Apparently the origins and intentions of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme are lost in the shadows of obscurity. Today, I find the nursery rhyme points to profound wisdom ... unmasking a significant characteristic of our mind ... our mind's malleability .
What am I trying to say with the words "The Humpty Dumpty moments of our lives"?
First I will attempt to create a context. Our minds function by committing patterns to memory and later recalling them ... according to the situations we face. Two simple examples are:
1) The library of sound patterns that form our spoken language. These sound patterns enable individuals to transmit and receive thoughts from other people who have memorized the same sound patterns.
2) The library of recognizable images that form the letters and words of our written language. This library of patterns enable individuals to disseminate thoughts to a huge audience across space and time.
Our eyes see a chair and our mind recognizes the pattern imprinted in it's memory some time before of what a chair looks like ... our memory maintains an association between the object 'chair' and the word 'chair'.
The expression "world view" is employed to describe how people see and understand their particular world. Another way of conveying the same intention is ... our mind's "library of patterns" ... our individual consciousness. While our library of patterns grows very quickly in our younger years as we get older rigor mortis sets in with our library of recognizable patterns. Another way of conveying the same intention is ... we become "closed minded" ... "small minded" ... "tunnel vision". We resist any new pattern that don't fit or integrate nicely with all the other patterns in our memory ... our consciousness. An example might be a child's resistance to accept that there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny ... acceptance means deleting so many patterns already on the shelves in the child's memory.
I recently read a story about an ancient Chinese sage that illustrates my intention ...
"In ancient China, a man named Zhuangzi (370-311 BCE) withdrew from public life and became a hermit. Entering a game park one day, he took aim at a magpie. The magpie, being wholly preoccupied with eyeing a cicada, did not notice Zhuangzi. Neither the cicada nor a nearby preying mantis noticed the magpie. The magpie “swept down on its prey in high excitement and gobbled them both up.” A feeling of compassion welled up in Zhuangzi: he realized the creatures he had observed were fated to a sequence of mutual destruction, however unwilled. Here was the essence of life. Lost in reflection, Zhuangzi himself did not notice that his trespassing in the park was unwelcome, and he was chased away by a gamekeeper.
Following these events, Zhuangzi was depressed for months. Nothing in his life so far had prepared him for the new thoughts entering his mind. Life is about endless transformation; death should not be feared. Giving himself up to “the natural rhythm of the cosmos,” Zhuangzi began to experience an “exhilarating freedom.”
The innocuous event Zhuang Zi observed in the park forever altered his world view ... his mind's library of patterns prior to this particular experience ... his consciousness ... was awakened and thus expanded exponentially. "Nothing in his life so far had prepared him for the new thoughts entering his mind."
Zhuang Zi's previous world view ... personal consciousness ... was shattered ... like the egg falling off the wall and hitting the ground ... and nothing ... absolutely nothing could reconstruct it to what it was before the experience.
Later today I discovered a well known parable written by Zhuang Zi ... "Liberation of the Frog". In a nutshell, the story is about a frog who enjoys his life despite being trapped in a well ... the frog's world of the well is all it knows. Zhuang Zi then introduces a sea turtle whose world is obviously infinitely larger and different than the frog's well. The frog invites the sea turtle into the well but the turtle is much too big to fit into the frog's well.
What am I trying to say with the words "The Humpty Dumpty moments of our lives"?
First I will attempt to create a context. Our minds function by committing patterns to memory and later recalling them ... according to the situations we face. Two simple examples are:
1) The library of sound patterns that form our spoken language. These sound patterns enable individuals to transmit and receive thoughts from other people who have memorized the same sound patterns.
2) The library of recognizable images that form the letters and words of our written language. This library of patterns enable individuals to disseminate thoughts to a huge audience across space and time.
Our eyes see a chair and our mind recognizes the pattern imprinted in it's memory some time before of what a chair looks like ... our memory maintains an association between the object 'chair' and the word 'chair'.
The expression "world view" is employed to describe how people see and understand their particular world. Another way of conveying the same intention is ... our mind's "library of patterns" ... our individual consciousness. While our library of patterns grows very quickly in our younger years as we get older rigor mortis sets in with our library of recognizable patterns. Another way of conveying the same intention is ... we become "closed minded" ... "small minded" ... "tunnel vision". We resist any new pattern that don't fit or integrate nicely with all the other patterns in our memory ... our consciousness. An example might be a child's resistance to accept that there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny ... acceptance means deleting so many patterns already on the shelves in the child's memory.
