The Caterpillar’s Five Percent

“Most of us are only willing to call 5% of our present information into question any one point.”
― Ken Wilber

 

Think of everything you presently know to be true. Now think of all the things you once believed at any point in your life that you no longer believe. Does this raise more questions? Most of what we know from experience we know to be only partial truths yet how much of your reality can you bring into question? How much do our beliefs shape who we are?If I am as I believe myself to be and yet I know my beliefs are only partial than how much am I willing to surrender? How can we come to a greater understanding if we are unwilling to let go of most of our present ‘knowledge’? If a caterpillar is willing to sacrifice it all to become a butterfly can we do any less? What if our beliefs are shaped around the need to surrender our beliefs? How much are we willing to sacrifice to become something more?
Blessings, G

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Forestal SceneForestal Scene by G A Rosenberg

 

Textured WebsTextured Webs by G A Rosenberg

More From American Gods

“People believe, thought Shadow. It’s what people do. They believe, and then they do not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjuration. People populate the darkness; with ghost, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe; and it is that rock solid belief, that makes things happen.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

…and like Maulder from X-Files, we so want to believe, even atheists, maybe especially atheists want to believe there is nothing there so badly that their reality becomes void of meaning that they then fill in like a paint by numbers painting. We conjure things into our lives all the time through our beliefs, new relationships and far more often the endings of old ones and still we believe. Alice believed in six impossible things before breakfast and her life became if not impossible extremely unlikely. I believe in human potential and that could bite me in the rear end because that potential can express in all kinds of unexpected ways. I believe in my potential (a voice cries not enough) and it becomes my tar baby. I like to say I believe in everything and really mean it. Sincerity and intent becomes important here. That way anything can happen and probably will. =)
Blessings, G

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Space Observation by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – May 17 2012

“Don’t be intimidated by other people’s opinions. Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks and do what you really want to do.”
–Paulo Coelho

Why do we care so much what others think? For so long I believed what everyone told me.  It definitely made my teenage years hell. I gave everyone space in my head without charging rent.  I started curing myself of this by running away at seventeen and joining  a religious cult. For five months I tried my best to make myself into what other people who told me they loved me told me I should be. Even when I saw contradictions in their own characters I tried to force myself into the shape of their ‘loving instructions’.  One day I had had enough and had a strong sense of the THIS IS WRONG’s. I left and returned cross country to my home. I was shattered. My belief system had fallen and it couldn’t get up.

Now I was back to people telling me familiar opinions of how reality was. The only difference was that now neither their version nor the cult’s version worked for me. I tried charismatic catholicism. Wow this was cool.  I find few things as attractive as pure faith. However it can be pretty awkward being the only person in church who isn’t speaking in tongues. Strike one more off the list.

Over the ensuing decades I tried to force myself into so many different shapes, each suggested by others. Gradually I came to realize that just by virtue of being open to so many, I was flying in the face of almost all of them. They all seemed to have some truth to them and work (to various degrees) for those practicing them but how could all be right. These thoughts formed in my head quite awhile before I started reading Ken Wilber and other Integral writers. Somewhere along the line I developed a sense of humour about it all that helped. I still might throw myself into something headfirst but now at least I realized that it probably wasn’t THE answer and almost definitely was only part of My Answer but I went into things honouring the people following them and open to whatever would come.

A large part of what I wanted to do was to understand. From very early on I grasped that understanding how a person defined the universe and themselves in relationship to the universe was a key component in understanding the person and so the more beliefs I can understand, the more people. They all can be given a voice as long as my inner voice, the one that speaks quietest remains paramount.

Blessings, G

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Rise by G A Rosenberg

Eye Journey by G A Rosenberg