Friday, January 21, 2011

Avoiding paradoxes, ignoring the Folds of Life

We do things in life, mainly to avoid paradoxes. We avoid paradoxes, and we ignore folds.

Some people, some poor damaged ones, seek out life's paradoxes in the form of what we allude to as, "drama". They seek it, they crave it. They Think they have to have it. They don't. Zen masters have been trying to tell us that for years, as have Buddhas from time immemorial.

Be calm.

Look about you. See what there is to see.

Take origami. It is an art form that exists simply of itself. A painter adds paint to a medium, a canvas; a sculptor chips away and off of his medium. Origami, takes of itself and that is all there is. It is natural. It is a simple thing, to fold paper. But if you seek out the most creative orgami on earth, you will be amazed by the form and structure, the creativity and detail that can be involved in something so simple. In hundreds of folds, or one; one being as complex in many ways, as a hundred.

It is a utter paradox, that to simply fold some paper, you can create a paradox.

We choose to avoid paradoxes because it complicates life and we typically have little enough time to devote to ourselves, without adding to it, by making life more complex with the addition of yet another paradox.

However, much of the beauty and value in life has much to do, with paradoxes. And folds. Things you avoid, things you ignore. We do not see much of life around us, and that is a shame. Why? Because, I do not think we were designed to be that way.

You see, we need to have time in our lives, in our day to day living, where we can look, simply look, and see, and yes, simply see, both the fascination around us, and the beauty that surrounds us; everywhere. At all times.

You can fold not just paper, but many, many other things, like Human proteins, even space; theoretically anyway.

I'm not saying that we should go out and seek paradoxes. There is after all, a reason we avoid them. What I'm saying is that we need to "pay more attention".

Think about that phrase a moment. To pay, attention. It's inherent in the dynamic. We do need to pay for our time in giving attention to things. To pay, is to take from one area of our lives, indeed, even as in money, currency, filthy lucre, to pay for our being able to do something else. You pay for gas, so you can drive your car. You pay in losing time, to be able to notice things you do not usually have the time, or the energy, the luxury, of examining; experiencing for your pleasure.

All I am saying here, is that we really should pay for it, take the time, make the time, adjust your life in order to live more. Just as we should not live beyond our means so that we do not live in debt, also we should live with the allowing for the time to seek out life's paradoxes; to observe the folds around us and how to fold things in interesting ways; to make new things, to learn new things, to feel new emotions, to enjoy life more.

Seek the paradoxes. Find the folds.

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