"...it's all retch and
no vomit..." Alan Watts
What if your life was all retch and no vomit as philosopher Alan Watts so startlingly put it? An entire life lived without a sense of fulfillment, endlessly doing that which produces the same miserable outcome. How much of the misery in the modern world could be attributed to us living our lives in this way?
Goethe's Faust was a famous example of giving one's life over to the eternal quest without recognizing that the beauty does not lie in the end result, rather it is contained within the journey itself. Striving without acknowledgment of the journey as the path only leads us to sell our souls to a culture that demands that we sacrifice to the system the very heart of our being...our ability to choose our way of life according to our own discretion.
Ceaseless striving is undoubtedly inherent to our human nature. We all do
it....strive for more and better without training ourselves to settle with our
restlessness, to be present to life as it is. We know too well the discomfort of feeling dissatisfied, and often it can be attributed to our ability to
purchase goods and services compared to our neighbour or relative's ability to
do so. Is this the truest way to measure our existence; is it the best way to
live our lives?
But what if you aren't living the sort of life you are supposed to be living? What if your restlessness is actually your inner voice trying to reach the surface after years of being quieted and quelled? Have you ever tried sitting quietly in a darkened room without distractions of modern living? Most of us become uncomfortable with the thought of doing this. What if we hear something in our own heads that we don't want to acknowledge? What if the discomfort in our chests or guts is due to not living as we know we should be living? Take a few minutes to try this. What did you hear...feel? Your untapped potential as a human being just might be trying to tap you on the shoulder.
What if your life was all retch and no vomit as philosopher Alan Watts so startlingly put it? An entire life lived without a sense of fulfillment, endlessly doing that which produces the same miserable outcome. How much of the misery in the modern world could be attributed to us living our lives in this way?
Goethe's Faust was a famous example of giving one's life over to the eternal quest without recognizing that the beauty does not lie in the end result, rather it is contained within the journey itself. Striving without acknowledgment of the journey as the path only leads us to sell our souls to a culture that demands that we sacrifice to the system the very heart of our being...our ability to choose our way of life according to our own discretion.
But what if you aren't living the sort of life you are supposed to be living? What if your restlessness is actually your inner voice trying to reach the surface after years of being quieted and quelled? Have you ever tried sitting quietly in a darkened room without distractions of modern living? Most of us become uncomfortable with the thought of doing this. What if we hear something in our own heads that we don't want to acknowledge? What if the discomfort in our chests or guts is due to not living as we know we should be living? Take a few minutes to try this. What did you hear...feel? Your untapped potential as a human being just might be trying to tap you on the shoulder.
Right now I do feel as though I am retching repeatedly with no vomit...I love much of my life but feel a great distress over changes I know I need to make but am having difficulty making. Perhaps there is something within me lingering yet to be fulfilled. Maybe fear of change is limiting me; a fear of the unknown which lies untapped. Or it might be that I have yet to fully acknowledge my own potential...my personal unknown waiting to be tapped into?
Do not be afraid to go deeper...
I do know I need to cut a little deeper as a writer
friend once said to me...and not be afraid to let myself bleed a
little...that's where the undercurrent of life is ...the driving force we often fail
to recognize within ourselves and within each other. Probably it's time for me to step outside my comfort zone so that I too can tap into that life
force that is trying to live through me as an individual, and through us all as a collective of humanity.
“Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.”
― Rumi
Besides if I want to be part of creating a more sustainable world, my lifestyle needs to reflect that ideal through the choices I make for myself, my family and the greater world. Otherwise as Watts more fully explains below:
What we are doing is we are bringing up children and educating them to live the same sort of lives we are living… in order that they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same things so it’s all retch and no vomit — it never gets there. Alan Watts
There is no one sure answer to how we should go about living our lives...truly the possibilities are endless. I do know that there is little point in making choices which inevitably continue to make us miserable. Perhaps it's time to listen to the restlessness within and make a change? Think of what could be achieved, what healing could happen!
By creating a new story for ourselves we inevitably become part of the new story our world so desperately needs.
“Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.”
― Rumi
Besides if I want to be part of creating a more sustainable world, my lifestyle needs to reflect that ideal through the choices I make for myself, my family and the greater world. Otherwise as Watts more fully explains below:
What we are doing is we are bringing up children and educating them to live the same sort of lives we are living… in order that they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same things so it’s all retch and no vomit — it never gets there. Alan Watts
There is no one sure answer to how we should go about living our lives...truly the possibilities are endless. I do know that there is little point in making choices which inevitably continue to make us miserable. Perhaps it's time to listen to the restlessness within and make a change? Think of what could be achieved, what healing could happen!
By creating a new story for ourselves we inevitably become part of the new story our world so desperately needs.
Don't limit yourself...let the big
scream out!!!
“Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
― Rumi, Essential Rumi
“Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
― Rumi, Essential Rumi
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