Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Of Mice and Minotaurs...


 I really never jump on here and just talk. With the title of my blog, I thought it was fitting that I put up this post on, well, some late night ramblings. And so it begins...



Every decision we make takes us to a different path, a different place. We are faced with these decisions every day, sometimes many times a day. The big decisions, the ones that are significant life markers, or changers if you will, will set us on a bigger branch that has many smaller branches, an infinite number of them, coming off either sides for its duration. The bigger branches are sometimes there, and sometimes they can simply appear. It all depends on the choices we make each time we are faced with a decision. 

A decision can be one as small as “what do I want to eat?” because in this choice we may have to, for instance, leave our destination to go forth and find food. If this happens, there is the possibility that circumstances out of our control can occur, which could alter the path and potential decisions we would be faced with hereupon. To see this is to envision an endless, complex system of networks of branches. It is ever changing, never static; a dynamic flow of roads and networks that are shifting and turning like a Rubik’s Cube of life. We play the part of a wizard, or a marionette handler, in this case. We have the ability to make these decisions, and cause the changes that will occur from then forward. The mere fact that we have memory, the ability to recall our past experiences, and to apply this knowledge so that we may make a more educated choice, is fascinating. However, there are those who do not seem to be able to, or use this applied knowledge. 

Why is that? 

If you can harken back to a time, an experience, that may have even the smallest degree of similarity or parallel, you could use that information to make a better informed decision. Although, there are those, the dreamers if you will, that live life in a constant newness, as if each experience, each decision, each choice they are faced with, is a new one, never before experienced, not needing or perhaps wanting to apply any learned behaviors or experiences to any choices they may have in the future, or maybe not even aware this is an option, or let’s even say that they may not have been given the ability to do this at all. 

Again I have to ask, why is that? 

These (poor ? - you decide) individuals could save themselves much pain and suffering, potentially, by utilizing this most basic of human ability. Or maybe that is all a part of their life plan, their path, but to think of their path in this unknown, is a bit confusing and muddles the mind. Maybe they simply aren’t meant to. In order for us, as a species, to have a rich, mixed and complex race, we would need to have all representation of all gamut’s, correct? If so, then that would mean that, unfortunately, there would be some individuals who would not have the means to use this method. These people, would their lives be harder, filled with more tribulations, more failures, repeated failures even, necessarily?

Or, would their lives be filled with richness…




I kind of think of life like the great labyrinth in Crete with its vast twists and turns, dark corners and endless maze, and lest we not forget the epic minotaur who resides in the center, waiting for someone to stumble upon him and be his next sacrifice. Theseus slayed the Minotaur, and followed the string he had left behind him back to the entrance. In life, we face our own Minotaur. Some may have more than one, some just the one. Whether we win the fight is up to many variables. If we do not win, do we die? I don’t think so, necessarily. It may hinder a part of us; render it inert, if you will. Maybe a certain area of us will be crippled. Maybe it will be become unusable. Maybe it gets buried deep down inside of our innermost recesses, hidden in the dark folds of our gray matter itself, locked away in a box. Who’s to say? But if we are victorious, it would give us strength and cunning, agility and temperament. The ability to fight another day and use the new found skills to enhance our lives. Maybe. Or maybe we go on to another day as if it’s completely new, and face the next Minotaur with a clean slate.




Is life, then, an endless torrent of fights and challenges? If we look at it that way it’s enough to exhaust and wear down the spirit. Well, let's not.

So which one fares better - the one who learns and applies that knowledge or the dreamer? 

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