Passion II
Passion - a strong, barely controllable emotion
In the first blog on ‘Passion’ we ended with the idea of following one’s bliss, and you know if you follow your bliss then all will be well - because essentially you’re following what brings your soul joy. In Sanskrit the word for this notion of transcendence being transcendent is sat-cit-ānanda, where sat is being, cit is consciousness and ānanada is bliss.
The Bougainvillea is known as the flower for passion.
Now, as Joseph Campbell explains, following one’s bliss is also following a mythologically inspired life and a somewhat mystical one at that, I would have to add. Living thus is living in a way that allows for more creative expression and so for this to be the case one cannot give in to the pressures of society. Society deals us many things and many ideals yet it is left to us alone to distinguish our path within the haze. Let’s face it, life is too short to be following what other people say, or dictate our path to be. Deep inside is a calling and it is for us to make it work.
We can compare life to a boxing ring, Campbell brings in this analogy too. Sometimes you’re the one who’s winning and you want to keep on fighting and show what you’ve got. Then there are other times when you just want that bell to ring, and you’re losing. It’s when life is asking you “Do you have the energy and strength to face me, to face life?” Sometimes life can ask more of us than we are willing to give and that’s when we really have the choice - the choice of how to respond. Do we want to stay in the fight, or call “out” and stay on the sidelines?
So we might say that there are 3 positions to life, or 3 characters we might play throughout our lives:
1 - The one who is “up-to-it and playing-through”
2 - The one who says “absolutely not”
Nothing much needs to be said about this character, they’re simply on the opposite side to Life.
3 - And then there’s the one who recognizes that both “good and evil exist; I’m on the good side but accept the world in need of corrections”
Now this is the individual who nourishes balance. Things can’t always be perfect - and we wouldn’t want them to be in either case! So the not-so-perfect reality, a real reality is one in which a balanced individual can navigate with care and also appreciation. The balanced character is not a perfect one himself, everyone makes mistakes, yet at least there is always a glimmer of hope, always that sense of positivity and gumption.
This is a character on the side of Life and not on the side of protective ideas. This is a character who can eliminate their Ego (more often than not).
It’s a perspective to life worth ruminating on a little while … because if we listen closely enough, it might just be letting us know where our true passions lie and where they could lead us.
Such a passion, such a perspective allows us to understand in many ways that we are all connected in this game we call life. All one consciousness, all in accord with nature. This goes back to the Lamarckian and Goethian view - so I do suggest some light reading there too, if this has caught your interest. Coming to terms with such ideas brings us in many ways nearer to the feeling that energy, or rather the quality of a substance or being, and consciousness are two sides to the same coin. And we are that coin.
So smash that ego and let life boom through you.