PRELUDE TO ME

                                       PRELUDE TO ME

     So strange indeed, and irritating, yes, that I feel compelled to put every word I write in quotation marks—as if to indicate that I am AWARE of the various “shades of meaning” that each can take on, as if to indicate that my current perspective is only one of infinite possibilities.  Why do I feel so compelled to do so?  The answer, my friend, lies in my fear of being misunderstood, of being perceived a hypocrite, and of prompting confusion or frustration on the part of my listener.  I vie to stress that I can and do relate to all human emotion—that is I do certainly know pain, pleasure, frustration, animosity, yearning, disdain, power, and weakness.  But I also experience a strong sense of unity with all of humanity, all of the universe.  I see myself as a player on a grand stage, a spiritual entity having a human experience. I am free to consider and to explore the meaning of reality from as many perspectives as I can imagine.  I am free to form my own opinions, and I am free to change them.  I am also free to momentarily disregard the incredibly complex philosophical question “What does it truly mean to be “free”?  How can one be “free” while shackled in responsibility?  And yet how can one be “free” without the responsibility of seeking?  HA!  I’ve got it!  By LAUGHING OUT LOUD!—at the questions we formulate, at the conclusions we draw!  My thoughts are ridiculous—laughable.  My actions are ridiculous—laughable.  My very words are ridiculous—laughable.  But I must check myself, for I digress from my original purpose—and that is to inform you once again that my words are always “tongue and cheek”, and they therefore reflect only those dimensions of consciousness which function at a “human level”.  I urge that at all times, in order to elevate the level of communication, that you carefully consider the changing contexts in which I speak.  If I should say things on occasion that appear to contradict or go against the grain of things I have said in the past, I implore that you immediately seek to reconcile the conflict by carefully assaying the precise circumstances under which I attempt to convey my message.  For this I will be ever grateful.  I believe it was Heraclitus who said that no man stands in the same river twice. (He is also famous for the epigrams “war is peace” and “winter is summer”.)  I now say that no thought issues from the same man twice…for man changes as thought changes…and therein lies the problem with all attempts of using language as a conveyor of ultimate “truth”…we can at best approximate and estimate.  But even our most beautiful and artful approximations are infinitely misguided and woefully inept.  Nonetheless, our efforts must not be deterred.  Continue to flow mon frere…freely and knowingly.  Namaste.