Running. Which way?

Posted on by Live & Learn

a-good-day-Erica-Hopper

It makes me wonder, Do we spend most of our days trying to remember or forget things? Do we spend most of our time running towards or away from our lives? I don’t know.

—Markus Zusak

Painting by Erica Hopper via christinasanantonio.  Bio for Markus Zusak

25 thoughts on “Running. Which way?”

  5. David, great words that provoke thought. Many times the direction one is running or even just moving toward is a subjective view from someone other than yourself. So we are always running in a direction that we feel we need to run. The problem that can occur is that we are all influenced by everthing around us. Good or bad it is still an influence. The key is to learn to look beyond these influences, use our mind analyzing these influences and determine for ourself the direction we want to run in.

    1. Bill, thank you. Your thoughtful insights remind me of a passage by Karr & Wood (w Credit to Make Believe Boutique for sharing):

      Today is is raining. On a day like this you might see red, yellow, or green traffic lights reflected on wet pavement. You might see raindrops running down a window pane or hanging from a railing or overhead wire. You might see two people walking under a bright green umbrella. You might see a dull gray sky or a wet red truck. Inside, there will be soft shadows and muted colors. You might even look through the drops on a window and see the landscape distorted by odd-shaped raindrop lenses. When the sun comes out, you might see patterns of light coming through venetian blinds. You might see the complex shadows of trees or bright green leaves against darker foliage. You might look up at a bright sky with high, wispy clouds or notice clumps of light reflected by the windows of an office building onto light gray streets. At dusk the light changes again, and you might see white buildings become orange or pink. If you awake in the middle of the night, the walls and furniture will be monochromatic, illuminated by the moon. The possibilities of perception are limitless, and clear seeing is joyful. Unfortunately, much of the time, we are cut off from clear seeing and the creative potential of our basic being. Instead, we get caught up in cascades of internal dialogue and emotionality. Immersed in thoughts, daydreams, and projections, we fabricate our personal versions of the world and dwell within them like silkworms in cocoons. The root meaning of the word contemplate is connected with careful observation. It means to be present with something in a open space. This space is created by letting go of the currents of mental activity that obscure our natural insight and awareness. The thing to be feared most is the artificially contrived, the contrary to life. Putting this conclusion positively, the uncontrived is what is true to life. This is not meant as an objective standard of truth, it is more like being true, being willing to express things as they are, without dressing them up in any way.

      ~ A. Karr & M. Wood

      1. Thanks David, I enjoyed the way this expressed how we let ourselves become an obstacle to our own awareness and understanding.

  6. Great post, David. I really identified with many of the thoughts of your readers above, and I also believe that we are often influenced by what is around us and we chose whether to run towards or away from our lives based on those influences. Choosing what we decide to do should be our choice, whether we run towards, or run away, or live in the now as beth has alluded to. Extremely thought provoking …

  8. This is a brain teaser. I believe it is best to live in the day (the moments we have). However there are many lessons learned in the past that slip away without remembering. I suppose that to some extent we must be able to separate the incident from the experience of learning.

  11. It’s magnificent. I’m not sure of my answers may be because it’s more like I have been running away from something…

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