Quote: “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet”. Mahatma Gandhi
The Action: I was in the park last night, and started a discussion, with an individual that I had seen a few times before, though never engaged beyond hi. This evening he said to me “ you must love the mountains and the water”. I pondered for a moment as to where this was coming from. He lived in the neighbourhood, and I had seen him walking his dog, end of story. Now he was saying to me, in fact telling me, of two of my greatest passions in life. Where was this coming from from?
The look on my face as I stared at him, must have been expressing the same question that was running through my mind, as his next words, solved the riddle. “I saw your license plate on your truck H2O MTN.
That stared me thinking. I have had that plate for 25 years. Every year I am charged by the government of B.C. forty dollars, to have my personalized plate. Now that comes to one thousand dollars to be an individual.The cost to the government on a yearly basis for me to have that plate is zero. If my plate was not personalized I would not have to pay the forty dollars extra.
So, where is all this going? To the awareness that we pay a price in society to be an individual to be ourselves. We pay a price in many ways, some subtle, some not, to our individuality and uniqueness. We are a herding animal, we like to be a part of the group, community. It is a part of our biology and our hard wiring. It was in fact a great way to stay alive, to be apart of something bigger than just us. It was elemental to survival. We added our value, while at the same time we compromised, I am assuming, a certain part of our individuality to fit in, for safety and food.
Though what does that mean in today’s world? Where do we sacrifice our individuality, and in fact are penalized to be an individual?
My action this week has been to pay attention to all of the ares in my life, where I feel pressure to conform. To be a little less, to square the edges of my uniqueness to belong, to be “one size fits all”, in a society where one size only fits all of us, if we compromise our uniqueness in life. The gifts that we bring for being us, a snowflake, or a droplet of water in the sea of life. We are all a part of the ocean of life, which doesn’t mean that we have to be the same.
All this being said, I am realizing that it is the uniqueness and the differences that make life interesting, that make me interesting, and adds value to society and my community. I need to be aware of the price that I am paying to fit in, and also the real cost benefit of having that personalized license plate.
The Book: Sacred Pleasure - Raine Eisler
Love it. Also read years ago Chalice and the Blade, also highly recommended. Lets say that Sacred Pleasure explores the assumptions associated with aggression and domination, the relationship between sex and power, and the dichotomy of partnership societies, and roles of the sexes, as compared to dominator relationships, our predominant Western Model.
Insightful, illuminating, educating and inspiring towards a new way of being in “relationship” to every aspect of our lives. 5/5