leaves rising

the weather was quite strange today.... cloudy and dark, windy, but warm... about 75 degrees...

so i'm sitting in my dorm looking out my lovely large window and all of the sudden a procession of fall leaves began to rise up into the sky with no retreat. it was quite a sight to see, for what it suggested...that the normalities of life don't always take place. and those times when they choose not to, it seems as though it is exactly that -- a choice, their choice to float up, rather than down, clearly defying the regular. now of course this is not against any "laws of physics" or gravity or force according to science. but it's interesting to wonder if we had to create laws to explain what was already happening. it's not like our scientific laws are what made those leaves floating a reality rather than a defiance. they're doing their thing no matter what we call it.

i guess this all made me think about (or enhanced my thinking about) us living in a realm of laws, and while staying within those parameters, doing something completely different. the leaves weren't surpassing any laws, just floating above the regularities and norms that we're used to seeing.

i recently picked up a book that i began a good bit ago and put down half way through entitled "A Passion for Living" by Shahan Shammas. Shahan is actually my mother's best friend's brother, and i was very fortunate to share a weekend with him two summers ago on the peaceful water of a cape cod cabin. i remember coming away from our conversations feeling so invigorated, enlightened and inspired. i was so greatful to receive a copy of his book from him and now more than ever i'm finding his words extremely beneficial at this point in my life. The topic i'm reading about right now is Understand why we age and die.... and i'd like to pass along some of Shahan's wise thoughts and insights that kind of spurred and emphasize what i'm trying to express:

Imitation is not only the best form of flattery, it is the trademark of any society. If fifty or sixty year old people in our community are considered old and treated accordingly, when we are fifty or sixty years old, we usually consider ourselves to be old and treat ourselves accordingly as well. We are human. Therefore, we behave the way humans are expected to behave. We are social. So we emphasize belonging and we imitate. If the only examples we ever see of how humans are or can be are the ones surrounding us, how are we to break the norms of society and transcend our humanity? We can break these norms by escaping the tyranny of the group and by emphasizing our individuality. We can break the impact of "community pressure" by being in the community, but not of it. We can take the benefits of a community, but not it's handicaps. We do not have to be one of the statistics. General statistics of health, wealth and morality apply to the general population and to the common people. If we distinguish ourselves, then we are no longer common and the statistics have no relevance to us. If we believe we are common, then the common rules apply to us as well. We live, age and die by the laws we accept and internalize. Our community provides us the free software (freeware) that gets loaded into our minds and runs the hardware that is our body. To live individual lives, we require customized software.

Living a normal life, our experiences will only be normal. Normal people live, age and die like normal people are supposed to. If all we see and experience is a reminder of what the normal is, we seldom experience the possible life. Our environment shapes and moldes us. We assume it's characteristics. It requires extra effort to be different, stand out and escape velocity.



so i suppose the leaves rising learned how to be in a community, but not of it... escaping velocity.

enjoy the irregular occurences of every day life. (and leave some thoughts/comments)