For example:
A fellow just came into my office with a tag to leave for a coworker that specified a particular plant he's got at his house. It is one of my favorites, Gaura lindheimeri, which unfortunately doesn't like to grow at the altitude at which I live. Deplorable, this. This plant is commonly known as "Whirling Butterflies." Tiny flowers at the end of long thin stalks "whirl" when there is a breeze. A desert plant, it prefers warm, dry climates with well-drained, sandy soil. It comes in white and pink.
I envision the plant with dreamy memories. My brain awakens as my Idealism begins the attempt to drag me down the Planning path, my very experienced Foresight saying, "Uhhh no. I don't think so." In self defense, my brain awakens "the Voice of Sensibility," the one that uses all of that lovely experience and combines it sensibly with realistic foresight in order to avoid planning ridiculous things and thereby talks me out of doing them? ... Well anyway. That tiny voice in my head pipes up, "Where are you going with this Gaura bit?" I answer quickly, "Well, I'm Planning of course! I am thinking about gutting my flower beds next spring." The Voice quickly decides to shut down the Planning, shows me images of my flowerbed from this past spring, then fast-forwards to images of my flowerbeds now. Egad! The weeds! Catastrophe!
Reality slaps both of my cheeks!
I freeze.
I sigh.
I realize that this year did not go at all to Plan.
Hmm. Gonna have to think about this.
The bedevilment!
Back to my inner brain conversation...
Idealism kicks back in, but sneakily, until it has full sentences with which to drown out "The Voice of Sensibility." Idealism starts by talking very quickly, "Naturally, according to Foresight, I should ACT NOW! Ahhh! Even better. Gutting that flowerbed NOW would be good. I could dig up everything weedy and be done with it!" --- It is at this point that "The Voice" rolls its eyes, folds its arms and begins to tap a foot whilst staring ceilingward and counting to 10. Eventually, Idealism quiets down, knows it has lost the battle, and wanders down to a pond to kick a few rocks while mumbling softly under its breath. My brain & I both sigh in relief, having observed the whole thing whilst munching popcorn and fervently hoping that "The Voice" would not kill my Idealism. One cannot live thoroughly without at least a LITTLE Idealism, right?
Fabulous! Both my Idealism and I have survived so far this year!
Reality
Planning didn't get me anywhere this year, you see. I didn't do a thing with my flower beds this year at all. I didn't have the energy. It's not like NOTHING grew though. I have a few die-hard plants just blooming wildly, growing happily in the sun-baked clay. And look! Just this weekend, a friend told me that I have a lovely crop of weeds! ---- Hrm. Uh. Yeah. Well.... Honestly yeah, I didn't manage to raise my energy this year. I didn't manage anything but survival, however I believe that was quite an accomplishment in itself. It has been a strange year!
As I said, though, in Reality, I managed survival, which is a great accomplishment!
There are people out there for whom "Survival" isn't good enough. Just a quick peek, let's look at how Planning, Reality and Foresight affect some people in "the Real World." (Humor me as I digress, please)
Strange how the embrace of Death is thought to be horribly unnatural by practicing Christians. Unlike Islamic religions, there is no honor involved in dying nor in the method of death for the whole of Christianity. Death is feared! Death, the Grim Reaper, quite often is equated with one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, as riding a pale horse or a black horse. Wellllll nowwwww, that's a Planning of sorts, is it not? Christians rely on biblical readings in order to Plan their lives. They Plan to "be good" and with Foresight, realize they are merely human, and since Hell is a Reality to them, they spend their lives terrified of doing anything wrong. So much for The Human Condition.
What is so terrible about death? Death is the great equalizer. Everyone dies. Christianity shuns dying and death with terror. But then, organized religion shuns everything not within its complete control. An "afterlife" of sorts is looked upon favorably, as no one has proof and therefore no control over the idea of such a thing. Death itself in the Christian view seems very negative and laced with fear. The process of dying is riddled with horrors of all sorts. The only thing that Christians Plan for is Heaven. AFTER life on this earth... they are Planning for something AFTER this. Not this reality. Not this NOW time. They spend their lives Planning for something about which they have no proof! *face palm*
I suppose a great deal of Christian's fear is based on the belief in hell. How sad for them. I'm sure Dante's Inferno (Divine Comedy) didn't help. Damn that Dante! Everlasting torture... there's some Planning for you. The perfect "Eternal One" had the Foresight to see humanity was going to act more horribly than two-year-old children throwing eternal tantrums, so of course god Planned a place for humanity to be tortured and burned forever based on ridiculous rules that got even more ridiculous over the years.
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| SOMEONE'S REALITY! |
Atheists, well we don't worry at all. LOL! You live. You make the most of the time you have. You die. Nobody knows when. It's the most simple view, quite honestly. For me it is the only sensible view. Oh how I like playing with wicca, but I can never believe goddess or god exist anywhere in any form other than within our own selves. To believe otherwise is senseless and cruel.
But back to my garden and how my brain works. Do you see the pattern? I'm chugging along with a thought that melts and reforms into another one... and
Alas!
I have shifted too many directions to stay on one solid sensible path!You see where my ideas go. I come across something... Behold! An idea! I begin to plan. "I'll take out the flowerbed plants that should be shifted elsewhere and do just that, then replant with new stuff! Or at the very least, I'll weed!" Then something comes along... and I get distracted by Reality. All the dreams and planning turn to fluff.
Fortunately...
-- I have gained much foresight from my experiencesm thus I acknowledge that odd thinking cycle exists and that life plays with me quite roughly.
Such is life for any one of us. I tell you this!
