“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” —- Benjamin Franklin
We live in a time of expedience, dis-assimilation, disposal, lack of privacy, and a consistency of conflated in-congruence. It appears almost surreal to experience our life’s journey . . . objectively. And yet, that is exactly what many are doing without even giving it a second notice, because we simply don’t see, comprehend, experience or grasp what is slipping away . . . our conscious present awareness. Once in a while there is a flicker of light that reflects through our prism of consciousness, and then is gone as quickly as it arrived. As children, if we were extremely fortunate, we experienced through role models in almost every level of our growth, teachable moments that connected our experience to a conscious reality, awakening our curiosity and creativity that unleashed an insatiable desire to become that light that illuminated the darkness. Elisabeth Kubler Ross stated this in another way, “People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
We all reach the various plateaus in our lives at different times, for different reasons and the why of how we got there is sometimes a circuitous mystery . . . revealed to us much later, or sometimes not at all. We are a plethora of information infused and enriched by our technological advancements, which are attached to our modicum of behavior infusing and enriching our existence . . . momentarily. In reflection, we have been told many things, we have been taught sometimes what to think not how to think, but remember selectively. If we are extraordinarily fortunate, we may become involved and learn who we are, why we are here and where we are going. This may occur by happenstance as Carl Jung suggests, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Those events in our life’s journey may awaken our consciousness of being through a tragic accident, loss of a child, spouse, parent, home or perhaps a terminal diagnosis. Then again, miracles do take place in countless ways through struggle, faith, courage, hope, and the existent peace in one’s mind body, heart, spirit and soul. Perhaps T. S. Eliot was correct when he said . . . “We shall not cease exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” JLR