I recently read a story about an ancient Chinese sage that illustrates my intention ...
"In ancient China, a man named Zhuangzi (370-311 BCE) withdrew from public life and became a hermit. Entering a game park one day, he took aim at a magpie. The magpie, being wholly preoccupied with eyeing a cicada, did not notice Zhuangzi. Neither the cicada nor a nearby preying mantis noticed the magpie. The magpie “swept down on its prey in high excitement and gobbled them both up.” A feeling of compassion welled up in Zhuangzi: he realized the creatures he had observed were fated to a sequence of mutual destruction, however unwilled. Here was the essence of life. Lost in reflection, Zhuangzi himself did not notice that his trespassing in the park was unwelcome, and he was chased away by a gamekeeper.
Following these events, Zhuangzi was depressed for months. Nothing in his life so far had prepared him for the new thoughts entering his mind. Life is about endless transformation; death should not be feared. Giving himself up to “the natural rhythm of the cosmos,” Zhuangzi began to experience an “exhilarating freedom.”
The innocuous event Zhuang Zi observed in the park forever altered his world view ... his mind's library of patterns prior to this particular experience ... his consciousness ... was awakened and thus expanded exponentially. "Nothing in his life so far had prepared him for the new thoughts entering his mind."
Zhuang Zi's previous world view ... personal consciousness ... was shattered ... like the egg falling off the wall and hitting the ground ... and nothing ... absolutely nothing could reconstruct it to what it was before the experience.
Later today I discovered a well known parable written by Zhuang Zi ... "Liberation of the Frog". In a nutshell, the story is about a frog who enjoys his life despite being trapped in a well ... the frog's world of the well is all it knows. Zhuang Zi then introduces a sea turtle whose world is obviously infinitely larger and different than the frog's well. The frog invites the sea turtle into the well but the turtle is much too big to fit into the frog's well.
Zhuang Zi's "Liberation of the Frog" parable has been studied and written about for more than two millennium ... the perennial question being ... what was Zhuang Zi trying to convey with his parable. Reminds me of the struggle to understand the many parables in the Bible.
This morning I have my own opinion concerning Zhuang Zi's intention. He employed the parable ... at least in part ... to tell the story of his own life ... the story of his life after the Humpty Dumpty event in the park. Prior to his park experience Zhuang Zi was trapped in the small human world of his day ... like the frog in the well. Inexplicably, Zhuang Zi's mental world exploded after the park event and he now possessed an exponentially larger world view ... like the world of the sea turtle ... "Zhuangzi began to experience an “exhilarating freedom.”
Despite his efforts to return to his former world view ... the sea turtle trying to visit the frog in the well ... he could not ... despite his loneliness ... despite his desire to share the beauty of his much expanded understanding of life ... despite ... despite ... despite.
Finally, there was nothing Zhuang Zi could do to help transform the frog into a sea turtle.
This morning I have my own opinion concerning Zhuang Zi's intention. He employed the parable ... at least in part ... to tell the story of his own life ... the story of his life after the Humpty Dumpty event in the park. Prior to his park experience Zhuang Zi was trapped in the small human world of his day ... like the frog in the well. Inexplicably, Zhuang Zi's mental world exploded after the park event and he now possessed an exponentially larger world view ... like the world of the sea turtle ... "Zhuangzi began to experience an “exhilarating freedom.”
Despite his efforts to return to his former world view ... the sea turtle trying to visit the frog in the well ... he could not ... despite his loneliness ... despite his desire to share the beauty of his much expanded understanding of life ... despite ... despite ... despite.
Finally, there was nothing Zhuang Zi could do to help transform the frog into a sea turtle.
The Biblical story of Jesus is analogous to Zhuang Zi's parable ... Jesus is the sea turtle and his apostles are the frogs. The apostles tried to teach the people of their day how to become sea turtles ... an obviously impossible task. Many "sea turtles" have since sojourned in our human world ... we refer to them as mystics. Most mystics do not speak or write of the world they know and experience ... some tried. St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila even attempted to reduce to human language the steps necessary to make the journey. While their writings are revered by many ... the transformation remains the purview of the Author of Creation ... the transformation is by invitation only.
