“Remember the pledge you took, when they let you off the hook, and sent you spinning away, back into yourself.” – Human Rocket – Devo 2010
Okay, I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten several ideas for blogs from Devo’s album Something for Everybody
As I was listening to the lyrics of human rocket, cited above, an idea came to me. “Remember the pledge you took, when they let you off the hook”.
What if we’re on vacation?
What if we took a pledge to take a break from our spiritual path and this life is actually our break?
Some would argue a vacation gone miserably wrong.
Sort of like having a hurricane hit while you’re on your honeymoon in Cancun. (Yes, this happened to my wife and I)
None the less a vacation, if you will, from our cosmic responsibilities.
Bare with me for a moment, because the idea requires a few building blocks to take shape.
Assume for a moment that reincarnation is real. At least in some form. This may not mean that we keep repeating a life here on earth over and over, but that this life is part of a progression of experience, as opposed to being the alpha and omega of our existence. This would imply that there is a continuity to our existence. A narrative linked together by a common spirit. Each incarnation could seen as a chapter in that existence.
Now consider a book metaphor for a moment. What if you were reading a book, following the thread of the story, and then you get to chapter 18 and, as the result of a sudden and unexpected head injury, forget the first 17 chapters of the book.
You are quite tenacious, so you keep reading the book even though you have no idea who you’re reading about or what’s going on. You lose the continuity of the story.
Luckily for you the book is well written so you are able to read chapter 18 without getting entirely lost, even though you don’t know the back story. Then as you’re finishing chapter 18 your memory starts to return. You remember everything that happened in the first part of the book and can piece it all together. You start to integrate, in your mind, whatever you read in 18 with the previous chapters.
What if, by being here, we’re in our chapter 18? We’ve entered a knowledge void where we’ve lost the thread of the prior narrative. We don’t know what happened before. But we’re given enough to keep reading. The story keeps unfolding.
What if, this wasn’t the result of some cosmic head injury? But in fact a calculated break, offered by the universe, a vacation from our cosmic trajectory. Without the burden of knowledge of everything that we knew before.
“Remember the pledge you took, when they let you off the hook.”
So what pledge did you take?
Be true to thine self, and to thine own self be true.
Do onto others as they would have them do onto you.
Or simply, I promise to enjoy myself.
So what if you were in fact, let off the hook, for this life? Would it change your attitude about your experiences if you found out that this was your rest and recuperation before you get back to work?
What would you do differently with your day, or with your life, if you realized you’re on vacation?
Namaste,
Kevin
