Monday

What Inspires and Motivates us - is it really outside of us?

On my last post, I received a comment that has stimulated me to explore the concept of what inspires and motivates us - is it really outside of us?

Am I a mirror? Is anything you see in me, yourself reflected? Good/Bad, Right/Wrong, Better than/Less than? Am I just an interpretation you are making based on your own expectations?

One classic must see movie that illustrates this is Peter Seller's "Being There."



It's about a simpleton man who has been taken care of all his life by a wealthy man in a high walled home with a beautiful garden. The simple man, who is known as "Chance" is left homeless when his wealthy benefactor dies. He goes out into the world and, by chance is picked up and brought into the world of the President of the United States.

Chance speaks simply, and the people in these halls of power misinterpret whatever Chance says and somehow all find incredible wisdom in everything that Chance speaks.

Chance just bumbles on, making huge differences to everyone around him. In the final scene, we are at a funeral of one of the president's most influential advisers. The pall bearers, all influential king makers, are discussing who the next president should be.



Somehow, we need to take responsibility for the wisdom we hear in other's words.

Somehow we need to stop and listen to our own internal, home grown wisdom within.

Our own relationship and understanding of Truth, of God and of reality itself, is what is most valuable to us - the masters are only pointing the way - they are not the journey, just fellow travellers on the road.

When Chance finds himself walking on water - what does he do? He measures how deep the water is with his umbrella ....and keeps walking.

Email Mike...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As I read your blog with interest it occured to me that it is both inside and outside of ourselves.
As I live and experience life I find myself constantly asking myself questions about myself, about life about how things work around me. Sometimes when I conciously listen to all the questions it reminds me of when my son was 3. Of all the questions he would ask, it was almost a question dialogue with the world as he discovered and interacted with it. So in answer to your question it is not so much for me, what inspires and motivates us, but more as we learn and discover and play with ideas, concepts and our place here that we become excited about life and want to seek out more discovery. Maybe Peter Pan had it right......

From Branching Out-chch