I like Ruth Barrow's metaphor ... this morning my imagination equates her "we" with the 'frogs' in Zhuang's parable:
“Surrender and abandonment are like a deep, inviting, frightening ocean into which we are drawn. We make excursions into it to test it, to see whether it’s safe, to enjoy the sensation of it. But for all kinds of reasons, we always go back to dry land, to solid ground, to where we are safe. But the ocean beckons us out anew and we risk again being afloat in something bigger than ourselves. And we keep doing that, wading in and then going back to safety, until one day, when we are ready, we just let the waters carry us away.”
The choice of a wall as the resting place for Humpty Dumpty is interesting. A wall is a separator ... like the walls that separate the rooms in a house. In ancient times the wall separated the city from the rest of the world ... eg. the Geat Wall in China.
Some say that the worst form of punishment at this time was to be forced to leave the safety and familiarity of the walled city. One could argue that one of the worst forms of punishment today is to be forced to leave the safety and familiarity of our personal "world view" ... to be forced to face the darkness and the unknown ... alone!
The wall in the cartoon image above reminds me of an experience that included a similar looking wall more than 20 years ago. The following notes were written some time ago about that particular experience.
I like Ruth Barrow's metaphor ... this morning my imagination equates her "we" with the 'frogs' in Zhuang's parable:
“Surrender and abandonment are like a deep, inviting, frightening ocean into which we are drawn. We make excursions into it to test it, to see whether it’s safe, to enjoy the sensation of it. But for all kinds of reasons, we always go back to dry land, to solid ground, to where we are safe. But the ocean beckons us out anew and we risk again being afloat in something bigger than ourselves. And we keep doing that, wading in and then going back to safety, until one day, when we are ready, we just let the waters carry us away.”
The choice of a wall as the resting place for Humpty Dumpty is interesting. A wall is a separator ... like the walls that separate the rooms in a house. In ancient times the wall separated the city from the rest of the world ... eg. the Geat Wall in China.
Some say that the worst form of punishment at this time was to be forced to leave the safety and familiarity of the walled city. One could argue that one of the worst forms of punishment today is to be forced to leave the safety and familiarity of our personal "world view" ... to be forced to face the darkness and the unknown ... alone!
The wall in the cartoon image above reminds me of an experience that included a similar looking wall more than 20 years ago. The following notes were written some time ago about that particular experience.
In February 1996, while living at the Maples Inn in Guelph, the only place in Guelph where you could rent a self contained apartment for a day, a week, a month etc. I was still very much in limbo ... no job ... no hobby ... no purpose etc. I read St Teresa of Avila's book and remember particularly the section titled 'Interior Castles' ... deeply moved or touched by St Teresa's writings about her mystical experiences. Learned later that many scholars consider her writings on mysticism some of the best available; yet she was an uneducated Spanish peasant.
Also read the book on the life of St Francis ... again deeply moved and touched... difficult to explain.
One night while lying on my bed I heard the name Jesus in my mind. I can't remember if I intentionally attempted to form the name or if it arrived in my mind without effort on my part. A few seconds later I felt an 'electrical current' in my body. I can't really explain the feeling. I decided to get my mind to say the word Jesus ... this time intentional ... my lips didn't move ... this all happened in my mind. Again the same result; like an electric current running through my body. I was afraid to do it again. This experience left me with an unusually quiet and peaceful feeling. In Hindu spirituality they label this type of experience a “Kundalini Awakening Symptom”.
Reflecting on this experience today, seems there may be a connection between my ‘Jesus’ experience in my room at the Maples Inn and a few days later my rather abrupt and unexpected privilege of walking the very ground He walked during his life on earth. Scary!
Rev. Karban writes “Most of us live our lives as though they’re just a series of disconnected events. We rarely find anything to join and make sense out of even one day’s happenings, much less a lifetime filled with them. We constantly go from one thing to another without being able to "connect the dots."
Socrates stated “the unexamined life is not worth living”. Surely, Socrates is suggesting that regular and sincere examinations of our life will help us to ‘connect the dots’, discover the thread that holds the countless events of our life together. Our self-portrait is painted by regular and sincere reflections on the ever growing repository of our life experiences.. We will never know who we really are otherwise.
