you with an inappropriate joke, a colleague disappoints you with a small criticism of your work, a family member  displeases you with an insensitive remark. It is upsetting, but only to a certain extent because... you can decide on how to react. You can keep mulling over the joke, the criticism, the remark, thus making the resentment grow inside of you. On the other hand, you can decide that, after all, it was no 'big deal'. The friend, the colleague, the relative did not show a great sense of opportunity and their words were not welcome. Nevertheless, you can realize that there was no great offense, that they probably didn't even know they were hurting your feelings. Therefore...whine within yourself for a little while, but then decide to get over it and forget it. Life is always offering you a lot of really great 'stuff'.   *

Please, Release!

What does "release" mean? One of the definitions given by the dictionary is: 'to relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses'. Think about your emotions: they can be of two kinds. One kind sets you free, the other burdens you. Positive emotions set you free because they make you feel good, grateful, fulfilled. Negative emotions oppress you because they make you feel upset, resentful, frustrated. Although everybody would like to feel happy, many can almost never behave in a way that makes them achieve such emotional state. Why? Because they are unable to release. They might think they are, when they manifest their feelings in a violent, usually aggressive reaction. This is not 'release', this is an 'explosion' that causes even more damage. To release means to communicate your hurt in a calm, yet assertive way. It means to express your pain sincerely, yet in a friendly way. Its aim is to bring peace, not war.