Who is pulling your strings? Who's tune are you dancing to?
A question which pops up a lot is the old nature versus nurture arguments. What do we bring to the picture innately, and what is learnt?
Well, what do we bring with us at birth? Not even our name. When we arrive, we know nothing except feelings, satisfaction or dissatisfaction. That's about it. Of course, we also have a body, about which we learn through our feelings. We don't choose where or when we are born. We know nothing, and all is to be learnt and experienced.
And that's where so much can go right or wrong. If you look at the poster I designed, it tries to show the many influences on us at any given moment in time. Clearly, our parents or their substitutes are the most influential when we start life. And their influence is shaped by their environment, their community and all other external factors, including their education, income level and clarity.
We are told from very young that there are dos and don'ts which we have to respect. Most of them come from the religious influences and the kind of political environment we are born into. We also learn that much of what we are told to do is preceded by "Do as I say, not as I do". In other words, we are brought up within contradictions.
Along with this, we are also taught that some things are inevitable, God or the Law ordained. The key to success, we are told, is to be better than others, at least at something. In other words, we have to compete with all others for the right to be on the planet and have life.
As we can't be great at everything, we choose what seems to work best for us individually.
All of this means that we are also taught to find excuses and reasons for our failures. In comes Blame! If we have blame, then it must be an external factor beyond my control, so God or Religion or the Law or somebody or something else is at fault for our inabilities. And as we like to share blame, we look for others who see it the same way, and we now have a new group of people who are not content with what the situation they are in and want to - when there are enough joining in - to try and change the situation more to their liking.
What we are not taught is that which is most fundamentally important and that which caries more weight than anything else: the fact that each one of us is unique in this world, as is every other Being on the planet, or even the universe. We have seldom if ever been taught the value of having this life, an opportunity to exist, to enjoy, to care and share with the other unique Beings who live alongside of us and have the same opportunity for that wonderful time we call our life.
Being unique, means we cannot compete on a meaningful level. We can co-exist for a time, and then we are gone. As has been pointed out, life consists of three facts for each one of us: 1. we are born and come into this life; 2. we live that time and at the end, 3. we have to go. That's it. Very simple.
We have also been given some very amazing characteristics: Love, courage, compassion, kindness, joy. We are not taught that these constitute the real wealth of a human life and these can be experienced not at the cost of other beings, but for oneself at any time.
So why do we chase after possessions, none of which we can take with us? Why do we kill each other when we should be celebrating and sharing the limited time we have? Because we have not understood that most basic fact: life is the daily miracle we can experience and be conscious of.
So, back to the title of this piece: who is pulling your strings? Are you being manipulated to support conflict at home, in the workplace, within the community? Do you really believe you are better and more deserving than others? In the thousands of years, human beings have existed, we have not learnt these most basic facts. If you need a miracle, then look in the mirror. That you can see your reflection means you are still alive, and that is the biggest miracle you will ever experience. You cannot give life in this sense. That starts with your first independent breath and ends with the last one - and that will come unexpectedly but guaranteed. The time in between is the opportunity to experience joy, but the string pullers don't offer that. And the real stupidity is that in our utter ignorance, we make do with this appalling way we treat each other. And keep on doing it.
Time to become conscious!
