If you haven’t read Monday’s post about not being in someone else’s shoes, check that out first.
Now, here’s the really fun part:
Even though you, as you are right now, cannot be in their shoes, you are.
I’ll explain.
I suppose it would be more correct to say that for almost all of us, excluding those who are able to permanently drop all attachments to their minds, and remain in a constant state of enlightenment, we are often trapped inside our own minds. And so while we are trapped inside our own minds, we are at least in some way, disconnected from everyone else. This is the common state in which we walk around each day, and how most of us were raised, culturally.
Except that is not our only, nor our natural state.
Our natural state of being is more like that of a newborn baby. There is no actual separation from everyone else except the one that we construct for ourselves.
Of course this mental separation, this creation of the ego, has many benefits; it is needed in order for us to function in society.
But it becomes a trap, a prison, when we forget the foundation which it was built from.
And so there is the game, the fun part.
Do you want to pretend that you’re alone, separate from everyone else?
If you do, by all means, go ahead. No one will stop you. Most people choose this path. However, it can be very painful.
On the other hand, you can play a much more joyful version of this game.
You can be aware that you are, even when you forget, connected to everyone else.
You can even watch yourself and others going through their own versions of this game.
You can jump in and out, back and forth.
This helps you tap into the infinite reserves of wisdom, peace, and equanimity that you already are, but may have forgotten.
Matt Fried 