Life is… let me think a minute… alright then, here’s a picture for you: life is a ball of tangled elastic bands with something really special buried deep inside. The lure is to find the hidden treasure.
Life is like that; full of intriguing discoveries. Like those cereal boxes when I was a kid with the baking-soda-powered toy SUBMARINE–FREE INSIDE. It was a hook, and who could resist?
Back to the ball of elastic bands though: when I was a small boy I wondered why golf balls bounced so high. My Dad was a golfer, so I took one of his golf balls and dissected it to find out why. I was exhilarated as I cut through the casing; like I was splitting the atom or something. What would happen? Would it explode in my face? The energy of that ball had to be locked in there somewhere, and I was about to release it.
After removing the outer shell, I found that it was a a ball of tightly wrapped elastic bands. No explosion or drama. But wrapped around what? I imagined there had to be something at the center of that ball, so I kept unwrapping the long thin strings of elastic. I recall the odor of it to this day; a pungent to the extreme, smell of rubber. I sat entranced as I unwound the ball to the core of the mystery-of-the-incredible-bounce. And what did I find? I found a round sack filled with a viscous liquid. Totally unexpected and unexplainable to me as a child. A fluid of unknown source was at the core of this golf ball that could bounce so high. But why?
Like my childhood curiosity, we are all born with an insatiable desire to seek out the mystery hidden just beneath the surface of the ordinary. It is how we have survived as a species. It has helped us to find food, shelter, and comfort.
Our challenge has always been to unravel the tangle to get to the treasure. But as conscious adults in the twenty-first century, the treasure we are able to seek is more than survival, and more than a trinket.
Four things about life that I am sure of
There are countless things that I do not know about life. It–thank goodness–is still largely a mystery. But here are a few things that I know for certain:
- We are all seekers. Our human nature drives us to explore life. We have no choice in this. We are explorers by nature. That sounds like a contradiction doesn’t it? How can we be driven and yet be free? But in the mix of those opposites there is an electricity that empowers us.
- We are easily distracted. We often mistake the wrapping for the treasure. We sense the inner reward. We are drawn by it. But we become enamored by the snap and bounce of the web we must unravel in the process, and we lose sight of the prize we are after. We are encoded with a destination and an imperative to get there, but with no clear directions we get lost in the tangents of our curiosities.
- We are all on a path to enlightenment. Our natural compulsion to seek answers, to unravel the mechanics of our world, is actually our natural drive to understand all of life; to see the mysteries beyond the surface–to become enlightened and released from judgments, and definitions, and fixed conceptions. We are on a path to unconditional awareness.
- It all begins and ends with simplicity. The childlike curiosity that cannot resist unraveling the golf ball to find its center, or digging into the cereal box to find the hidden prize inside, is the juice that drives us to greater and greater discoveries as adults. That simple seeking holds tremendous beauty and power. It is our means to discovery. The treasure at the center of the tangle of life, is the beauty and power that resides within ourselves.
So that is what I know for certain. What are some of the things about life that YOU know for sure?
Over to you now.
Stumble this article
12 comments ↓
John, thank you so much for this simply and beautifully expressed post. Your four certainties are ones I have experienced as truths in my own life.
I would like to add:
We each have a unique note in this world – whether human or non-human – animal, bird, fish, tree, stone. Our journey is a mythic path to rediscover that note and sound it again in the harmony of vibrations which comprise the greater web of life.
We are much more than we give ourselves credit for. We have more courage, more wisdom, more fortitude, more loving appreciation than we know. Returning to awareness means returning to that deeper knowledge of who we are, that the answers we have been searching for have been here inside us all along.
With warm wishes from the mountains in Japan – Catrien Ross.
Catrien Ross´s last blog ..Catrien Ross on Blasting Mount Fuji to Bits – Does Live-Fire Artillery Count As a Spiritual Distraction?
Thank you for sharing this post John. It’s been a while since I was here.
I like your 4th point where life begins and ends in simplicity. Life is really that simple, we are the one who complicate it along the journey. I truly believe that once we set our mind to look at things in its simplicity, it will become just as simple.
Banji´s last blog ..Sustaining Motivation With The Burning Rock Method
Thanks for shining the spotlight on curiosity. It is a very potent motivator as we move forward. It battles with passion at every turn. Where will we end up?
