Like this:

Ok I know gators are protected and all, but that is not the point of the question. So let’s leave that train of thought alone. Anyway, I have eaten gator tail. And to the question, “what did it taste like?” I would answer, “Sort of like a combination of pork and chicken.” I have now come to realize that when I described it that way I potentially destroyed a person’s ability to have a completely new experience. Because in reality gator tail tastes exactly like. . . gator tail.

I have been noticing lately that when we have a new experience, we immediately categorize it as being “just like. . . “ something we have experienced before. This is our attempt to fit something new into our already known world. And it is a reasonable thing to do. But is it valid? And does it allow us to experience all that the world has to offer. I don’t think so.

A Zen master said that once a child learns his colors he becomes blind. I realized that the master was talking about this same tendency to put what is new into a box called “already know it.” So a child, who up until he learns the word “green” sees an incredible variety of colors in the grasses and the trees, is forever afterwards condemned to see just plain green. What color is the grass? Green. What color are the leaves? Green. What color is Kermit? Green. And frogs on a pond? Green. Experience has been replaced by a word. And soon we are confusing the learned word with the new experience. And we do not even notice that we have annihilated the possibility of new through “already knowing.” Understandable? Yes. Comfortable? Perhaps. But what are we missing?

Is the small world of “already know” or “this is just like” the world we want to create? Or would we like to step into the ever expanding world of “this is completely new and unique for me?” Try a little experiment. Take a moment and look out the window, find a tree or a single leaf and simply look at it. See it and don’t name what you see. How much more do you see? How much more can your life be?

I started blogging after I had some great experiences while on Maui with The Peaceful Women. I would love to tell you about them, but I will not. I am coming to the conclusion that any time I create an expectation, whether it is chicken or green or life-changing, I will short-circuit the whole experience for someone else. Suffice it to say that I loved it and I am sure over the years, hundreds of other women are going to love it, too. Each in her own way. Each having her own experience.

Advertisement