Bridge over Troubled Perceptions

Have you ever had a dream where you were wandering through an immense forest all alone, in search for something important? No? Well, me neither. But now that the image is in your head, I would like to indulge you, dear audience, with the microcosmic effects of our minds and imagination.

You see, the forest which our minds have now generated is, in truth, a reflection of how we perceive our life environment - the entire picture of our current struggles, past memories, and future aspirations all depicted as a single three dimensional space, in the form of a forest.

In fact, I believe that whenever we are stimulated to imagine ourselves within a hypthotical environment, we render that environment in a way which reflects our real-life perception of who we are, and the world around us.

So why do I bring this up?

Well, in this fantastically complicated and peculiar experience we term as "life," there exists a myriad of possibilities - most of which we are in full control of, due to the moment-to-moment choices we encounter. So, in theory, all we have to do is draw out some kind of general, long-term plan or route, and make our current choices line up with route we carved out for ourselves. Then, naturally, the clutter of every other possible turn you could make clears away, and voilà - you're on your way.

But - we all know that there's something about this theory which never seems to work out. And I believe the reason why we can't expect to control our lives in the manner aforementioned, is because when we are placed in the vast, endless forest of life, we get caught up and carried away in all the possible directions we can go. The clutter of possibilities and options overwhelm our mental and emotional stability to the point that we just tell our feet to take us wherever they please.

This is why it is absolutely crucial for anyone who is even vaguely interested in clearing up some of that clutter and simplifying their trajectory to proactively influence what we see and what we don't - to render our forest only with the things which pertain to who we are, and our goals.

How does one do this?

Before setting off - before we make any final decisions about what we want out of life - we have to locate that one area of our personality, our character, our nature, which defines us more than anything else. Therefore, when we open our eyes, we will find that the majority of the things that are visible to us are only the things which will facilitate who WE are. As a result, the number of visible items will decrease rapidly, the clutter begins to recede, and our lives will rapidly start simplifying themselves.

In a sense, we have to find within the deep forest our "Bridge over Troubled Perceptions."

This bridge will allow us to traverse across the impassable terrain which is the countless number of life choices which do not need to bog us down. This bridge will provide a means to stay straight, face forward, and gaze ahead - ahead into the life of our dreams.

- PH

Tree Sap and Perpetual Motion

No, that's not a delicious drop of honey. Nor is it the tear of G-d (like you were even thinking that).
This is tree sap, the beautiful yet essential transport system used by plants to move nutrients throughout its structure.

I'll be honest, I would have totally not noticed it had it not stuck to my pants as I brushed by, causing me to spend the next 5 minutes or so trying to get it off. This stuff defines sticky.

But regardless, something about it struck me. It was this beautiful, golden substance, carrying precious materials to the rest of the tree. Yet...it wasn't. The sap had stopped it's free fall along the side of the tree. It was frozen in time, unable to continue along its path and on to complete its intended mission. It yearns for a chance to restart, to release its stored potential and continue the process of nature and life.

The very same phenomenon can occur to our dreams.

In the previous post, I talked about how we all the ability to transcend time and conventional dimensionality by creating internal "environments".
But the other the day, a though came to mind which made me think about the other side of the coin: Why is it that sometimes we feel like we are stuck in an endless loop of routine actions, in an abyss of time with no context, floating through the expansive space of our life without trajectory or thrust?

Why do we tend to feel...unconnected?

Well, perhaps it's because someone tried to implement what I suggested in my last post, and now they're hopelessly stuck in a fantasy world where they are convinced they actually exist, only to lose their sense of reality in the real word, and it's all my fault. But I would rather not think that. And besides, that would be a failed implementation of my suggestion; what I suggested was to incorporate that perspective into our existing reality, not substitute it out.

But if we look closer into the matter, I think, more often than not, we will reveal the root of the problem, which I would like to call "perpetual motion."

We set goals. Then we make a plan. And then....we set off. Our journey to whatever we set as the destination has begun on its predetermined path.

