Relative Something

*this* John W. Hays' take on things and experiences

Archive for November 30th, 2010

Complex and Simple

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Comparing myself to others, I feel simple. And complex. It’s just human nature. It is not surprising at all to notice that there are people who blow me away for their depth of intellectual pursuits, political awareness, and social participation. At the same time, I notice that my level of activity appears to be dramatically more involved than plenty of other folks. Of course, it’s all relative. What I notice about thinking of these comparisons is that the contemplation of differences usually corresponds with thinking about the past or the future, and therefore, not the present moment. When I am fully focused on the here and now, I rarely find it to involve such comparison.

One of the things that has me feeling a sense of simpleness lately, is the regular pattern I traipse throughout our house. For the most part, I don’t go into the living room. Or the basement. I have a very consistent trail between our kitchen, the library, and my upstairs bedroom. Cyndie has made changes to rooms in our house that I haven’t discovered until months after the fact. I could get by living in a tent. Two or three rooms becomes a luxury. The good thing about this is I won’t be upset at all if I need to be moved into single room senior living situation someday.

For the variety of my interests that command attention, I have become a master of none. It hasn’t escaped my consideration that I might have achieved a much higher degree of proficiency in a number of my avocations, had I applied more focus and allotments of time. C’est la vie.

That’s just part of the simple complexity of me, you know? Aren’t we just the most interesting of creatures? Feel free to ponder your own contrasting traits today, in light of the idea we are at the same instant, both simple and complex.

Finding the willingness to accept the possibility of simultaneous existence of two opposing characteristics in ourselves, breeds great expansion of our understanding and insights about both our immediate world, and the greater expanse of souls on this planet. It’s a simple way of becoming much more comfortable with complexities of our lives.

 

Written by johnwhays

November 30, 2010 at 7:00 am

Posted in Chronicle

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