Interpretations

When words mean nothing

Today I heard the sound of a tree falling in the Forrest when no one was around.

Damm, was it heavy!

Notice I mentioned "Forrest", with two "r"

A tree falling in the Forrest.

It felt directly on top of my head.

I was quietly practicing Zazen meditation, me and myself alone in the nature, sitting in such comfortable and easy full lotus posture with the back upright extending the spine through the back and neck up through the top of my head, with the top of my head parallel to the sky, visualizing a string coming down from the sky attaching to the top of the back of my head like a puppet, allowing my shoulders and back muscles to relax….completely relaxed in this posture…when... suddenly...

Cachalaca!

Finally, the enigma of the ancient koan is deciphered.

THAT is the sound of the tree. Cachalaca.

Yeah, at least it was the sound of the tree falling on my head. Cachalaca.

Damm, it hurt.

It hurt so much that my brain woke up enlightened into satori mode immediately, completely empty of thoughts and full of blood, shouting out loud like crazy "heeeelpp!!!"

Damm, no one heard me.

I experienced what a tree feels when it falls in a forest and nobody is around.

So now, if I had a bit of empathy with that fallen tree, I could imagine how does it feel a post when nobody is around.

I don't care about my posts! I am not in a position to worry now about such a silly thing, my brain is smashed by a tree, remember?

I meant “how does a post feel”. Posts have feelings, too, and although my brain is now like mashed potatoes, I have also a heart, and I can feel how posts feel, especially those from people nobody reads.

I imagine how the complete works of Shakespeare would feel, in the middle of Sahara, if nobody had ever read them.

So much beauty, ignored.

Without you, the reader, the most beautiful words are nothing.

Without you, words have no meaning by themselves. You give meaning to words with your perspective, your light, your gaze.

I know this because before this tree incident, I had been very busy writing repeatedly three words and receiving heterogeneous responses depending on who was around to read them.

The random words I chose were "I love you"

The different reactions obtained included a rainbow of perspectives:

1. "I love you too!"

2. "Oh, really? I wasn’t expecting that!"

3. "That’s sweet, thank you."

4. "Wow, I didn’t know you felt that way."

5. "I’m not sure what to say."

6. "Why are you telling me this?"

7. "I don’t think I feel the same way."

8. "Are you serious?"

9. "That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?"

10. "I’m flattered, but I don’t see you like that."

11. "I’ve been waiting to hear that!"

12. "You know what, I love you too."

13. "This is awkward, I’m not ready for this."

14. "Thank you, but I think we’re better as friends."

15. "I really care about you too."

16. "That’s so unexpected!"

17. "I don’t know how to respond to that."

18. "Is this a joke?"

19. "Hey, are you nuts??"

20. “Yeah, and you are a fucking asshole, you silly moron”

My interpretation (remember, a big tree smashed my head recently) is maybe that each of us interpret words according to our experiences, perspectives, mindsets, current feelings, mood...

So, if words have no meaning by themselves, if the same 3 words can obtain so many different interpretations, if I am the one who interprets the nuances of the meaning of words....how will I react....next time someone tells me...the word….“asshole”?

Well I don't need to imagine...I have just now someone who has called me “fucking asshole”

Now, I have a choice.

I have always a choice.

I can defend myself, deploy all my mechanisms to protect myself from the attack…

…or I can realize what I am…I am nothing....insignificant…remember Laniakea…how could "nothing" need to be defended? 

…I can also realize how this person may feel....maybe she has been suffering...maybe she is frustrated with life...maybe she has experienced deep problems I can’t imagine and her reaction is an expression how she feels, how her emotions are…

I don’t know, truly.

I am always interpreting reality. Constantly. But I never know how reality really is.

Reality is always…as it is…things are as they are, always, no matter how I interpret them. 

Recently I made an analogy as if we humans were like cameras that take blurry photographs, and no matter how sophisticated or how skillful the photographer, the camera can never reflect the truth.

Obviously, nobody interpreted my analogy accurately.

That’s normal.

My camera takes horrible blurry pictures.

My eyes and my mind take blurry pictures of reality.

For example, the Moon and Venus in this picture

Not only is the picture horribly blurry and does not show the magnificent moon and all the stars as they truly are...

In fact, it is not Venus, moron.

It’s Messier 1 (M1), a supernova in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way, one of the brightest supernova remnants in the sky.

I thought it was Venus because all my life I have been looking for Venus, the Goddess of Love.

My desire to find her has always blinded me from seeing her.

Both Venus (/ˈviːnəs/)[a] the Roman Goddess and the Greek Aphrodite are symbols of love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity. Emerged from the sea foam (Greek αφρός, aphros) as a product of Caelus-Uranus' castrated ballsack being thrown into the sea, Venus-Aphrodite is the yielding, watery female principle, essential to the generation and balance of life.

The Goddess of Love has always been here with us. Venus ('love, charm') stem from a Proto-Italic form reconstructed as *wenos- ('desire'), itself from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁-os ('desire'; cf. Messapic Venas, Old Indic vánas 'desire').

Love is always here, now, always available…beyond seeking...beyond interpretations…

All my seeking, my interpretations get me far away from Love.

To find Love, I don’t need to seek it. Simply remove the “k”.

Simply see love.

Be love.

Give love.

Without expecting anything, without interpreting anything.

Simply dancing freely, enjoying the song of life.

So here's an old song. A very old song.

I can try to interpret what does it mean....

I can try to interpret what Love means….

I can try to understand The Emotions…

or simply...

dance...

dance to the rhythm…

the rhythm of life…

the rhythm of love…

the rhythm of how things are….as they are…

…love is ubiquitous…

…love is always here…

….love is what we find when we are not seeking love…

…simply be love, enjoy what is…

Whatever that is.

That is love. This is love. It is everywhere.

Let’s dance,

Let’s sing,

this song

the song of life…

Wanna dance?

Best of my love