Have you ever fallen awake with that odd sensation that you just visited another dimension? You had still been you, but in another context, with maybe different people, different relationships, in a different place or time, and with a whole other mindset in place as you dealt with "other-worldly" challenges.
Dreams can be strange things, and our brains seem to process them with all of our sensorial sound-tracks playing. That's what makes our dreams seem so real, when we are dreaming them.
And have you noticed how the feelings of that "other world" can stay with you for a while? Why is this so?
The transporting of our emotions and frame of referrence also occurs when we follow a story with our imaginations - whether in a book, a movie or a play. Have you ever woken up the next day, and felt the echos of that experience softly sounding in your head, or touching at your heart?
Why do these things happen? Why do the emotions persist?
Well, there are several answers to this. First, our emotions tend to bounce around inside us, as if within an echochamber. This takes place in a part of the brain called the limbic system. There are loops in the limbic system.
Most of the time, the echoes slowly fade. In post-traumatic stress conditions, the echoes may persist, or can be suddenly fully re-instated (a.k.a. "flashbacks"). In the course of life, our interaction with the real world resonates in this same place, and it serves as a store of memory, context and identity that help us negotiate the paths of our lives each day.
So, on this level, most of the time, the resonance of our experience is adaptive, and it is easy to imagine how it protected us way back on the savannah, or when our ancestors lived in caves. If you had an encounter with a predator one day, your chances of surviving the next day are improved if you maintain a record of the encounter - that thing called "experience", including the perception and fear of danger, in your consciousness and make your plans accordingly.
The question is, is there any value to being able to step into "another world", to encounter, experience and react to a different reality?
Again, many answers could apply. For one, our imaginations allow us to explore, in our consciousness, the impact of a given decision or action, without necessarily taking a definitive step in the real world. We can imagine continuing as we are, or making some change, and compare the outcomes, and how they might make us feel. We can bring rational arguments to the decision/s, and the consider the emotional responses that may accompany them. And we can then weigh up their impact holistically, in rational terms, and in terms of their potential effects on our psyche.
But these responses may not always be adaptive. From the current news comes a case in point - the case of Gov. Mark Sanford. As Maureen Dowd's article so cleverly points out, Sanford has come unstuck trying to merge two incompatible realities. The article is hilarious, and Sanford's quandry is full of irony, and large measures of sublime (divine?) justice. But the phenomenon he is dealing with is very instructive.
The lessons for the rest of us are many. For one, we should use our capacities for imagining other possibilities to the full, but beware the consequences of action, or inaction, as the case may be. There are boundless possibilities, some creative and transformative*, others run deep with the risk of self-destruction. For those seemingly locked inside painful realities, such as an abusive relationship, with the sense that there is no way out, that things cannot be changed, that there can be no other reality, one must learn that there are possibilities for change and for hope.
Most importantly, we must recognize that our "realities" are fragile. We should exercise due caution and our best judgement at all times, and not let the fragility of our world make us fearful. This is how I understand the song we sing on Shabbat: "the world is (like) a narrow bridge, and the key is not to be afraid".
Decide carefully, for the betterment of yourself and those who depend on you,
Shavuah Tov, have a good week.
________________
Links to explore:
* a transformative example - Johnny Clegg
the world is a narrow bridge - songs by Craig Taubman
"fallen awake" - Jethro Tull Lyrics:
Life Is A Long Song_______________________________
When you're falling awake and you take stock of the new day,
and you hear your voice croak as you choke on what you need to say,
well, don't you fret, don't you fear,
I will give you good cheer.
Life's a long song.
Life's a long song.
Life's a long song.
If you wait then your plate I will fill.
As the verses unfold and your soul suffers the long day,
and the twelve o'clock gloom spins the room,
you struggle on your way.
Well, don't you sigh, don't you cry,
lick the dust from your eye.
Life's a long song.
Life's a long song.
Life's a long song.
We will meet in the sweet light of dawn.
As the Baker Street train spills your pain all over your new dress,
and the symphony sounds underground put you under duress,
well don't you squeal as the heel grinds you under the wheel.
Life's a long song.
Life's a long song.
Life's a long song.
But the tune ends too soon for us all.
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