My Worlds

Where are you?

Where do you go?

Where do you want to be?

Location is a huge part of our existence, and is not just "the place in which we are". Without trying to explain in too much detail this abstract idea, I'll just tell you how it is for me, and you can see how it effects you.

I spend time in three different worlds: Town, the dojo, and the mountains.

Town is where I do business. It's the place where I earn money, run my errands, and interact with other people who come to town for their own agenda. It's also where I play with others, so it's a place for my social acquaintances. It's where festivals happen. This world is made up of man-made social agreements and interactions. I live a life supported by these systems, so I inherently have to spend a lot of time here, though it's not necessarily where I would like to be. I meet a lot of interesting people in town, marvel at the oddities of the human imagination, and enjoy the base pleasures, but largely this is a place I don't always like to be. If I spend all of my time here, my life quickly takes a downward spiral. What people see of me here is largely limited. No doubt it's the same for my view of other people unfortunately.

The dojo is a place in town where I utilize the manifestations of the human imagination to better myself. This is the actual dojos I practice martial arts. But it is also school, museums, art, sports. It is the location of my extra-curricular activities that involve the accomplishments of mankind. It's where I seek to consciously better myself through practice. I spend a lot of time here because I seek knowledge. Actually, I may have a tendency to allot more time than I should here, ignoring other aspects that require my attention. This place is necessary for me to live an existence I am content with, but a place I must take care not to lose myself in. The relationships that I build here are of a very deep nature. My teachers, my partners, we all strive with full effort towards genuine goals of human progress, often through sweat, blood, and argument.

The mountains are ... a very sacred place for me. It's where I venture alone, with what I have, to explore the ancient world. This place is the most ... something  for me. It is the immortal force of the universe in which I am a part, fully engaging the adventure of my life. This place doesn't change for me, yet it has an infinite amount of variety. It's sacred in a way that makes me suddenly laugh and cry without inhibitions. It's sacred in a way that I really can't talk about it with other people. I have never said nor written words that do it justice, and I'd hate for it to be misunderstood. In a way, it's not something to be talked about, not something to be shared ... though talking about it or sharing it are by no means forbidden.

This is all just an abstraction in my head, and not meant to be taken 100% literally. And so when we really evaluate the different aspects of our lives, we find that they can be combinations of these different places.

Where is art?

Art is a manifestation of the primordial inspiration, yet it lies in fields that require cultivated skills, and it also exists in town where we deal with others in order to make it a full-fledged reality.

Where is family?

It exists in town where I have obligations I may not always willingly accept, but it is arguably the greatest dojo in that we learn the tangible skills of being a human from our family, and then it is a connection with the primordial spirit far stronger than with a rock or tree.

Real life ignores the borders of my faint abstract construction, yet it is a helpful one for me to better understand some details of my life, and allows me to use my conscious mind in order to set me in favorable directions. I live in these three worlds and they are all equally necessary. To abandon one would be to take a leg from my chair. To focus on one, would be turn away from many realities of life. Nothing in the world is excluded from this idea, and so it is all necessary. The trick is allocating the right amount of attention to each place. Perhaps a goal in life is mastering this technique of appropriate allocation.

Thanks for indulging my imagination!

What worlds do you live in?

COMMENT IF YOU LIKE! I'd love to hear.