The chicken or the egg

     Several years ago, I put a wedge in a friendship when I stated my firm belief that most things are concepts and not truths.  When you hold something as true to your way of thinking and believing, it is not necessarily a universal truth.   I am surer of that concept today than I was at the time.

     Almost everything we talk about is a concept.  There is some similarity in our individual concepts, so when we are talking, we have a similar point of reference.  Example, when I say tree, dog, the universe, the body… you may think a spruce and I a redwood..  but they are both trees.   In most cases, that is adequate unless the issue is “go climb a tree.”  Then it would be easier if it were a spruce.

     I find that at times I forget that most things are just concepts and they create some imaginary differences in our connecting.  Who cares which came first the chicken or the egg… unless you are the chicken.  It is functionally useful to know which you are cooking. 

     We put labels on things and then function as if they were not just concepts but absolutes.  I have been reflecting on my back home life and why my resting heart rate averages 74 there and 64 here.   I have spent a great deal of my life trying to make sense of life.   Such as …why are the most profusely stating they are Christians, the least “Christian”…  why are there such double standards…if we like someone, we want to give the benefit of the doubt and if we don’t… we have no tolerance. 

     When I have distance, and when I am most connected to life, I can see when I start to grasp and fixate.  In the still of the meditation, it is what “comes up” and I start playing the tapes….I will show them… how could they do this to me… poor forgotten bonny… etc.   I react…  and then I come back to the breath…. and I see what is happening and I relax, let go…  I stop trying to “get a grip” on life or the situation.. and I am just here and now… and the air is clear and crisp.