Perhaps my life’s mission was foreshadowed in this room at the Maples Inn … as more and more time passes seems I am becoming increasingly involved with the reconciliation of families.
The notes I wrote in 1995 describe the basis for the ‘mission’ referred to above. The notes follow this writing.
After these 2 personal experiences with Jesus … it seems He sent me back to school … with His Mother … the Virgin Mary … as my teacher … guide … and protector.
I learned late in life that I am … by nature … an extremely sensitive person. A psychological test taken in 1995 … intended to measure about 50 different emotional or psychological conditions … indicated normalcy in all but one characteristic. I was ‘off the charts’ in sensitivity. Hmmm! Seems to me Jesus knew I couldn’t handle a patriarchal apprenticeship … I needed the tenderness and gentleness of a mother.
The specific experience that is now 'top of mind' was the day I lie on my bed in the Maples Inn … staring at the wall. Looking at four walls is a common pass time for lonely people ... seems I was no exception.
This wall was no ordinary wall ... it was not painted drywall ... bland and empty. This wall was painted bricks ... the large ones .. 8" by 14". The wall served to divide the rooms and support the structure at the same time. Seems the owner was content not to 'dress up' the cement block supporting wall with drywall ... good thing ... or I would not have had the contemplation I am about to share!
1,000's of years ago man learned that if you stack stones in a staggered pattern ... the result is a strong and sturdy wall ... capable of holding up tremendous loads ... the walled cities of Europe and the middle east ... Jerusalem. In times past they didn't use mortar to cement a bond between the stones ... a tight fit was all they used and 1,000's of years ago the 'stone arch' was discovered ... by placing stones in a certain pattern ... each stone pressing against its' neighbors. They built an arch which was used to join two walls ... and soon large and complex buildings ... Parthenon ... Greek Temples etc
Back to the wall in my room at the Maple's Inn ... as I looked at the cement blocks ... neatly piled in a staggered pattern ... and evenly bonded to each other with mortar. It occurred to me that this same structure symbolizes 'civilization' with each cement block representing an individual ... the mortar symbolizes the bond that holds individuals together in a 'collective' ... a tribe ... a clan ... a village ... a family ... a culture ... a society etc
The strength of the bond manifests the strength of the unity of the tribe ... clan ... culture. A wonderful example is the 12 tribes of Judaism ... and equally impressive are the local tribes ... clans of Inuit. The Inuit camp or village was never more than an 'extended' family and seems as they roamed around members of one clan would be given in marriage to members of another clan and so on and so on ... avoiding the obvious threat of 'in-breeding' ... amazing ... profound ... wow!! Contrast this with 'marriage used as a 'tool' to gain more property and consolidate power! ... the ancient ... and perhaps still current custom.
Back to the 'bond' mentioned above ... as I stared at the wall and contemplated this analogy ... I thought of the bond as 'love' ... when 'love' between individuals ... first in a single family ... and simultaneously ... among families who share a common bond ... eg a tribe ... as long as this bond ...'love' remains strong the 'collectives' remain strong ... seems it is directly proportional. The 'bond' ...'love' ... is intangible ... the alchemist gold ... what is the recipe for a solid bond ...'love' ... a mortar that will not disintegrate ... crack ...erode.
Seems to me if we could measure the 'holding strength’ or power of the 'bond' between individuals today ... be it individuals within a family ... among families ... within a village ... among villages within a province etc. We would find that the strength has diminished profoundly ... corroded ... disintegrated ... melted ... whatever!!
What happened?
Humanity built it’s house … civilizations … on sand …when it should have built it’s house on solid rock.
Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 26-27
“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell and the floods came and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!”
What am I suggesting?
Humanity built it’s house(civilizations and societies) on the ‘blood’ bond … bonds of the flesh … when it should have built it’s house on the ‘spirit’ bond.
The above theory is nicely illustrated in the bible:
Mary & Martha: Friends of Jesus
Mary and Martha are the most familiar set of sisters in the Bible. Both Luke and John describe them as friends of Jesus. Luke's story, though only four verses long, has been a complex source of inspiration, interpretation, and debate for centuries. John's story, which says the sisters had a brother named Lazarus, spans seventy verses. Though some earlier interpreters blended the person of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and the sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50, current scholars believe she was a different person.