It depends upon who wins this particular battle.
David´s last blog ..Oscar Reflections/ Moments Beyond Time/ Henryk Gorecki
Hello Catrien,
What you say, “We are much more than we give ourselves credit for” is so true. It may be the the most hidden of all truths. It might be easy for most people to agree with the statement, but if they only knew the extent to which it is true. We have a future that is unimaginable to most. The things we are capable of would astound our understanding of physics, and certainly our conception of what it is to be human.
Of course we have to get to that future gradually, and that means as you say “returning to awareness;” deepening, expanding, making it genuine, removing the templates that we hold before our perception.
Throughout our lives we accumulate definitions of what is possible and what is not; laws of physics, laws of nature. I have seen these laws cleanly broken and have done so myself. It is an incredible leap and yet it is grounded in simplicity; clearing the definitions, and moving through the power that is our source.
Thank you for your inspiring addition Catrien
John
Hi Banji,
It is good to see you again. Simplicity is an odd concept isn’t it? If a person arrives at the simplicity that we speak of, they know the power and beauty of it, and they know how simple it is. But the word simple misleads us sometimes.
Sometimes we think that it means that it is easy to arrive at this simplicity. Well, it is easy in hindsight because being there is easy; it is natural. But getting there can be extremely difficult. It can be difficult when we are not yet simple. We have too much clutter in our minds; too many limitations blocking our way; too many fear-based emotions complicating our conceptualizations of where we are and what we are experiencing.
And I agree with you when you say, “I truly believe that once we set our mind to look at things in its simplicity, it will become just as simple.” Because when we do that, and do it everyday, we declutter and clear the way for simpler more basic and therefore more powerful perception and ability.
Best to you,
John
Hi David,
Curiosity IS a powerful motivator. Must it battle with passion though? There is a personal-to-you thread running through your comment, and it has me intrigued.
Who will win this particular battle? I hope that YOU win this battle that you are experiencing. I think that passion and curiosity can be expressed on the same team to move in the same good direction, and that would be YOUR direction. That’s why I am rooting for YOU.
Does that make any sense at all (my comment that is)?
Best,
John
Dear John, this is so YOU. I love how your thought/emotion processes work. There is a simple clean beauty to this that I really relate to. Also, I find this a highly creative idea for a post. It really makes us all think, and then ask, “What do I know for certain?” I don’t think I’ve ever asked myself that.
I now know that I am able to love myself, even when I make mistakes. (I could always forgive others, but was harder on myself). I know that life IS “the journey”, which is far more important to me than the outcome, and I don’t want to miss any of the journey. I know there are people who truly love me, would miss me if I was gone. I, like you, am grateful that life is still a mystery to me, and I now see that as a VERY good thing. And I know with certainty that I am passionately in love with life. And yet if I had to define “life” I don’t think I could. Maybe I am just “in love”.
Thank you my dear friend. This has really made me ponder, even made me want to sometime explore more deeply–through a post of my own–what I know for sure about life.
I also found this very endearing and humble. It moved me.
Thank you so much. Hugs, Robin
Robin Easton´s last blog ..How We Shape Our World
Hi Robin,
Thank you for your nice comments. I agree that we don’t need to define life. We just need to experience it deeply, without prejudgment. The rest takes care of itself I think. I appreciate your always in-love-with-life thoughts. It is obviously something that is genuinely true for you. And is there anything better than that? I can’t think of anything
Best,
John
John -
I think you have captured some truth here – we are all seekers during our brief stay on this planet. I believe that everyone has a light and love within them that has huge potential. By seeking we can bring that light out and inspire it in others. You are spreading the word and helping others to do that – thank you.
Phil
Phil – Less Ordinary Living´s last blog ..How to Keep Going
Hi Phil,
Thanks for your thoughts here. As you say, we all have light and love within us, and when we seek from that source, we discover bright and beautiful things about life and about ourselves, that we then share. Of course this isn’t a cakewalk. It is challenging.
Your post that you linked to in your comment is a great example of all this. Very inspiring.
Best,
John
Yes awareness of where are at. Yet we could be at our dreams tomorrow.
Ah – “It all begins and ends with simplicity” – yes! First the simplicity of naivete, then the simplicity at the other side of complexity.
david´s last blog ..Thoughts on education on the back of my mind