Meditations on the nature of a personal reality.
By BD Montgomery
Think about this- where do you travel in a day? Do
you follow the same paths, to work, to the store, to
home again? Do you follow proscribed routes like a
personal mantra- and do you notice if you do? Imagine
people that never vary- that are perhaps afraid to-
afraid to vary their lives, reluctant to leave the paths
that are marked and well known.
Recall, from Tolkein's Hobbit that there was a great
perceived danger in leaving the forest path. Bilbo left
the path, got lost, and was beset by spiders, before
finding the forest elves. He ended up floating out of
the forest on a barrel. This was all part of a great
adventure, to be sure, but Bilbo's greatest joy was
returning home again....
If, as Tolkein suggests, the path outside our homes
is a road, and one must be careful, as one never knows
where that road leads, then what does this imply about
the nature of our reality?
Indeed, what is the nature of his caution? Are we
to stay on the path, to be sure as we can of our world,
our reality? To exist in proscribed paths and circles?
Never vary, never have an adventure?
One could read it that way, I suppose, but I really
doubt that this is the intended message. More like, "just
be careful out there". I have heard Ed Viesturs (member of
the 1996 IMAX expedition to Mt. Everest) comment that
gaining the summit- getting to the top- is only half of
the job. You gotta get back down too. In fact, Viesturs
even commented that returning home is one of his- like
Bilbo's- favorite parts of the expedition.
Is this not the nature of your personal reality, when you
leave the marked trail? When you explore, you find new
things, not only about yourself, but about your world, and
you return with what you have learned.
Your world (not "the" world- that's out there whether you
go see it or not) grows and expands each time you try
something different or see something new. Your personal
reality can change every time you take that leap of faith-
like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade -and find out not
only that there IS a path there, but where the new path
leads.
I would submit that reality is a flexible thing. You
can stretch it, deform it to fit your needs and desires.
Whatever they may be. You- your persona and your reality-
can grow and learn with each new road.
Just remember to come home again when you go.
Ouch. Reality just shifted. (I hate it when that
happens) It's one of those times when you close your eyes
and take a leap of faith. Is it the right move? Do I go
and risk, or do I stay safe and wait? I'm not the waiting
type, and I held out as long as I dared. And missed the
safe ride. By days. Oh well. I can always stand on
principles- just can't eat e'm. Banzai!
Copyright 1998 BD Montgomery