Luke's Story
According to Luke, Martha was head of the household; she welcomed Jesus into her home. Mary was probably younger. Like most sisters, these two women had conflicts which emerged because of their different personalities, roles, and simply the fact that they were siblings.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).
In the story, Martha symbolizes the ‘house built on sand’ and Mary symbolizes the ‘house built on solid rock’ … on spirituality.
United we stand ... divided we fall ... my dad would say this expression often when speaking of our family ... the words are so few ... so simple ... so logical ... and yet so profoundly true.... while our minds could easily understand the 'notion' ... this understanding is not enough ... the recipe is more complex and seems we have lost track of the ingredients ... the combination and mixing process etc.
Words are not enough.
Writing these words reminds me of the time I was contemplating potential strategies to destroy the human species ... I placed my mind on the other side of the wall so to speak
The two strategies I remember well are:
· 1) divide and conquer ... a well documented and effective war strategy (united we stand ... divided we fall)
· 2) destroy the female species ... not as in kill all females ... no ... destroy them by distractions … encouraging abdication of their primary role ... to bring new members into the species and nurture their early years ... according to the proper recipe ... prepare them to live out their lives in a 'holistic' and 'healthy' way
Without holistic and healthy young mothers how can we expect healthy and holistic new members. This problem exacerbates itself with successive generations ... becoming progressively worse!
Look at what the woman's liberation movement has done to 'motherhood' .
Look what living in this space age costs ... the basic entry price is a 2 member working family ... both the father and the mother ... so now a woman has a full time job ... nurturing their children is farmed out to a stranger ... motivated by money only ... for the most part.
Seems to me all young women today are 'damaged' before their first child is born ... psychologically ... emotionally ... and likely physically ... fatigue etc
How many people today require Prozac or equivalent simply to keep going with today’s lifestyle?
We humans are all created in the image and likeness of our 'Creator' ... according to the book of Genesis ... I take the word 'all' at face value ... 'all' .... simply means ... 'all' ... each and every one of us regardless of gender ... sexual orientation ... or religious beliefs etc.
Seems to me for the above statement to be True ... each of us is a 'person' first ... a 'gender' second ... and all else third, fourth etc ... By limiting comments to the level of 'personhood' may provide a common denominator across all genders, cultures, societies, religions etc. Perhaps with such a restriction we can establish a framework for some meaningful contemplation.
Here are some abstract thoughts I wrote several days ago. When writing them I knew they were not new thoughts ... though ... I had no idea they could be traced back so many years. Seems my abstract thoughts of a few days ago simply put some 'flesh' on the bones of simialr thoughts that passed between my ears many years ago.
What does it mean to be human?
The languages of all sciences, all philosophies, all religions, all imagination and so on are woefully inadequate to describe what it means to be human ... we are simply too complex.
On the other hand, the language of metaphor can point to conceptual explanations. Let me try.
A human is a heirarchy of substances ... the highest being "person".
1) Our "person" is a being without form ... invisible ... substance nonetheless ... occupying space in our brain ... though not imprisoned ... free to go where it pleases. Our "person" functions as our conduit to the universe ... including all other living entities on our planet and elsewhere. Our person functions within a very sophisticated security system ... likely our DNA. This security system controls access to the library of the universe ... the noosphere.
2) The second level is our body ... our form ... including our gender. Our form serves as the vessel for our "person" and also serves to propagate the species.
3) The third level is our five senses. The sense known as intuition is part of 1) above. Our five senses are the doors and windows for our "person" (our house) ... individual human consciousness.
4) The fourth and lowest level includes the characteristics and attributes of our form ... our body ... colour of skin, tall, short, slender, beautiful, ugly, tribal associations/memberships and so on.
While our knowledge of what it means to be human has expanded exponentially ... especially in the past couple of centuries ... so much remains in the shadows.Seems as thought the 'Author of Creation' is slowly lifting the veil ... the shroud that covers all peoples ... Isaiah 25:7
What does it mean to be human?
The languages of all sciences, all philosophies, all religions, all imagination and so on are woefully inadequate to describe what it means to be human ... we are simply too complex.
