Truth and my Map of Reality
In Germany now with family, in a small town not too far from the city of Stuttgart in the south-west near to the border of Switzerland. I've been here since Wednesday and it is Sunday now. It has snowed too much and the weather is overall wet and raw when the wind blows.
Right now I am listening to a Moroccan CD in a Malaysian Sarong and an army surplus shirt I bought in Singapore typing a bit and feeling at home in my cousin's house in Germany.
I realised a bit ago that I have an affinity for anyone who travels and people who voluntarily go outside their comfort zone for the sake of seeing more and developing their sense of the world -- as a means to spiritual growth.
I read a book recently that changed my life (I have read a few that have done that but for the purpose of this entry I'll mention only one) called "The Road Less Travelled..." by M. Scott Peck. Seriously, if this man were still alive I would seek him out and camp on his doorstep and become a disciple. As it is, he has passed away and all that I have left is my new Bible, this book.
This book talks about many things and for the purposes of this entry I can not name all but I can tell you the things which kept my interest and changed my life in (none other than) a list...
10 things from this book that changed my life
10. a definition for the nature of evil which I can believe and comprehend
9. a definition for God/love/good which makes sense and matches that given by an author named Ayn Rand in a book called "Atlas Shrugged"
8. a really good explanation for why I am neurotic at times
7. a theory called the "map of reality" that comments on people and their willingness or not to see the truth
6. the edict that you have to be committed to seeing the truth as a path to spritual growth
5. the edict that you have to be committed to delaying your own tendency for self-gratification for the purpose of seeing truth in your life
4. the notion that depression (in small daily burst) is natural as we become depressed at times when we see the truth
3. the theory that all people are inherently lazy to some degree, some moreso than others
2. a good definition for what romantic love is and why it is often not successful and an even better definition for what real love is and why it either does or not come to fruition
1. the theory that the ultimate good in life is the pursuit of your own spiritual growth
All that being said, I think I understand why people who travel and live away from home keep me rapt. Travelling and being away has helped me to see the world but it has also helped me to see and understand myself. I feel I have grown for that. Other people interested in their own spiritual growth are incredibly hard to find but when you do find them they are worth their weight in chocolate.
Somedays when you feel like staying in bed and not getting up, you feel like everything is impossible. Getting up seems like a mission and the world is a typhon ready to devour you whole but then you do it, one little step at a time and suddenly your schematic knowledge kicks in and you realise that you know how to do it. You get your ass out of bed. And then the really scary bit happens. You suddenly realise that getting up isn't that hard and somewhere in the back of your head something is whispering that it was never hard, your concept of hard was just skewed. And then you feel bad because you know you are just being a bit lazy and suddenly you want to go back to bed because it is easier than looking at an even harder truth. You can do it all. You can get up, you get yourself dressed, you can shower and go to work, and you can do just about anything, but all you have to do it try. And you have to not be lazy. And that is pretty scary.
But the truth is that it can also be exciting.
Life is hard. What a glorious concept.
I think hell is a place where everything is easy and there is no challenge.
Going off to Copenhagen on Tuesday, if my dad gets better of course. He got off the plane and promptly came down with a bit of flu. Nasty bit of work, those German germs.
More pics soon.
posted by Mark at 10:39 PM
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