Yesterday, I watered some flowers in a wooden bucket out back. I watched as the water came out of the bottom of the bucket and began to accumulate and then migrate a path across the concrete flowing downhill. It made me wonder if life isn’t like that.
We think that we make decisions about everything from what we will have for breakfast to who to marry. Each decision dictates a pathway and we become the product of our decisions over time. I am now who I am because I made a decision to go to Aston instead of Sheffield University, for example. But do we make hard decisions or do we in reality chose the easiest pathway – going downhill if you like? Do we wait to make decisions until the backfill of water forces a decision?
In fact, there is a view that each time we make a decision, we split off another parallel reality – the ‘many worlds’ theory. There are other ideas that we don’t actually make decisions at all but just think we do. Our lives are more like a record playing on a turn table – the music is already recorded – our life already dictated. Then there is the idea that a decision now can change the past as well as the future.
Are we all flowing downhill taking the path of least resistance? Or are we making choices based on our will?
In the coming days, weeks and months I suspect we will be challenged to get out of our comfort zones and make some real decisions. Will we stand by as xenophobes abuse our friends from other countries? Will we allow the forces of chaos advocated by certain politicians to take over or will we stand up together for what is right and good?
In magic there is a view that the ‘muggles’ are sleepers. They just doze their way through life traveling downhill buffeted by every force placed in their way. There are those who orchestrate the downhill path using fear, doubt and uncertainty knowing full well that the vast majority of people sleep their way through life. Yes, it does sound a bit superior but it is in fact the truth. Politicians and marketing people have been practicing a form of magic for many centuries and with the advent of social media, they have truly honed their special skills. They know how to drive the vast majority of sleeping humans downhill towards the place that they want them to go.
I’m not fully awake either. I am however waking up and I will not be driven downhill. I probably need to be less reactive and less ‘angry’ sounding and take a different approach to how I communicate but I will not sit back and let these masterful forces of chaos and self aggrandizement win. I will use every skill and magical ability that I have to listen to my inner self and my will to dictate my direction. I wall take responsibility for my life. I have to.
This is then an appeal to all of us that have wiped the sleep from our eyes, looked deeply inside and seen the interconnectedness of the One. We must wake up faster and we must challenge those that seek chaos. Humanity has proven time and time again that civility and civilization are only wafer thin and we can and will descend into all sorts of ignorant behaviors unless we stand up and resist.
Now is the time to act. And acting starts with taking personal responsibility and challenging and shining the spotlight on racism, nationalism and hate.
Now.