Leaving Meiji park after yoga
After settling down in Tokyo, I began going the humungous Meiji park to do yoga in the morning before work. While standing on my head and watching people walking off in the distance, I noticed something very odd. The people had an obvious bob in their gate as they walked. Initially I wondered if they were walking that way on purpose for I’d never seen such a sight before. Then I realized I’d never actually watched people walking while doing the headstand.
All it took for me to see our human way of walking as it actually occurs was a 180 degree (upside down) change of perspective. These days it is difficult for me to notice this ‘bob’ in people, when I do yoga down at the beach. The novelty wore off; I guess familiarity breeds blindness.
The moral here for me: I must counteract familiarity to see the world anew, and sometimes to even see the world as it may actually be. So pray tell, how can I counteract familiarity?
Trusting language (words and names) helps impart a sense of familiarity. The more I trust it, the more readily I think that one know. The upside: This makes me feel more secure with ‘reality’. The downside: This deaden my proper sense of awe.
I say, give me a sense of awe any day! Mystery upon mystery – The gateway of the manifold secrets.
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