So there’s these two attributes we naturally posses today and are very opposite and very primitive, very ours and make our generation this powerful creative force of good and/or bad.
I’m talking about both: lucidity and innocence and it’s fruit: manipulation and simplicity accordingly.
«Water Serpents» by Gustav Klimt, courtesy of www.gustav-Klimt.com
Working to convince our selves and others of the way certain situation work out to «benefit» ourselves is what I mean by manipulation.
It can be so cunning that it even deceits our very own self. Highlighting non stop the reasons we should consider – turning us sometimes into the victims of a challenging circumstance. Telling us we have been hurt and the only way to go is tho act out from pain.
Many times trying to scape a sense of guilt or responsibilities, leading us into believing a toxic narrative; full with procrastination, shame, self righteousness, cynicism, and all sorts of other poisonous attributes.
I’m not choosing to say it is toxic lightly because it indeed contaminates every single one of our relationships, whether it is with ourselves (body, mind and soul), our possessions, others, our circumstances, our plans, our desires, our environment, virtually everything has the potential to degenerate instead of growing.
«Dance» by Henri Matisse, courtesy of www.henrimatisse.com
To understand innocence it’s good to think about a small child, one who enjoys playing for the sake of playing, feeling the sensations of dirt in the hands, surprised by whatever small stick he encounters.
He’s simple, he enjoys because there are ways to enjoy, he doesn’t know he can get hurt, there’s nothing to fear, no reason to manipulate things to his convenience.
He enjoys eating for the taste of it without absolutely any knowledge of what’s good or damaging for him.
And that’s were the plot thickens! these aren’t black and white situations, these are the elements that come from the lucidity of being humans.
Being aware of consequences lead us into protecting ourselves and can sometimes mean trading the joy of living for feeding into fear.
But sometimes can mean the opposite like preventing getting into a hurtful situation and feeding our wisdom instead.
So right between one and the other is where the sweet spot is, walking the thin line is always the challenge that will keep US and OTHERS protected but exposed enough to enjoy what life is offering, engaged and stimulated into what we are experiencing.
To willingly be unassuming, and give an honest try to the opportunities in front of us, not in a daredevil, negligent, reckless fashion, but from the humbleness of trusting that in fact, there’s a greater order that everything in existence serves to and will continue to serve.
Even if your more inclined into believing only on mater, you can pull out courage from the ways life and nature it self proves it is all literal mysteriously working for life to thrive.
I dare to say mysteriously because it is obvious that we are still discovering knowledge, we are still on the quest of understanding how the different elements and forces we’ve discovered work. They are there but we are in the dark of many.
So, being innocent and unassuming works better for us exactly because opens the door to understanding reality instead of reinforcing lies.
This is such a deep and interesting topic, there’s so many references to this. Hopefully there’ll be a second part on this essay where I can unfold that too.
Meanwhile I send love!
Cheers, Adriana.
MEXILIVING 