Dying into Life

I spent a good portion of this morning in a fantasy land. I just can't get the Rumi poem & video that i posted on Friday out of my head. There is nothing in the poem that isn't amazing, but two particular parts just send shivers down my spine.

"Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color."

Can you imagine what that would do to you? Born with a disease that allowed you to see perfectly, but everything appeared in only black and white. You live your entire life in this condition and for you it is normal; this is what the world looks like. Black, white, and some limited amount of gray variation in between.

Then.... THEN.... one day.... you blink.... and all of the sudden.... the world of color makes its appearance. For the first time in your life, all the reds, oranges, purples, yellows, greens, and blues, in every hue, shade, and variety assault your senses. Your system is in shock, amazed at the variety of all life, the almost incomprehensible and overwhelming beauty of all life. You are left so spellbound that for days you forget to eat and sleep as you just sit and gaze, not looking at any one thing, but simply allowing the world's pallet to soak in to your consciousness. For a short while the words "So this is what it's like." loop continuously through your head, but after that while, all goes quiet as words and thoughts can't begin to explain the beauty appearing before you.

For the most part, as sad as it is to say, most of us do live in a world like this person born into black and white. While we have perfectly good eyes, we live in a fog, of conditioning, of indifference, of complacence, of ambivalence, of busyness. We go through our days not noticing much of the color we see. Not noticing the textures, the smells, the sounds, the tastes. Not noticing Life as we hurry about our daily lives. Sure we take it in, but we don't see it; we miss the vast majority of all that Life presents to us.

But we can escape. We can walk back into life, like someone suddenly born into color, and we can do it in the blink of an eye. All it takes is a conscious choice to wake up, a conscious choice to notice, a conscious choice to pay attention — each and every moment of the day.

And then Rumi gave us another clue on what that would take.

Die.... and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign that you've died.

And i would add, the surest sign that you are awake.

In order to wake up, you need to die. I know it sounds contradictory, but it isn't. I'm not saying that you, as in Lao Bendan, or that fool Dave Turkington, needs to die. No. I'm saying that you need to die; that ego that engulfs the real you like those dark storm clouds, that keeps the real you unaware of the colors, the textures, the tastes, the smells, and the sounds of the world you live in. The ego that has been conditioned by your parents, your teachers, your friends, your religion, your politics, your culture, your beliefs, your ideologies, your fantasies, your .... your.... your need to know and compartmentalize everything.

This ego needs to die. And when it does, quietness will descend into your life like a beautiful elixir bringing peace and happiness and the ability to see again. Bringing the ability to Live again. Bringing the ability to Be again.

Wouldn't the world be so much better off if we all made an attempt to do that? You would be better off. I would be better off. She would be better off. He would be better off. They would be better off. And that means, if all of us did our part, the entire world would be better off.

All we need to do is die, and escape our prisons, like someone suddenly born into color.