We spoke the other night about a dream we each had
the idealistic life we both never thought possible
because of all the pain we have conquered
yet continue to struggle through;
tighly embraced in your arms
my head against your breast
nothing exists except my
idealistic life ;
a life enveloped in
your love and
compassion
my dreams are alive
when i am with you
like this
my optimism grows
when i look at the clock
and realize that you're
still here with me
- tick, tock -
our peak tolerance
having passed
- tick, tock -
we exchange
a look of
understanding
warmth and
compassion

a n d

i hope that your idealism
isn't shattered
when you awaken
to find
days and
people and
loss and
time
tick
tock
have
taken
their
toll

In my studies I have found something which seems to be present in all "concious" (presently the only concious beings that we're aware of are members of the human race of course) creatures. This is something intuitive, and once explained I'm sure you will completely recognize this aspect of the concious being in every social situation you face in the future, or I should hope so.

Now, imagine a child, a newborn. Essentially, this child can be seen as a sort of blank slate. It is ready to absorb all that it's culture has to offer. Firstly, I will admit that I am no expert on child development, although I think that by having been one, perhaps that gives each individual a kind of logical insight into the process. In any case, most information would initially be transferred to the child in the form of physical sensations, visual processes and emotional attatchment to caregivers, along with other processes which I'm sure exist but I am not aware of. After this foundation is created, a "net" of sorts is carefully placed on the next layer of development which I will call the "binary" stage.

This is where the child begins to learn boundaries set in place by his/her culture and society through its immediate contact with its caregivers. All these boundaries, as which most everything in nature, can be boiled down to "yes" and "no", "on" and "off". (or 0 and 1 in the case of computer languages) These rules help the developing child understand how it is supposed to react in any given situation by cross-refernencing them. Essentially, by creating a very simple framework, a being can extrapolate all possible situations and retrieve the information required almost instantly. (thanks to the wonders of our biological computer of course)

Now this "net" will continue to develop and change throughout the life cycle of the being. During teenage years, generally seen as a very rebellious time, the individual attempts to remove these boundaries that have been put in place. I assert that this is one of the most important developmental stages a child will go through. An individual cannot claim to understand it's culture/society without having stretced the limits to test its boundaries. The old adage of "no pain, no gain" comes into play here. Without failure, it is very difficult for us to learn.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to get to is that in every social interaction - sitting and talking with a friend, a business meeting with a possible client, etc - you can almost always determine what this "net" is composed of by simply paying attention to simple verbal/non-verbal clues. It amazes me that individuals don't understand interaction at all. Most people are not concious of this layer, and it would take a lot for me to sit down and tell you what mine is made up of, not that it is that complicated, its just a subconcious function that we have to put into words, an abstract form.

Learn about each other, not necessarily from one another. The unseen, undetected human functionality is what we should be focused on, and from there we can extrapolate the rest.

How much of "you" is made up of what society/culture has put there? How much of "you" is made up of the books you've read or the movies you've watched?

You are not "you" at all - you are a creation of your environment, nothing more. Conciousness is not freedom to think, to understand. Conciousness is just another way nature goes about creating a sense of individual importance - EGO.

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