Observations of a Lunatic Naked Ape
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know” — Einstein
As we all progress through this sojourn we entitle “Life”, real understanding is almost always accompanied by expanded awareness, revealing further complexity, oft heretofore undreamt. In the spirit of that reality, I simply offer a few observations from yet another perspective.
First, a bit about that perspective. Although I’ve enjoyed plenty of ‘dances’ with the ‘Pale Rider’, in most ways, I’m an average ‘American Joe’… Raised mostly on the Pacific coast by a Celtic descent firefighter and a traditional Hispanic mother, finishing in the north valley, of California, my brothers and I rode bikes and skateboards that were literally just that, a board with skates attached, sans helmets. I started with a trumpet in my elementary school band, and ultimately played all the way into the military. I was a scout, and later a DeMolay, as well as a scuba diver, dirt biker and general all around ‘well enough raised, rebellious teen’. I met my Life’s Love on a bus to Paradise, played ‘tag’ with a streetlight pole at about 45mph on an enduro, road-raced my ’65 Chevy, played ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ with local law enforcement, and ‘played’ all over the north state.
After graduation and a couple of community college semesters’ worth of my dad (rightly) trying to push my maturity levels, I enlisted in the Air Force. Despite the perspective driven ‘attitude adjustment’ that came with, enjoyed a wonderful stint as a firefighter/search & rescue, full of perilous, some dangerous and even flat deadly situations. I apparently have a bit of an adrenaline lust, that persists, as evidenced by a recent active shooter situation, but I get ahead of myself… I did, unfortunately, in the process, screw up my relationship with Barbie for about 15 years.
After the military, I spent a couple of years ‘couch surfing’ and partying around the north valley, before semi-settling down with my first wife. A move to Sacramento, a couple of semesters at Sac State and 18 months in a Business College’s Tech program launched a short’ish career, that resulted in my self-description as a ‘DOS Guru’, with a Virginia based software company that was taking over the legal system, both here and in Canada, as well as some interesting smaller clients. After my first divorce, several years hanging with rodeo cowboy ‘friends in low places’, and a scientifically renewed Faith, I finally returned to my beloved Pacific seaboard at the very end of ‘99.
The new millennium brought a renewal of my relationship with Barbie, resulting in our Awesome, now young adult son, and a total career shift, as I adapted to my new role as a father, in essentially a tech ‘hinterland’, and ultimately, sadly, my second divorce, although I must note, I don’t think it was just because of our son that we were close friends to the end. For various reasons, I was blessed with primary custody from his preteens, making for a rather interesting ‘last decade’ or so. Occupationally, most of my last couple of decades has been marketing and consulting. Along with, however, I manage to keep up with my ‘death defying’, walking into (and almost out of) my local ER, back in ’03, with a blood glucose of 850, and a few years back, spending a minute or so literally ‘dead on a table’ from a ‘widow maker’ heart attack. The real tragedy occurred later that year, losing Barbie to a crash, which, ultimately, spun me into a rather severe depression that ended up with me living out of my car once more (no numbers, suffice to say there are no straight lines involved…), for a while.
But, as the (otherwise wildly out of context) song goes: “I’m still standing better than I ever did; Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid” — Elton John
So, here I am, back in Sacramento, rebuilding a new life, once more…! The perfect opportunity to engage a longtime desire to simply record my personal observations of this ‘communal dream’ that we all seem to be experiencing, from a blended scientifically spiritual perspective. No accidents & no worries!! As I am floating through beginnings seeking a start, lo, I literally ‘stumble across’ Medium, from all appearances, ‘just what I needed’! All of that said, on to my first Observation…
In my experience…
Your ‘uniqueness’ truly is your power! To invest in and manifest your individuality promotes and enhances your overall state of being.
Life, no matter how you ‘slice it’, is wonderfully, uniquely individual! None of us is experiencing quite the same dream, as, even when circumstances ‘line up’, the participants are all uniquely assimilating, based on their own backgrounds, the various attributes. For instance, my bro and I once enjoyed a sunset over the western mountains and a joint standing side by side. I couldn’t help observing that even though we were both taking in the same sunset, from almost the same exact relative physical position, the fact of our different personalities has to result in different interpretations of the event, making it, at the very least, a slightly different event for each of us, as well as any other who might have chanced to be there. Even identical twins, despite overwhelming similarities, from birth, deviate in experience, and therefore personality, modifying each individual’s interpretation of any given event and further of the dream, itself. A good friend once noted that, in her own observation it seems, ‘we are all experiencing the same dream; just from different perspectives…’ I believe that to be a rather descriptive analysis of at least one facet of this experience, but we’ll hopefully explore that effect further later…
Our ability to coexist has allowed us to create a relatively interesting civilization, such as it is, but it has always been our individuality wherein lay our Strength as a species! Consider for a moment, any time in your life when you were actively doing something purely for your personal enjoyment of doing it. Perhaps hiking in the woods or camping, maybe (personal favorites) getting lost on a mountain road on a bike or further up the mountain in a 4x4; perhaps it’s ‘catching a wave’ or a performance, or maybe simply game night with family and/or friends. Try to recall the feelings of freedom and self-realization that almost naturally come with. Remember how ‘in touch’ they made you feel. Then, try to think of anything else in your life that provides anything even close. Finally, it’s been said many ways across a myriad of various types of training, ‘we only have time for what we make time for’; take some time to consider how time might be allotted for comparable activities, with the goal of starting regular, growing habits.
Remember the question is NEVER “Can I…?” it’s always “How can I…?” Prices, of course, vary wildly and results to a lesser degree… and it is also, at times, good to recall: ‘just because one can do a thing, doesn’t necessarily mean one should!’
Blessing on your Path, my siblings, all!!
