I’ve talked before about the uncertainty principle, how a particle can be defined, at any given moment, as either a point in space/time or a wave. “Uncertainty” because we can either know where it is but not where it’s heading (point)… or where it is heading but not where it is (wave). Think of it as the difference between a POINT on a blackboard, as compared to a squiggly line. Which one are you?
Are you a well-defined PERSON with a HOUSE and a LOCATION? If so, you probably have some worries about the future. You know who you are, but not where you are going. You’re like a black dot on a white page.
On the other hand, if you don’t really know WHO you are and have travelled enough to know that you are pretty much the same no matter where you find yourself, you’re a squiggle. You would probably define yourself more by your feelings than by your circumstances, which you know to be highly changeable.
Most of us exchange knowing where we’re going for knowing where we are. We can define ourselves, like a particle, but we feel lost. We feel like we don’t have control, like we’re being pushed around.
Whereas when we’re peaceful and still, for example, more in the wave category, we find it very relaxing not to be stuck in that limited self-definition. We put more emphasis on the direction in life we’re heading. We center more on our interiorized rules of what’s important, what’s acceptable, what’s allowable. We have a clearer moral code. We no longer feel like victims of life, but as navigators, because we know ourselves to be guiding our own ships by our actions.
Both viewpoints are possible, just not at the same time. So a clever captain sets his sights on the polestar whenever he can, then when the star is hidden he attends to smaller adjustments. As often as possible, he checks to see where that he’s going in the right direction.
Have you got a Polestar?
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