But...is that it? Is that how we do things in life, how we get places, and expect to move forward?

Perhaps the reason why we feel a bit dazed and unconnected to our pursuits on a constant, moment-to-moment basis is because we are not continuously applying a constant feed of energy and motivation into our lives. We think our job ends once we make the plans and set off, but the truth is: Our job has no quitting time. If we are not always an active player in our own pursuits, goals, dreams and aspirations - even on a daily, moment-to-moment basis - then we cannot expect to get to where we want to be, at least in one lifetime.

This is perpetual motion.
       

We learn from the tree sap that everyone has truly beautiful - and crucial - things to give to humanity and the world. The world CANNOT go on without these things provided by each and every one of us, nor can it reach its full splendor without them. 

Therefore, it is OUR responsibility - as members of this group called humanity - to constantly be pushing ourselves toward our goals, and to never press the "Autopilot" button - not even for one second.

So. Let's do this. Together we WILL release the sap from its longing pain, and together we will follow through with our dreams and release them to the world.

- PH

Personal Universes: The Muti-Dimensional Bouquet

This past Friday, I went to Har Hertzel, a cemetery for fallen Israeli soldiers, located in Jerusalem. As the tour guide told over stories of some of the individuals buried there, my eyes, along with my brain started wandering off.
Then something caught my eye. In the distance I could see something sticking out one of the graves. So I made my way over there to get a closer look: a fresh, vibrant bouquet of flowers with a blood-red ribbon tied on the front. Sure, other graves had flowers and other items on or around them - but this one was different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something ethereal yet comforting about this bouquet.

I had this image in my head. I really wanted to believe that there was a man who lost his wife. And since her death, at the end of every week, this man would bring a new bouquet of flowers to her grave, packaged in a big red ribbon. It was his way of connecting back with his loved one, of continuing their deep and intimate conversations, of continuing to build the world that their souls created together.

This man understood that nothing - not even death - can disrupt the bond they formed while she was alive.

And this got me thinking: is our experience in this world limited to what we can physically perceive to be reality? Or do we actually have the ability to create new worlds within ourselves, develop them, build them, and connect with them?

I would like to believe the latter to be true. Because if can accept that as at least a vague possibility - just imagine what kind of new experiences we can open ourselves up to.

Sometimes we look for answers, and we come to the conclusion that we just didn't get one, or we couldn't find one. But maybe, just maybe, those answers lay within ourselves - within the potential universe we have yet to create within.

The man with the flowers (who, as of now, was an invention of my own imagination) faced a new challenge: his wife was no longer around. But that didn't stop him from feeling like he needed to present her with a new bouquet of flowers every week - why? Because, in truth, she really wasn't totally gone - not from him, at least. He created an environment inside himself through which he can still communicate with her. And then they just picked up where they left off.

We are complex, intricate, and beautiful beings. And we tend to underestimate our ingenuity. So why don't we start unlocking some of that potential, and allow our eyes to peer through time and dimension, and begin our journey to new and unseen worlds, waiting to be discovered.

- David Reich.

**P.S. After publishing this post, I realized that what I wrote strongly resembles a short film. This short film is called "Visiting Hours," and it is directed and edited by my sister, Shantal Reich. It's an awesome short film. Seriously. Check it out here: http://vimeo.com/84825596 (Password: daisies)

Remembering 9/11: Why do we reflect?

To all those who fell, and to all those who fought for the fallen. Here's to the memory of the victims of the 9/11 attacks 13 years ago today.
I remember that day. Everyone does. Ask anyone and they'll tell you exactly what they were doing when they heard the horrible news. I was about 7 years old at the time. That morning I was sitting at my kitchen table, just getting my bowl of cereal brimmed with milk, when the television switched on. What then ensued was confusion, panic, and hopelessness. There it was: the New York skyline saturated with black smoke, the sounds of people shrieking. It was a nightmare that everyone was having, together.

