I like your story of meeting the woman. It is interesting how we look for an explanation for something so random and meaningful. I’ve been thinking about this through the lens of what is reality. The standard understanding is that reality is only what we perceive it to be. In essence, we define reality. And we use the writers and doers who have influenced us to make the case for our perception. Over the past decade I’ve thought a lot about this. My mind has changed because I wasn’t satisfied that my knowledge matched my experience. Now, I see reality as all that exists. We are only privileged to experience a small portion of it. Some of it is beautiful and much of it hard and painful. We have spoken of consciousness as our awareness of reality. And in this sense, I’ve discovered there is a belief that consciousness as personal and individual. I no longer see it this way. Instead, consciousness is more the non-verbal language of reality that we interact with in life. It is a more phenomenological experience of embodiment. It isn’t primarily emotional, but sensory. And for this reason, I see it as more spiritual than something we materially possess. To return to your story of the woman, the experience was a gift of connection that can lead to a long term relationship or a momentary experience of mutual contribution worthy of gratitude. If I’m on to something, then we meet people and encounter situations that expand our perception of the world without needing to quantify it as mine. Our stories are ways to communicate this shared existence of reality. Reality, therefore, is real, but not simply real. It is an expansive environment where experiences like yours are available to us every day.
I like your story of meeting the woman. It is interesting how we look for an explanation for something so random and meaningful. I’ve been thinking about this through the lens of what is reality. The standard understanding is that reality is only what we perceive it to be. In essence, we define reality. And we use the writers and doers who have influenced us to make the case for our perception. Over the past decade I’ve thought a lot about this. My mind has changed because I wasn’t satisfied that my knowledge matched my experience. Now, I see reality as all that exists. We are only privileged to experience a small portion of it. Some of it is beautiful and much of it hard and painful. We have spoken of consciousness as our awareness of reality. And in this sense, I’ve discovered there is a belief that consciousness as personal and individual. I no longer see it this way. Instead, consciousness is more the non-verbal language of reality that we interact with in life. It is a more phenomenological experience of embodiment. It isn’t primarily emotional, but sensory. And for this reason, I see it as more spiritual than something we materially possess. To return to your story of the woman, the experience was a gift of connection that can lead to a long term relationship or a momentary experience of mutual contribution worthy of gratitude. If I’m on to something, then we meet people and encounter situations that expand our perception of the world without needing to quantify it as mine. Our stories are ways to communicate this shared existence of reality. Reality, therefore, is real, but not simply real. It is an expansive environment where experiences like yours are available to us every day.
That was absolutely beautiful Ed! From start to finish that had me enthralled and it resonates a lot with my own experiences or senses.
Thank you. There are other dimensions to this that I’m still working out. Iain McGilchrist’s The Matter With Things has been helpful.