Finitude

The theme for today is Finitude

Or if you like, "limits"

It has its "in's" and "out's",
its own limits.

Perhaps today
we can let "limits" out of its cage.

The word "finitude" is actually self-contradicting,
standing in an abstract nowhere
and thumbing its nose at "limits".

Each actual phenomenon, on the other hand
has an "expiration date"
comes and then goes at a particular time and place.

The intellectual and spiritual evolution of humankind
is in many ways a flight from finitude
into ideas of the infinite, the absolute, the non-changing;
science and religion alike.

But human understanding does evolve.
It changes through history and practice.

Before the Renaissance
children were not sheltered from witness of sex and death;
now these are considered adult knowledge.

Nor did people always live
with the idea of progress and history.

The universe is, in concept at least
a lot bigger and more complex than it used to be.

But language steers our thoughts toward unchanging generalties,
towards categories of things, not the things themselves.

This hasn't escaped the attention
of philosophers and mystics, among others
who struggle and resist the limits
of being stuck in eternity and abstraction
as much as being stuck in the animal perception
of just-this-here-and-now.

Today's experience seem, not just like what it is,
but more like what its "kind" is.

We have the impression that things last forever.

Perhaps habits and practices make it so.
A unique experience seems to require a unique response:
"seeing afresh".

What if we relax the holding and steering
of our "grip" on reality --
can you notice the way steering it
has become a habit, a doing
that brings a sameness?

Up pops a warning sign ... don't lose your grip on reality!
A lot of people fear this,
constantly strive to keep themselves on the rails,
fearing insanity, an irreversable change.

We're not standing on the edge of a precipice
and I think it would be extremely difficult
to fall "out of" reality.

Plus, it seems
there's a safety mechanism.
We can't see more than we're ready for
(although that's probably more than what we think we are ready for)

What is it to be "ready"?
I have to admit,
that too comes and goes
but "I" am an active participant in that process.

A lot happens, in fact
of a very personal nature
in how things "come" and "go".

Perhaps we're afraid of something coming
that we're not "ready" for.
What would it be to be "ready"?

Or we're afraid of losing something
we're not ready to live without.

We also seek as well as fear both gain and loss.

It's not just painful, it's thrilling and fulfulling
to experience something freshly

even if it is the same place as yesterday
the same person
the same "me".

But don't "I" have to be a certain way
for this to happen?

What else keeps us from experiencing things in this way?

What specific
(as in actual, individual)
things would you like
to become more "real" in this way?

What happens
if you loosen your grip
on the comings and goings

prop open the door
of your the Guest House

and welcome who - and what - comes?

When?
Any time.

What happens if you do that right now?

Or if you like,
what would you need to do or be
for that to happen
in scenes of your life that "matter";
when you get important visitors?