WHAT YOU ARE, PART 4

Three types of experiencing:

REACTING, ACTING OUT

This is your ‘basic’, everyday surviving … interacting with the mundane: Sensing, eating, drinking, moving about, conversing, laboring, accommodating pain, seeking pleasure … what life is mostly all about. Or so it seems.

Your brain is constantly reacting to what comes through the senses. Your repertoire of experiences builds. You are always ‘learning’. Your memory ‘expands’ and your ‘choices’ become better informed.

CONTEMPLATING

Occasionally you ‘come up for air’ … trying to view the world more objectively … gaining a better perspective. You think about what you have encountered, what has happened to you and to those around you. You contemplate. You may come to some conclusions. You hope they are accurate. Your awareness and understanding matures. You ‘see’ things more clearly. You become more self-confident.

EXPERIENCES OF JOY, HAPPINESS, CONTENTMENT

You experience moments of ‘elation’ when someone or something ‘touches’ you deeply … briefly … often unexpectedly. A field of lilies, a glorious sunset, vibrant singing … you are captivated … something ‘within’ you stirs. You ‘feel’ more alive … for a moment. The cooing of an infant after a warm bath enwrapped in a soft coverlet … joy? Perhaps a ‘mighty quest’ realized … a major problem overcome … a sense of accomplishment … relief … praise … from without … within. Peace … contentment. Moments of happiness seem to pass right through you … often unappreciated ‘til they become a memory. They were very ‘real’ … yes?? And you look forward to more. Especially the silent loving gushes that envelop you from time to time … when your ‘heart’ is mellow and you are ‘basking’ in the presence of the one you love.

Experiences meld together … homogenize. In one breath you can cringe from bright sunlight reflecting off a pond hosting honking geese chasing one another … making you laugh at their territorial claims. Isn’t life interesting? Each day different … and you ‘at the helm’ …. your ‘hold’ filling with impressions … you reacting to them in a variety of ways: Practical, necessary or essential responses. Passive reflections. Enjoying the moment. You consciously and probably unconsciously are always involved with the world.

Soo … are you an accumulation of ALL YOUR EXPERIENCES? Is this what you are? Genetically programmed protoplasm reacting and adjusting to one encounter after another? Surviving temporally for as long as possible? OR are you SOMETHING ELSE? Perhaps an entity with astounding abilities who can perceive of an existence beyond a brief, doomed awareness?

What might you be then? You should KNOW this … you alone … right now … pondering: WHAT ARE YOU??

With a little effort perhaps it will become apparent. Think you already know? Fine. Stop reading. Remain confident … secure. Your views, possibly shared, are sufficient to get you through each day feeling your life has meaning… makes sense. You are content with what you believe. Or are you??

~

Still here?? Jolly good. How ‘bout some definitions? Might help clarify ‘basics’. Keep in mind words are only symbols. They are not the things themselves. Words strung together can form a concept. This widens … deepens your understanding. You ARE striving to know … what life is … what being human is. This should not be too difficult.

What is life?

- The beginning of strife.
- A constant flow of reactions.
- Attempts to perpetuate indefinitely.
- Entertainment for superior life forms.
- Active cells united briefly for a particular purpose.
- A complex web of constantly changing interactions.
- Earthly biological phenomenon dependent on energy.
- Existing with vitality and activity in contrast to the inanimate.
- An arrangement of substances that is progenitor of similar arrangements.
- Molecules attaching, adapting, taking form, becoming animated, needing sustenance to sustain it.

You could add many more definitions. But you know life when you see it. Yes? Good.
Moving along … striving to understand what you are.

What is human life?

- An attempt at permanence.
- Always a becoming … never arriving.
- Awareness we did not create but cling to.
- A striving for perfection that cries out for purpose.
- Anticipations being constantly interrupted by reality.
- Earth’s smartest animal who knowingly seeks happiness.
- A maddening, mysterious journey to nothingness or everything.
- Experiences, choices, habits … adapting and succumbing to them.
- A brief excursion in a vulnerable vessel from and to chartless ports.
- An ongoing battle against famine, disease, other creatures and ourselves.

CONCLUSION
You are unique. All other creatures go about their ‘business’ of surviving … for as long as possible … without confusion. They do not ask why or how. They do not wonder. They do what they MUST do moment to moment. They depend on their instincts and experiences. They react predictably. You on the other hand want to know … more. You ponder; you reflect. You often consider things which have nothing to do with ‘just surviving’. You can ‘encompass’ all things with your awareness … with your inquiring mind. Existence for you is a feast. Every moment in your life you delight in discovery.

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