WHAT IS A NON-LINEAR APPROACH TO VIEWING ONE’S LIFE, ANYHOW?

GENERALLY, WE TEND TO LOOK AT OUR LIVES IN A VERY LINEAR MANNER, MEANING THAT WE SEE OUR LIVES BEGINNING AT POINT A. (BIRTH) AND ENDING AT POINT B. (DEATH)… EXAMINING OUR LIVES AS THOUGH THEY WERE CIRCULAR— THINK OF A SNAKE BITING ITS OWN TAIL— IS CERTAINLY AN ATYPICAL EXAMPLE OF HOW ONE MIGHT SEE HIS OR HER OWN LIFE. RATHER THAN THERE BEING AN ENDING AN A BEGINNING, THIS EXAMPLE GRANTS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE. THIS PERSPECTIVE LETS US SEE OURSELVESS “RETURNING” TO OUR ROOTS WHEN WE DIE. WHAT IS THE BENEFIT IN THIS?

There would be little benefit in viewing our lives as circles were we not able to comprehend the notion that birth and death are so intimately related. The benefit in taking this vantage point is that when we appreciate the closeness of the two events— birth and death— we see that as we approach our own mortality, we think very intently upon what “gave” us our life to begin with. Is it breath alone which is responsible for animating the body? Is it the failure to breathe which causes us to cave-in to our own mortality and hence, to die? We can go further, and ask where each unique human life, or incarnation, actually does have its genesis. However, this opens another can of worms, altogether. This one tied to politics; particularly the politics aligned with how individuals or states choose to interpret the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Roe v. Wade.

I am not writing this blog to stir up any sort of political debate revolving around ideas pertaining to the “moment” when an individual human life begins. Rather, I am asking the reader to attempt to grasp a new idea about the nature of life. Specifically, I am attempting to arouse the reader into a new, perhaps unusual, way of thinking about life. It has less to do with the concept of life after death than a blog written by a medium would generally be assumed to convey. In fact, it has nothing to do with any such concept. So why, then, am I writing this? What am I really asking the reader to do?

The answer is simple. I am writing this short blog in order to get people to think about life and death in a fashion other than that with which they may already, or easily, understand. I am writing this in order to exhort the reader to entertain a different, perhaps even (initially) perplexing, view on the nature of life and death.

I teach various workshops on sundry psychic, or paranormal, themes. In doing so, I have discovered that it is best to first shake up the thinking of the student. I have found that getting the seeker to think “outside of the box” is often the first step it takes to get some students to “see” with a new set of eyes— to “hear” with a new pair of ears. Sometimes I have a class look at an object or a group of objects, such as a pile of shoes, and sketch these in a way in which they don’t ordinarily see. In other words, I will instruct them to sketch the shadows inherent in whichever scene they are presented with. (I am not the originator of this technique and do not claim to be). The point is that if a student is told to draw a pile of shoes only by sketching the shadows cast by the shoes, he may very well wind up with a rendering which looks remarkably similar to a drawing of the same pile of shoes composed by a student who was instructed to draw the shoes the way most would ordinarily do so— by paying heed to the lines of the shoes and replicating these with pencil strokes.

The student who draws the shadows arrives at a similar result of the same assembled objects but does so by studying that which the eye is not trained to notice first. The student who draws the shadows learns that seeing in a more unconventional way is thus just as reliable a method of seeing that which lies before us as is the method more conventional. Except, he sees that something as subtle and unassuming as the darkness of shadow is just as important to note as are the boldest lines most readily appreciated by the human eye.

Allowing any person wishing to broaden his or her psychic abilities an opportunity to examine any given idea in a new or less-likely to be appreciated manner is often the very first step in breaking down the sturdy ideas which prevent us from seeing with our sixth sense. Whether these strong notions came from lessons we learned at school or at home is irrelevant. What is relevant is that we begin to attempt to think about things in ways which challenge the methods with which we currently “see” our environs.

So, imagine your life as having no beginning and no end. Imagine it not as a line which is drawn between birth and death. Imagine it as a circle. Get creative, envision it as a rectangle— but know why you decide to see it the way you do. This is of great importance: for knowing why we imagine things the way we do is one of the great keys we may utilize to unlock further doors down the hallway, as we progress on our way towards enlightenment and understanding of the subtle energies which surround us— which are far from subtle, anyways.

BE WELL,

Jeffrey Justice