Reality
“Reality
is only a Rorschach ink blot, you know!”
Alan Watts
Take a look at this
photo, and tell me what you see. It was taken by my friend, Leslie
Lee Priester of Meridian, MS. Some folks would likely see it as a
pile of junk, a collection of trash some hoarder has dragged from
back alleys and roadsides. Some would not be able to contain their
excitement; what discoveries might be made here! And, some would look
with horror at a big mess marring the landscape. Truth is, we see
what we want to see. We create a story and label it reality. Loafer's
Glory is a history lesson. It is a collection of signs and other
items that tell Meridian's history. And the building itself has a
story—starting out as a post office and going through many
incarnations. The current owner was once a bluegrass musician who
played at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He chose the name
“Loafer's Glory,” based on a country song by Lester Flatt and
Earl Scruggs:
“There
came a man from Tennessee.
I must
tell the story.
He built a
house beside the road,
and called
it 'Loafer's Glory.'”
Reality is the story of
our individual interpretation of the world. T. S. Eliot once said,
“There is no absolute point of view from which real and ideal can
be finally separated and labeled.” We each create our own. Marty
Rubin stated it explicitly: “If you want absolutes, you have to
invent them yourself.” I don't know whether you've ever looked at
an ink blot from a Rorschach kit—they are absolutely nothing, and
that's the point. What you see in them comes directly from you. What
you see in everything comes directly from you. The human mind is
fascinating—and unreliable. My reality is only that, and your
reality is only your reality. When we try to make them absolute, and
impose them on others, we wade into dangerous territory.
Today, look with new eyes
and see reality for what it is—a Rorschach ink blot. What it means
is up to you.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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