xm said:
BOBM-What is the real meaning of this object? What purpose does it really serve? How can I make my camino less cluttered with physical stuff? More importantly, how can I make life in general less focused on objects and stuff? U give us needed food for thought. Thanks, xm 8)
I plan to write lots more after (and maybe during) my Camino, when perhaps I may have earned some credibility, but here are a few quick thoughts in between final departure preparations.
I am not taking any spare shoelaces now (see your/my earlier posts
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Let me use spare shoelaces as a further example. We toss them in without a thought because they weigh nothing and "might be needed". They come in pairs, so we never even question taking only one (that's eccentric out-of-the-square behavior indeed :lol: ). We are bound by the hidden persuaders of conventional thought in all sorts of ways.
Then there is the question "why do I feel need this item?" The first layer of explanation is you take spare laces for simple utility - the others might break! Look deeper and peel off more layers hiding the deeper truths. There is the mental security of having a backup. Deeper down may be a fear of stepping into the unknown. Layer by layer, the truth of ourselves is revealed. Not wrong, not right, not good, not bad - just simple truth.
Much of life once we are no longer children is a slow accretion of conventional thought, societal conditioning, materialism that imprison us as surely as any gaol. Only it is the mind and heart that are behind the bars of our thinking and obstruct our pursuit of "happiness".
So my first tip on the road to enlightenment or self-awareness is to question everything to tease out the hidden persuaders that might be making decisions for us.
Use packing the rucksack and discarding all but the truly essential as an opportunity for reflection.
BTW, happiness is a very mis-understood concept, but more on that huge topic another time.
Regards
Bob M