"Life is just the shipwreck of our plans”,a line from the recently released film "The shape of water" directed by Guillermo del Toro, served as the diving board for our exchange and reflections of the day.
It is no big mystery. Our hopes and dreams for the future do not always work out the way we plan; or sometimes they do not work even at all, despite all our efforts... Hopes and dreams are not ours in the first place.
And it is no big discovery. Our plans, however careful or careless they appeared to be originally, may come out as successes initially only to turn out as failures or anything in between; and vice versa. We also may in retrospect consider the plans we made at one time as the greatest or the silliest ideas, as our perspective is constantly changing thanks to our life experiences. Plans are not ours, that of an individual entity.
Life inexorably and ruthlessly unfolds, that's what it does. Life knows no better or no worse.
And it is a no brainer. Life does not add grammatical comments that start like ”I should” or “It shouldn’t”,“He should have” or “She should have not”. And if it does – which may very well happen - it does not comment on the comments.
Life is on the move taking one moment at a time. Life simply unfolds, with us or despite us.
Here below are 2 links to our diving exploration:
- About the “why” of this amazing chaos called Life: Happiness is NOT the Meaning of Life - Alan Watts - YouTube
- About the indispensable role of “Maya”: Swami Sarvapriyananda - Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview - YouTube
This interview is highly recommended to be watched fully
And here is below another beautiful text by Jeff Foster called “The Greatest relief”. It comes to us as a reminder to stay away from hopes and dreams and plans, and to live one moment at a time as Life, letting life unfolds itself as itself, as it inexorably will...
THE GREATEST RELIEF
Face it. Your life is never going to work out.
Hallelujah.
That is, the story of your life is always going to be imperfect. That's the nature of story - always incomplete, always searching for a conclusion, always bound to time and change.
In the movie of your life, thing won't always go according to plan. People won't always understand you. They will mishear, misquote, and misrepresent you. They will form their own ideas and opinions about you, no matter how clearly you try to represent yourself. Your success can turn to failure. Your wealth can turn to poverty. The ones you love can leave you. Problems that get fixed can lead to new problems. No matter how much you have, you can have more, or lose more. It's never going to work out in the story of "my life". And even if it does work out, whatever that means to you, you will still be here, in this moment, now. This is the only place where things can 'work out', if they ever do.
In actuality, things have already worked out, beyond the story. For in this moment, in reality, there is already no goal, no image of perfection, no comparison, no 'should' or 'should not', and the thoughts, sensations, feelings, sounds and smells appearing right now are entirely appropriate, wonderfully fitting and beautifully timely for this moment in the movie of your life.
Without a script, how can this moment go off script? Without a plan, how can life not go according to plan? Without a path, how can you stray from the path?
Realizing that your life is never going to work out, and that it cannot ever work out, and that it isn't ever supposed to work out, is the greatest relief, and brings the greatest ease, drawing you deeply into the sacredness of things as they actually are. Your life may be an imperfect mess, but it is an imperfect mess that is perfectly divine - a work of sacred art, even if you forget that sometimes.
Humiliation turns to humility in the space of just a heartbeat, and all that's left is to fall on your knees with gratitude for what is given, and what has not yet been taken away.
Jeff Foster
A concluding note, with another gem by the same author.
"Life will eventually bring to your knees.
Either you will be on your knees, cursing the universe and begging for a different life, or you’ll be brought to your knees by gratitude and awe, deeply embracing the life that you have, too overwhelmed by the beauty of it all to stand or even speak. Either way, they’re the same knees."