Timely Information

There are so many things I was not ready to take in when they were presented to me. Parents must have this experience all the time – no child can “hear” whatever wisdom you want to offer to them as you watch them re-learn everything you have struggled to know. People realize what they are ready to realize, and information comes to us when we are ready. Sometimes information comes and it’s such a revelation that it almost hurts to look back on the time that we were without it, but it is all how it is meant to be. I really like the idea that in every moment of our lives we are exactly where we are supposed to be. It takes the pressure off, for one thing. No pressure to already have accomplished more than you have, or learned more, or seen more. Today is exactly where you should be. With the pressure taken off it’s just so much easier to enjoy the day and take what comes and go where you are lead.

I keep thinking about how timely reading Walden feels (see previous post). It’s like reading someone else’s beautifully articulated narration of everything I feel I’ve finally come to know up to this point. What capacity did I have to relate to Thoreau when I was 18? ZERO. And just like all of life, our education attempts to force certain knowledge or revelation upon us when we might not be ready for it. It keeps bringing me back to Desikachar’s observation that our goals can become our obstacles – setting our sights on specific things in one specific direction can actually lead us away from where we would, and perhaps should, otherwise take ourselves. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all in favor of seeking out teachers and teachings because exposure plants a seed of awareness that we can return to when we’re ready, and connect the dots when actually see the connections, and learning can initiate important changes of mind and heart. And especially when we don’t know where to go, it’s incredibly useful to follow the leader. But I do wonder where else I would have taken myself if the goals of education hadn’t been so prescribed in a certain direction (not in a regretful way! That is because I am exactly where I need to be right now, see supra). I feel that in many ways the things I have accomplished were just huge obstacles.