Following Our Dreams but Remaining Open to Our Lives

 

“When someone is searching,” said Siddhartha, “then it might easily happen that the only thing his eyes still see is that what he searches for, that he is unable to find anything, to let anything enter his mind, because he always thinks of nothing but the object of his search, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed by the goal. Searching means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal. You, oh venerable one, are perhaps indeed a searcher, because, striving for your goal, there are many things you don’t see, which are directly in front of your eyes.”
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

 

Do you know what its like to try too hard? I sure do. I remember one time back when I was a young adult. As a teenager, I collected coins tho I had long before given it up. One day I needed money and I remembered that I had one coin in my collection that was worth quite a bit to me in those days. I could easily bring it down to the collector’s shop and get around one hundred and fifty dollars for it. If only I could find it. I only had about an hour to get to the shop before it closed. I pulled out the cases that housed my collection and started rummaging through the collection. I kept digging through and digging through but I couldn’t find that one coin I knew that I had. I must have gone through hundred of coins of lesser value, ones that I would only get five to ten dollars apiece for but I needed that $150. I went searching for two hours and eventually found it tho the store had long since closed. . I then realized what I had been doing and I started laughing out of the sheer silly frustration of it all. I would have had more than enough money if I had only grabbed the coins of lesser value. Together they added up to way more than the one I sought.
It’s like that sometimes when we want something badly. We become so focused on what we want and how we are to go about getting it that we lose sight of all the smaller things that in the long run may benefit us even more. It would be much more useful if we remained open to what was in our path even as we worked toward our goals knowing that the whole of many small things combined can often be greater than the tunnel vision accomplishment of our set goal. I am not saying that we shouldn’t set our intent on goals but it helps if we remain open to what else lies in our path.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Last Remnant of a Dying OrderLast Remnant of a Dying Order by G A Rosenberg

 

Butterfly Seeking A Way OutButterfly Seeking a Way Out by G A Rosenberg

 

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: