I wonder how your feeling
There's ringing in my ears
And no one to relate to 'cept the sea
Who can I believe in
I'm kneeling on the floorThere has to be a force who do I phone
The stars are out and shinning, but all I really want to know...
Oh won't you show me the way
I want you...show me the way
~ Show Me the Way - a song by Peter Frampton (1974) ~
A great many people seem all-consumed with finding someone to show them THE way. Many undertake this task via religion. They look to an external being, prophet and/or savior to get them moving in and staying on the correct heading. Others look to celebrities, trying to pattern their lives in the form of their heroes. Still others look to the thousands of self-help books published each year.
Yet, regardless of the form sought, most people continue to feel lost and so they jump around amongst religion, celebrity and self-help pop psychologists trying to find someone who can provide them with THE answer. It's like the overweight person who jumps from diet to diet trying to find the absolute plan to lose the unwanted weight.
In my estimation, one of the chief reasons most people fail to quench this insatiable thirst is that they keep looking for the answer in the wrong place! Instead of looking for an external savior, one could save inordinate amounts of time, energy and money by simply looking in the mirror. The face looking back is the only person who can provide each of us with our own unique answer.
To be certain, there's absolutely nothing wrong with seeking insight or advice from others. Often a kernel of wisdom you may glean along your path may spark an insight for me along mine or vice versa. An observation that you make may deepen my own understanding.
But that's as far as it goes. Your answers won't be my answers anymore than my answers will be your answers. Each of us must experience life for ourselves and it is only by experiencing life that we can come to understand how we fit into the overall tapestry -- or that we are the overall tapestry!
In essence, it's an illusion to think there is one way (THE way). There are as many ways or paths as there are beings (in the full sense of the word) and, the sooner we recognize this, the sooner we can begin to tread our own path.
There's ringing in my ears
And no one to relate to 'cept the sea
Who can I believe in
I'm kneeling on the floorThere has to be a force who do I phone
The stars are out and shinning, but all I really want to know...
Oh won't you show me the way
I want you...show me the way
~ Show Me the Way - a song by Peter Frampton (1974) ~
A great many people seem all-consumed with finding someone to show them THE way. Many undertake this task via religion. They look to an external being, prophet and/or savior to get them moving in and staying on the correct heading. Others look to celebrities, trying to pattern their lives in the form of their heroes. Still others look to the thousands of self-help books published each year.
Yet, regardless of the form sought, most people continue to feel lost and so they jump around amongst religion, celebrity and self-help pop psychologists trying to find someone who can provide them with THE answer. It's like the overweight person who jumps from diet to diet trying to find the absolute plan to lose the unwanted weight.
In my estimation, one of the chief reasons most people fail to quench this insatiable thirst is that they keep looking for the answer in the wrong place! Instead of looking for an external savior, one could save inordinate amounts of time, energy and money by simply looking in the mirror. The face looking back is the only person who can provide each of us with our own unique answer.
To be certain, there's absolutely nothing wrong with seeking insight or advice from others. Often a kernel of wisdom you may glean along your path may spark an insight for me along mine or vice versa. An observation that you make may deepen my own understanding.
But that's as far as it goes. Your answers won't be my answers anymore than my answers will be your answers. Each of us must experience life for ourselves and it is only by experiencing life that we can come to understand how we fit into the overall tapestry -- or that we are the overall tapestry!
In essence, it's an illusion to think there is one way (THE way). There are as many ways or paths as there are beings (in the full sense of the word) and, the sooner we recognize this, the sooner we can begin to tread our own path.
Spot on. We seem to both be feeling the need to talk of this now. The more people follow dusty old ideas or modern fad fixes then the more easy to lead into the exact disillusions they wish to break free from.
ReplyDeleteThere are useful common pointers to the way but with almost 7billion people then there must also be 7billion "THE" way's out there. As close as two peoples ways may be it is all down to the individual and the environment for final say.
(The story of the master passing on the book of old wisdom, and the student setting fire to it, is the best way)
We are all created in the image of God.
ReplyDeleteFew people seem to realize what that means...
All answers, and God itself, can be found within. We have mostly forgotten how to look, how to listen, how to know.