I feel myself travelling deeper and deeper, but to what end? Just how far can one go before adjusting the course in order to come full-circle? I often explain this complex notion to others by means of swimming in a large body of water. There is something particularly intriguing about swimming away from shore–the floating, weightless body, the depths of the unknown, the primitive stirrings of solitude and simultaneous acceptance of the surrounding universe. There is the melting of one’s body into the larger body, the emulsion between the human condition and the terrifying pressure on oneself to perform within the scope of their truest capabilities, or otherwise perish.
The currentless pull on the curiosity of the mind drives me further and further into the expansive container of water. All in the name of understanding what exactly it is that I am comprised of mentally. From early on, we learn the limitations of our body, but what of our limitless potential? Gods of our own minds, we create and destroy worlds, seeking out a counterpart consciousness to share in misery the bodily limitations and dream together of ways in which we can use our blip of cosmic time to better the universe, or at the very least contribute to the collective experience and memories that define the era of mankind.
It is important to stray away from the safety of the shoreline, for a life without personal challenge or intrigue of the unknown, stagnancy ensues. Our very presence in the water creates ripples, literally and within the Earthly mindscape. I say Earthly in regards to the mind in the notion that our minds are not uniquely terrestrial, but also aquatic, dynamic. Ever morphing from the ripples of the curious traveller, limited only to the physical container of the skull. Yet, our minds provide us a loophole from these confines, as we escape to fantastical and incredible dreamscapes. This dreamstate provides the opportunity for the mind to calibrate and function at a reasonable input level, to tread the proverbial aquatic portions of our mind in anticipation of the coming day’s travels.
But how far out is too far? Many so-called geniuses walk the fine, taught, and very much so blurred line between genius and insanity. Swim too far out and how does one return to the shore. The return is the take away, the post-processing, the sharing of experiences with those otherwise too uncertain or commitment-phobic towards the idea of promoting the human experience.
We push onwards and forwards, sometimes forgetting the lessons of those who have passed previous us, those who did not return to the shore and fell victim to the stormy seas of change. In this regard, it would be advantageous to walk backwards, or in continuation with this elongated metaphor–backstroke. Keep swimming forward, but keep your eyes out for what has already transpired. Learn from the mistakes of our fallen comrades, respecting their commitment to the cause, their martyrdom so that future seafarers could make for themselves a return journey to the architected shoreline.
The strength of humans bolster with each passing day, and while small battles will be lost and much energy expended in the process, each consecutive journey to the depths will yield slightly more results so long as there is a yearning for knowledge and a desire to know the unknown. Many fear the unknown. For that reason, it is of paramount importance that those who dare journey out make their way back to shed light and encourage the fearful to open their minds to what they already possess. Fear and anxiety, excitement and anticipation, they are all estuaries leading into the same body. It is just a matter of perspective–applying a negative or positive approach to it, respectively.
To conclude, we are not born with the knowledge to traverse these waters. They are a learned skill of our species. Some will excel, and others will find themselves highly hydrophobic, for reasons theirs and theirs alone. For those who want to submerge themselves in the former, it is, like so many experiences, a process. Learn from each journey, allow yourself time to process, to grow and recover, then head back out and do it again, only a little bit more. For those who care only to dabble and get their feet wet, all the same, just know that it may take a bit longer, but with just as potential an outcome as your sea-legged brethren. To those who dare not venture out into the waters, go and refine the land, preserve the history that is already there, so that the ambitious may understand it. Everybody has a role, do not look down upon yours if you are doing it with candor and passion.
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