On the other hand, the language of metaphor can point to conceptual explanations. Let me try.
A human is a heirarchy of substances ... the highest being "person".
1) Our "person" is a being without form ... invisible ... substance nonetheless ... occupying space in our brain ... though not imprisoned ... free to go where it pleases. Our "person" functions as our conduit to the universe ... including all other living entities on our planet and elsewhere. Our person functions within a very sophisticated security system ... likely our DNA. This security system controls access to the library of the universe ... the noosphere.
2) The second level is our body ... our form ... including our gender. Our form serves as the vessel for our "person" and also serves to propagate the species.
3) The third level is our five senses. The sense known as intuition is part of 1) above. Our five senses are the doors and windows for our "person" (our house) ... individual human consciousness.
4) The fourth and lowest level includes the characteristics and attributes of our form ... our body ... colour of skin, tall, short, slender, beautiful, ugly, tribal associations/memberships and so on.
While our knowledge of what it means to be human has expanded exponentially ... especially in the past couple of centuries ... so much remains in the shadows.Seems as thought the 'Author of Creation' is slowly lifting the veil ... the shroud that covers all peoples ... Isaiah 25:7
And he will destroy on this mountain
The shroud that is cast over all peoples,
The sheet that is spread over all nations
He will swallow up death forever.
The shroud that is cast over all peoples,
The sheet that is spread over all nations
He will swallow up death forever.
Back to the story of Humpty Dumpty ... being an egg it is no surprise that the egg shatters when it hits the ground ... given the frailty of the egg shell, it is obvious the egg cannot be put back together again ... cannot be made whole again.
A few days ago I wrote ... "Just beneath the thin veneer of what it means to be human lurks unspeakable lonliness and isolation."
The expression "thin veneer" is synomous with the fragile egg shell. Our comfort zone is also synonymous with the expression "thin veneer" and fragile egg shell. We live in a safe, secure and familiar bubble ... comforted by our relationships within this bubble ... family, friends, colleagues and so on ... our beliefs and our values. Metaphorically speaking we can say ... we live in a "walled city" ... or as Zhuang Zi put ... we live like frogs trapped in a well.
The egg falling off the wall ... being pushed off the wall ... or jumping off the wall symbolizes the individual who was forced to leave his/her walled city and walk into the unknown.
While I have talked about this as a punishment ... it may equally be seen as an opportunity ... perhaps even as a necessity.
How so?
Being part of our individual learning ... growing ... maturing process. Being prepared so we can achieve our full potential.
I was chatting with Huang Hui the other day. We were reminiscing about our early days together and speculating on why we met each other and why we chose to get married.
I recalled that I had spent the previous 10 years wandering around in the wilderness ... in the dark ... no ambition, no sense of purpose and a dwindling number of healthy relationships ... family included. Looking back on this time it seems I had hit the ceiling in terms of growth ... I like to think I hit the ceiling in terms of spiritual growth. I was born and lived in the Western world for 55 years with virtually no exposure to the Eastern world ... not even in books. Having spent the better part of the last ten years in China I learned that China has a very long and very rich history, culture and sense of spirituality.
In other words ... my 'ceiling' was raised ... the upper limit of my learning/growing was extended. Huang Hui, the Chinese people I have interacted with ... those who could speak some English ... and China provided this opportunity.
"Each of us is pregnant with great potential" ... author unknown
I don't know about the adjective "great" but I enthusiastically agree with the metaphor "pregnant". How may people in their last hours realize they failed to achieve their full potential during their life? Why?
One reason may be their response to the Humpty Dumpty moments of their life. Perhaps they spent all of their energy and time attempting to put Humpty Dumpty back together again ... to put their life back together the way it was before the 'fall' ... to become "normal" again. We are socialized ... programmed to believe there is only one form of 'normal' ... anything outside this "wall" of normal is a form of insanity ... what nonsense!
Why are painful Humpty Dumpty experiences necessary to achieve personal potential? That's like asking why was Jesus's crucifixion necessary to achieve human salvation. Who knows eh!
Let me speculate.
The reason lies in our post Humpty Dumpty event(s) lives. In order to see the "walled city" of normalcy for what it is ... first you have to live in it for a substantial period of time ... you need to experience it ... taste it ... digest it ... vomit it and so on.
