Ruminating On Rumi

As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.

~ M. Rumi

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Dawning of the Duh


Well, I was god-smacked when I finally got it.  I mean I’ve talked about it on an intellectual level. But while I was sitting still this morning I got it on a gut level. G.I.G.O. Duh. If you remember in the dawning of the age of the computer, G.I.G.O. was the acronym created for the explanation of why programs wouldn’t run. It means garbage in, garbage out.  Program the computer with nonsense and that’s what you get, more of the same or nada.  Since computers were created in the image of the mind of man (in the non-generic delineation) to be a super mind the acronym is also completely appropriate for our bodies and our human manipulated environment. 

This body as a laboratory of exploration and discovery has been telling me, no showing me for years, that what I eat, what I allow to permeate my mind, how I move my body, who I associate with and when and where all these things happen is intimately synchronized with the quality of my life. Really, IS the quality of my life.

What we put into our mouths, the food stuff to nurture these meat bodies, and what comes out the other end is our ground zero for good physical health.  What we expose to our grey matter either supports positive change and cooperation or it promotes fear and anger. 

So many questions arise?

In this seemingly soulless culture how do we discern between commercialized spirituality and who we really are? How do we nurture our attitude? Are we mindful of our emotions? Do we treat the body with kindness? How do we create a congruent state of existence? 

At the same time, and this is the art of juggling and balance, we begin to realize the vast difference between self care and narcissism. If you hadn’t noticed, take a look around, we seem to live in a world that like the seagulls in “Finding Nemo” cry ‘mine, mine.’  When it’s all about me or those like me we have a tendency to separate ourselves from our fellow human beings. Experientially we know, just listen to a newscast, that when we otherize, our fellow species and the environment, we separate and demonize. We create hell from this heaven on earth. 

One basic truth, and it’s difficult to disagree, we are all in this together. Whether we like it or not we are co-creating the world as it is now. Sorry, but the victim card, the I didn’t know ticket, isn’t valid any longer.  With social media, we do know. We know what we are doing to each other, we know how we are treating ourselves, we know what we are doing to the environment. We know and although at times we may feel helpless and alone we are not.  Checked your friends list lately, and their list and so on?

Most importantly we have all been graced with the gift of choice. We choose every time we do or we don’t, every time we deny or affirm, every clinging, every aversion Naturally, the most obvious question is, “how do I know if I’ve made the right choice?” 


The answer is not that complex; in fact it’s simple. We have been equipped with a wonderful tool called feelings.  Feelings help us monitor our state of mind, body and soul. Check in regularly and check out the information your natural intuition provides. Then run it through the mind and make the necessary tweaks to change your health, change your thoughts, change your relationships. If you find the choice you make supports your integrity well, pat yourself on the back.  

Now back to GIGO, how do we check in with feelings that we may not know we have, may not be able to identify or darn well have stuffed for years.  That takes me back to the beginning. Still your body, still your mind. Let the external world fall away and nurture your inner space. All that needs to be done is to be with what is. Then in the midst of the roar of fear, anger, opinions, a veritable garbage dump of information, it will become self evident. It’s not about more control. It’s about giving up the need to be in control.   With a metaphorical smack to the forehead, coincidentally the third eye, we will awaken to that which has always been here, this moment, this life, each other. Buried under all the GIGO is who we truly are. The beauty. The mystery. The divine grace of life. 


Afterwords: In which, the non-linear and the linear collide and create a tasty word soup much to the delight of this writer.  She laughs.

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