what was that about hats?

By the time it came to the edge of the forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there some day." But all the little streams higher up in the forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
--a.a. milne

remembering has been on my mind lately, from the admonishments of g. i. gurdjieff and john lennon, through the literary streams of hesse, joyce, beckett, and proust, and even unto the abundant banks of sufi remembrance meditation...

and the challenging part about remembering is the remember to remember part...mr. gurdjieff said "remember yourself always and everwhere", and doesn't that seem like a lot of work? i'm tired just thinking about it.

...and then there is the ease of distraction:

Exec #1: Item six on the agenda: "The Meaning of Life". Now, uh, Harry, you've had some thoughts on this.

Exec #2: Yeah, I've had a team working on this over the past few weeks, and what we've come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts. One: People aren't wearing enough hats. Two: Matter is energy. In the universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source which act upon a persons soul. However, this soul does not exist ab initio as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia.

Exec #3: What was that about hats again?

--monty python's  the meaning of life

which is why mr. gurdjieff also said you can't do it by yourself. you need a team. even though as the m.p. quote reveals, even with a team it can be challenging. which is why you need the right team...the one without the guy who wants to know about the hats.

now when i was a bona fide little stream, on a series of consciousness raising adventures that could fill several volumes: jesus, ufo's, krishna, atheistic existentialism, the illuminati, psychedelia, the work (gurdjieff-style) est/forum/landmark, tai chi, tao, tarot, astrology, course in miracles, temple ov psychick youth, bodywork, meditation, massage, reiki, yoga...always looking for that stream that would take me all the way to the sea, the sea of possibility, because that's what those streams all seem to say, "follow me...i'm the one"; well being a little stream i just couldn't stick to one thing. i wanted to taste it all. my. attention. drifted.

and yet it always came back to consciousness, awareness, finding my true will, being my true self. somewhere inside myself the homing device kept kicking in. and eventually i discovered that all of the streams i had travelled  and  had been were with me still, and were indeed leading somewhere, together, and that where once they had seemed so different, such a series of babel-ing brooks, they now seemed to be singing together, as a chorus, each fading in and out, with harmony and counterpoint as well.

the more i dip into this river, the more life flows, the more i observe, the better life gets, the easier it becomes to be what i want to be this time around. i find corroboration in my rss feed, i find ideas like big fish swimming in the still deep waters, i find new opportunities chatting with old clients, i find new clients just by showing up.

and so as the mahabarata and the sufi sages remind us, all rivers lead to the sea, and as a. a. milne informs us, we are those rivers, and that sea swallows us up. so what’s the rush? take your time. enjoy the moment. and start wearing more hats.

Tags: massage, universe, yoga

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