Must have been a massive unconscious itch bothering me for forever to spit out the same thought in slightly different words years after the last time I’d heard the song…and I’d never liked the song before, always thought it was sappy and over-hyped and would avoid listening to it any time I heard it.

Man was I wrong…oh, and the concept he was trying to squeeze into the lyrics of strawberry fields…I’ve been doing them a disservice all of these years, listening with my mind half-closed…

“Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us”

And the next fucking song on the random playlist with like 800 songs to choose from was Strawberry Fields Forever, with the line about living with eyes closed and misunderstanding all you see making life ‘easy’:

“Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
It doesn’t matter much to me.

Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low.
That is you can’t you know tune in but it’s all right.
That is I think it’s not too bad.

Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Always no sometimes think it’s me, but you know I know when it’s a dream.
I think I know I mean “Yes,” but it’s all wrong.
That is I think I disagree.

Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Strawberry Fields forever.”

Spooky how life works sometimes…

I don’t think that people are born with this skill, I think it is developed. I think it may come easier for some versus others, but I like like any skill, everyone has the ability to practice at it and gain experience.

That said, no one is perfect. I believe I read a quip from the Dali Lama that said after driving around California for a few days he found growing inside him the desire to own the shiny technological gadgets he saw in shop windows. The key is to recognize, as he did, exactly what is going on inside yourself and decide that you rule yourself, rather than being a helpless victim of your own ego, ruled by your emotions.

I saw a quote a day or two ago about how you do can only hate someone for something you recognize within yourself, as things that are not familiar to you do not bother you…I myself lack equanimity more often than not (which bothers me quite a bit), although all I can do is constantly remind myself, try to catch myself, and bring my ‘sense of self’ back to Here and Now.

It is a “habit of mind”. Like all habits, it needs reinforced to become second nature. You can cultivate good mental habits or bad mental habits, and it directly impacts the person who you are. Mental seeds which grow into towering trees, a forest of thoughts, behaviors and habits which end up (while not defining who you are) significantly influencing how you see, interpret and interact with the world around you.

The idea behind Buddhism is that you do not cultivate a forest which clouds and confuses, that you do not see things and ‘interpret’ them, you simply see them as they are. Often, this means that things that are typically filled with trivial human significance are stripped to a simple and plain fact…which isn’t much “fun” in any of the meanings of the word, so people are compelled by their emotions to hang on to their psychodrama…and so on and so on…

So did your daughter pass that book on to you? The first half is where all the good stuff is, the second half (or last third) drags a bit, but it is filled with excellent ideas which are intended to be assimilated. You could say that you strive to achieve it, but it is more complicated (or far simpler?) than that.

Is it a natural occurance…characteristics we are born with? Or rather something that develops with personal growth? And does one strive to achieve it?