Secondly, you need to escape it ... walk away from it. Seems to me few people willingly walk away from comfort ... the comfort that one thinks or believes he/she is normal. Even quasi comfort that comes at a high price. You need to be pushed out ... to be forced out ... just like the people in ancient times who were compelled to leave the walled city as a form of punishment.
On several occasions during the past 25 years I've been asked ... "Bruce ... what happened to you? Where is the former Bruce? Where is the Bruce I used to know?"
In varying circumstances I would use one of the following metaphors:
1) I was in a fast moving train ... like the high speed trains now in China ... that travel at 300+ kilometres per hour. You look out the window and everything is a blur ... the train is moving so fast. Likewise the pace of life in the past 66 years has become equally fast ... and everything about life is a blur. Somehow the train door was opened and I was pushed off the train ... I did not leave voluntarily and the train was not stopped the moment I was thrown off.
Back to the story of Humpty Dumpty ... being an egg it is no surprise that the egg shatters when it hits the ground ... given the frailty of the egg shell, it is obvious the egg cannot be put back together again ... cannot be made whole again.
A few days ago I wrote ... "Just beneath the thin veneer of what it means to be human lurks unspeakable lonliness and isolation."
The expression "thin veneer" is synomous with the fragile egg shell. Our comfort zone is also synonymous with the expression "thin veneer" and fragile egg shell. We live in a safe, secure and familiar bubble ... comforted by our relationships within this bubble ... family, friends, colleagues and so on ... our beliefs and our values. Metaphorically speaking we can say ... we live in a "walled city" ... or as Zhuang Zi put ... we live like frogs trapped in a well.
The egg falling off the wall ... being pushed off the wall ... or jumping off the wall symbolizes the individual who was forced to leave his/her walled city and walk into the unknown.
While I have talked about this as a punishment ... it may equally be seen as an opportunity ... perhaps even as a necessity.
How so?
Being part of our individual learning ... growing ... maturing process. Being prepared so we can achieve our full potential.
I was chatting with Huang Hui the other day. We were reminiscing about our early days together and speculating on why we met each other and why we chose to get married.
I recalled that I had spent the previous 10 years wandering around in the wilderness ... in the dark ... no ambition, no sense of purpose and a dwindling number of healthy relationships ... family included. Looking back on this time it seems I had hit the ceiling in terms of growth ... I like to think I hit the ceiling in terms of spiritual growth. I was born and lived in the Western world for 55 years with virtually no exposure to the Eastern world ... not even in books. Having spent the better part of the last ten years in China I learned that China has a very long and very rich history, culture and sense of spirituality.
In other words ... my 'ceiling' was raised ... the upper limit of my learning/growing was extended. Huang Hui, the Chinese people I have interacted with ... those who could speak some English ... and China provided this opportunity.
"Each of us is pregnant with great potential" ... author unknown
I don't know about the adjective "great" but I enthusiastically agree with the metaphor "pregnant". How may people in their last hours realize they failed to achieve their full potential during their life? Why?
One reason may be their response to the Humpty Dumpty moments of their life. Perhaps they spent all of their energy and time attempting to put Humpty Dumpty back together again ... to put their life back together the way it was before the 'fall' ... to become "normal" again. We are socialized ... programmed to believe there is only one form of 'normal' ... anything outside this "wall" of normal is a form of insanity ... what nonsense!
Why are painful Humpty Dumpty experiences necessary to achieve personal potential? That's like asking why was Jesus's crucifixion necessary to achieve human salvation. Who knows eh!
Let me speculate.
The reason lies in our post Humpty Dumpty event(s) lives. In order to see the "walled city" of normalcy for what it is ... first you have to live in it for a substantial period of time ... you need to experience it ... taste it ... digest it ... vomit it and so on.
Secondly, you need to escape it ... walk away from it. Seems to me few people willingly walk away from comfort ... the comfort that one thinks or believes he/she is normal. Even quasi comfort that comes at a high price. You need to be pushed out ... to be forced out ... just like the people in ancient times who were compelled to leave the walled city as a form of punishment.
On several occasions during the past 25 years I've been asked ... "Bruce ... what happened to you? Where is the former Bruce? Where is the Bruce I used to know?"
