Union Station. I love this place, the setting of a recent, vivid dream.
According to the cosmology of Reya, one of the reasons the citizens of my society buy so much junk is because many people feel, at a soul level, completely impoverished. We are rational, sensible, we live in the "real" world, i.e. a mundane reality in which anything that has not been rationally explained is instantly dismissed. It is a life of spiritual impoverishment to reject mystery so absolutely.
When I mentioned Mercury retrograde to someone yesterday, she rolled her eyes. She wasn't being mean or consciously insulting me, no way, but she was inferring that I'm a nut for following the movement of the planets even though people from the North Pole to the South Pole, throughout the entire history of humankind, have taken meaning from the sky just the way I do.
I get that kind of reaction all the time here in Washington DC, though I'm told that in Taos, for instance, I would be among like-minded folks, which begs the question, Why am I here??
The world I live in is so interesting, multi-dimensional, colorful and textural - especially compared to the stripped down world of mundane reality. My theory is that rational folks have intense cravings for spiritual/mystical/psychic richness just like I do. The problem is that their world view does not allow for inner richness which is why they can be convinced that a new car or success in academia (see Rebecca Clayton's comment) or political triumph or yet another pair of shoes will somehow satisfy their spiritual hunger. For others, this paradigm does not fit (see NanU's comments).
Whatever.
Living in a complicated multiverse such as I do, within the cosmos of A Very Rational Society, presents me with certain problems. There are so many more boundary issues I have to deal with than most folks. For instance, a few years ago I learned how to not be so codependent with the Dead - a healthy boundary that most of the people I interact with would never take time to consider. Why would they? They don't believe in ghosts, ancestral spirits or disembodied beings of any kind.
It's an interesting dilemma I would never trade for a new car, believe me. Some days it gives me pause for thought, however. Wouldn't life be simpler if I believed, in my heart of hearts, that what I really yearn for is a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes? A life like that would depend mostly on making money, something I've never much been interested in (or good at). But if I thought Manolo Blahnik was the answer to my deepest desires, I bet I could figure out how to get my hands on a pair or two.
I'm a mystic, but a skeptical mystic, and some days I wonder.
News flash: After posting this, I went to see the Sufi acupuncturist who, after careful observation and deep listening, placed 6 needles at various places on my body. He also offered some sage words about the life of spirit - he always does. After my treatment, the Poor Little Me mood of self pity was completely dissolved. All hail Chinese medicine! Oh yeah.
21 comments:
I think I'm a pretty Rational-type person, but I don't find reality drab or mundane at all. The world is interesting, colorful, textural, fascinating, vivid and etc, all without invoking unseen dimensions or spirits. So I don't 'get' Mercury's retrograde as anything more than a nifty astronomical event, but this need not result in any spiritual impoverishment.
Just to say there's a rich and healthy life from this Rational perspective too.
Though I do see the people you're talking about, always looking to the next new car or pair of shoes. The status-seekers, and materially-driven. For me, they're not rational either!
Nancy you are correct! The mundane world is not drab.
There is great beauty and bounty and wonder in the "seen" world and it was wrong of me to judge you!
On days like this I really wonder why I don't live in Taos.
If there's something people can't resist, it's dividing something into two groups. Groups of people or whatever. But no matter how you divide, there's always a different way to do it, always someone on the other side to say 'hey!'. From there you can go on splitting into infinity, until we get down to individuals and even then it depends on whether you catch them before or after coffee.
Which is not to say that classification is not without its meaning and usefulness. Helps us tell friend vs foe (though we may often get it wrong). One of those fascinating things...!
;D
You don't live in Taos because the people there don't need you. You live in DC because the people there do.
And life would not be simpler if you believed the way they do. It would just be as empty as you stare at your new pair of expensive shoes.
I understand completely! Sometimes it feels like I'm from a different planet where "stuff" isn't so important and the "solution" to a catastrophy isn't "go shopping".
You mean shoes AREN'T the answer? Thank God - because I HATE shopping!