A lot has changed since that day. America has changed, and so have I. But I still think that every year we can glean something new from 9/11. It's not just about reliving an event in history, and reminding ourselves of our pain. Looking back at a tough experience is about understanding yourself more deeply, and seeing how that event led to another which led to another which led to you, the you which is reading this post right now, in the current day, with all your beautiful flaws and shiny bits all mixed together. It led to your identity.

Let's take this time now to look back at something hard we went through in the past. Maybe it was 13 years ago, maybe it was 13 days ago. But when we do, let's try to draw the line from the you then to the you now. Why is there a disconnect between the old and new you? Because there were events in between you two. Good ones and bad ones. But all of them shaped the you which is now. So embrace that, be proud, and don't be afraid to declare: "I am strong!" - because you are. You made it here. You can make it anywhere.

Go get 'em.

The Typewriter

Certainly a rare find, here we have an original Hebrew typewriter. I found this in my friend's cousins house amongst his collection of other antique items.
A typewriter is a very simple machine, when it comes down to it. However, in its heyday, it was the backbone of expression. It was this machine that allowed the masses to have their say in the conversation. People could run their businesses more efficiently. It also went on to become a symbol of American women in the workplace, as these clanky things started showing up on secretaries' desks across the nation.
But most importantly, it represents the diligence and patience of a generation bygone. Nowadays, this relic would have no place in our fast-paced, media-driven, and touchscreen-enabled lives. Primarily this is due to the efficiency demands and the technology surges of the past 20 years. But the other reason why it wouldn't fit is simply because it represents an aspect of our humanity which we have mostly subdued: patience.
So take a moment. Imagine your fingers sliding over the cold, metal, crisp mold of a typewriter key. The perfectly mechanical sound when a key is depressed. Put on your late-1800s garb and submerge yourself in a world you never existed.
Maybe it'll do something for you.

Simplicity Enables: Post #1

I would like to kick off with a simple photo. The lack of discernible elements in this picture makes for a strong effect. Less to distinguish, define, understand. It just flows directly to the observer. I believe that this represents one of the most basic shortcomings we all have in our lives: we lack simplicity. Or rather, we tend to not view things in the simple form that they are. If we can look at things occasionally in a more non-complex, simple, and basic perspective we allow things to settle more smoothly in our lives. By pushing out the clutter, we can actually point to what it is important to us. 

Photo taken on the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR

Welcome to the blog!

 

Hey everybody,
                                   and welcome to my blog, Priceless Humanity.  For most of us, life is a series of events, all cobbled together and strewn across a set timeline, called our lifetime. When we encounter an event, we experience it, maybe reflect on it, and then move on. And more often than not, we tell ourselves that the things which our eyes happen to see are not significant unless we planned to see what we did, or unless we can quickly identify personal meaning within what we saw. The people we meet, the places we see - all are just "sidenotes" to a bigger work: we believe that we have some vague, life-long pursuit, and anything that doesn't appear to support it or move it forward is secondary and insignificant. We separate our daily lives and our daily sightings from our perceived "long-term goals," and we lose touch with the now, the here, the tangible.

 The purpose of this blog is to take what we see around us and give it context in our individual life pursuits. The people, places, and objects that meet our eyes all have something to say directly to us - to our souls. When we slow down and listen, we start seeing our world in a completely new light, and the little things, the details, start aligning themselves with who we are.



For each photo I upload, I will write a short paragraph in which I will attempt to connect the content of the photo to some deeper message that we can all relate to and apply to our individual goals and dreams.

At the current moment I am in Israel. Therefore, most of my uploads will be pictures that I take in Israel. But I will upload pictures from elsewhere as well.

There is so much around us - and it's all free. By taking a little time to connect to some of it, we can really benefit ourselves in ways we never knew possible. It really is Priceless Humanity.

I hope you all can find a personal place in this blog, and that together we can use every moment and every detail to push us to new heights.

Happy blogging,

- David Reich.