In varying circumstances I would use one of the following metaphors:
1) I was in a fast moving train ... like the high speed trains now in China ... that travel at 300+ kilometres per hour. You look out the window and everything is a blur ... the train is moving so fast. Likewise the pace of life in the past 66 years has become equally fast ... and everything about life is a blur. Somehow the train door was opened and I was pushed off the train ... I did not leave voluntarily and the train was not stopped the moment I was thrown off.
2) I was living in the 'crowd' like everyone else ... moving through life without thinking about where I was going or how I would get there. I was simply one of the sheep in the picture below ... all I could see was the butt of the sheep in front of me and I was compelled to move along at the speed of the flock and direction of the flock. One day an invisible hand came down out of the sky ... plucked me out of the flock and set me down on one of the hills ... all alone ... with nothing to do but observe the flock from a distance.
3) I shoved off the shores of the 'crowd' in a boat with a large sail and no rudder. The balance of my life would be subject to the vagaries of the wind. Self inflicted or predestined ... I hope the latter
Some more Chinese wisdom ...
"He whose understanding cannot grasp these minute and subtle words, but is only fit to win some temporary gain—is he not like the frog in the caved-in well? Chuang Tzu, now—at this very moment he is treading the Yellow Springs or leaping up to the vast blue. To him there is no north or south—in utter freedom he dissolves himself in the four directions and drowns himself in the unfathomable. To him there is no east or west—he begins in the Dark Obscurity and returns to the Great Thoroughfare. Now you come niggling along and try to spy him out or fix some name to him, but this is like using a tube to scan the sky or an awl to measure the depth of the earth—the instrument is too small, never heard about the young boy of Shouling who went to learn the Hantan Walk. He hadn’t mastered what the Hantan people had to teach him when he forgot his old way of walking, so that he had to crawl all the way back home."
Back to my Humpty Dumpty thoughts. To this point Humpty Dumpty events have been personal ... individual events. One can see Humpty Dumpty events at the level of family, tribe, clan, village, walled city, kingdom, nation and civilization. All of the above communities ... regardless of size ... have experienced Humpty Dumpty events ... some transformational ... some fatal.
Looking back in time ... as far back as paleontology can take us ... we can see a common denominator ... a thread that holds the countless Humpty Dumpty events together. The human race is being forced to consolidate ... to synthesize ... to become "One". There exists a reasonable liklihood that a grandiose Humpty Dumpty event is lurking in the not too distant future.
Crudely stated:
1) If it wasn't for male aggression we would still be shitting in the sand in Africa. ... author unknown
2) If male aggression doesn't take a back seat to female empathy, compassion, nurturing in the near future ... survivors will once again be shitting in the sand in Africa.
"He whose understanding cannot grasp these minute and subtle words, but is only fit to win some temporary gain—is he not like the frog in the caved-in well? Chuang Tzu, now—at this very moment he is treading the Yellow Springs or leaping up to the vast blue. To him there is no north or south—in utter freedom he dissolves himself in the four directions and drowns himself in the unfathomable. To him there is no east or west—he begins in the Dark Obscurity and returns to the Great Thoroughfare. Now you come niggling along and try to spy him out or fix some name to him, but this is like using a tube to scan the sky or an awl to measure the depth of the earth—the instrument is too small, never heard about the young boy of Shouling who went to learn the Hantan Walk. He hadn’t mastered what the Hantan people had to teach him when he forgot his old way of walking, so that he had to crawl all the way back home."
Back to my Humpty Dumpty thoughts. To this point Humpty Dumpty events have been personal ... individual events. One can see Humpty Dumpty events at the level of family, tribe, clan, village, walled city, kingdom, nation and civilization. All of the above communities ... regardless of size ... have experienced Humpty Dumpty events ... some transformational ... some fatal.
Looking back in time ... as far back as paleontology can take us ... we can see a common denominator ... a thread that holds the countless Humpty Dumpty events together. The human race is being forced to consolidate ... to synthesize ... to become "One". There exists a reasonable liklihood that a grandiose Humpty Dumpty event is lurking in the not too distant future.
Crudely stated:
1) If it wasn't for male aggression we would still be shitting in the sand in Africa. ... author unknown
2) If male aggression doesn't take a back seat to female empathy, compassion, nurturing in the near future ... survivors will once again be shitting in the sand in Africa.