Ellen stole what I was going to say - DC NEEDS you. And I think you might get bored living among like-minded people all the time - because you're such an explorer & there wouldn't be that much to explore there.
There are several really weird cosmologies in Our Nation's Capital, and I worked in a couple of them--the Universe of Federal Employees, and The Ivory Tower of Academe. Anyone who leaves the Ivory Tower ceases to exist (as they believe there), so if you don't get tenure, or go to Industry, or quit school, it's a death sentence. Pretty scary.
I enjoyed watching the Washington Politcal Cosmos, and I got a peek at the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous when I worked in biotech.
These four worlds are materialist, although not in the shopping mall/new car/McMansion sense--just that material reality is the main event.
I'm sure there are more of these materialist "worlds" in DC, but the thing is, if you're in one of those worlds, and you don't believe the same stuff as your co-inhabitants, you feel like you're from another planet. At least, I did, as I cosmos-hopped.
Maybe you're there to help people like me (toiling away in the wrong "cosmos") by pointing the way to rich, alternative inner lives. Maybe you're a Capitol Hill Worker Whisperer.
Rebecca I always love hearing what you have to say.
You, too, Nancy.
And Bug, you made me laugh. I hate to shop too - except I love buying groceries. Go figure.
NanU - Ah the third road of Thomas the Rhymer! Thanks for the reminder.
This is the first post in a long time I've had to edit. Thanks to all.
Okay, so I'm taking my new pair of shoes back. Darn, and I was feeling pretty good about them too! lol
When at 16 I first entered American ground, I was very surprised at what I found. My whole firmly-grounded beliefs were challenged. I knew that life was hard. When you were brought up in Germany in the fifties and sixties, your world consisted of narrow, overcrowded apartments, hard work to rebuild the country, a TV set in a TV-and-radio-store where you could watch football/soccer games from the window, hardly any telephones or cars... No one had much. And then in PA I had classmates who had the LUXURY of a room to herself, parents with a boat and two cars... thinking that this was how "people just lived". And even at 16 I thought, huh? How peculiar! Status, possessions, a right to entertainment? How weird. I was happy for enough food, a bed, books to read, my phantasy.
Somehow this careless, wasteful world was like a movie to me.
I still cannot get the idea of how another pair of shoes should fill my soul. Am I strange?
Ah Angela you are one of my blog family, and so weird?? Not to me!!
I love Ellen's comment. DC does need you. Your outlook on life is always so refreshing, Reya.
I think that many people do fill up their empty spaces with stuff. It seems to me that people experience an internal scarcity, when the Universe is incredibly abundant.
So it goes, I guess.
Interestingly, "poor little me" did not come through in this post for me, not at all. It was a surprise to discover through your update that you'd been feeling that way. Glad you're back in the mystic pink!
Now, what I want to know is, did you have to look up the spelling of Christian Louboutin or Manolo Blahnik before you dropped their names into your post? LOL. I certainly would have had to. As it was, I had to go back to your post to recover the spelling for this comment.
For the record, I'm with you. Mercury retrograde is a bitch. Too bad it comes around so darn often! 4 times a year is too many!
Some retrogrades are worse than others. This one? One of the worst!
And no I did not have to look up the spelling of the designers which ... means something, eh??
reya i think some people land a little like probes - to find out what's there and then also to simply be. change happens way faster and it's better change when it's connected to someone who simply is. steven
'Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.' I like that. Do we enjoy the world around us as much with all our filters on?
Ha ha. If you came to Taos, you'd probably never want to leave. Here we have Joseph the Starwatcher, who does daily horoscopes on the radio.
And every Sunday they have a feast at the Hindu temple, and half the town comes to it.
At UNM-Taos, there are more meditation, holistic healing, world religions, and creativity classes than anything else. There is even a Creativity and Consciousness Bachelor's degree you can get.
Oh, and so much more!
Polly! That would be so cool!
The last time we were in DC we stayed at an arts and crafts hotel across from Union Station. It was very convenient.
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