Questions from a young reader: Where do we go from here?
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post::You can read the start, and an explanation, of this short series here. There is also a post connected to this series which discusses art and artists, found here.::
So...where do we go from here? Where do we take our dreams and desires and bring something good and healthy out of it all?
Always forward.
It sometimes starts backward.
I don't think looking back is always bad; not ever look backwards turns us to salt. I don't recommend living in the past, but looking to it has value.
I have to learn from absolutely every experience -- every moment -- I've been through. We are creatures of learning and, if we aren't, then we are slowly dying. New doors that open in front of us will find us unprepared. A look back to learn what I just came through allows me to move forward, otherwise I am destined to repeat history on my own small, personal scale. Every moment, every experience, is a lesson. It teaches me about others and about myself. And it lets me go forward or forces me to repeat it.
Always forward.
I think of it like catching snowflakes in my hand, each snowflake seemingly individual and separate. If I wait just a bit, they melt and the water pools together. The connection between the separate snowflakes becomes clear. In that way, seemingly unrelated or separate incidents in my life become, after the passage of time and a backwards look, clear in their connection. I learn from that. I don't want to be chased or propelled by my past, but I want to bring it under control by learning from it, seeing it for what it was and is, and moving on.
My dreams and desires are built on this kind of foundation, that of separate-made-one; that of being based on what I've purposefully observed and not like some kind of disabled boat on a wave, blaming outside forces (like the past and the present) for my lack of a rudder.
So where do we take our dreams and desires? We take them with us, as they are still being formed, forward.
Labels: essay, personal, reader input, religion
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 9/13/2007 01:29:00 PM
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