Say what you want about her but the girl can sing and write. One of my favourite songs…probably because it’s so honest, it speaks to me 🙂
“I don’t know this could break my heart or save me
Nothing’s real until you let go completely
So here I go with all my thoughts I’ve been saving
So here I go with all my fears weighing on me.”
Sober Music and Lyrics By Kelly Clarkson
Dear uWise One, You are anything but unwise. I love what you have to say about yourself and what you write. I take it you’re from Canada? Would like to know more about what has most influenced you as a person, poet and philosophical searcher. I wish there were more unWise ones in the world. It humbles me and gives me hope for the future.
– Gordon Stewart –
First of all thank you for your questions and kind words. I assure you they humble me. 🙂
At first I was skeptical of answering this question because I really have no education in the area of philosophy or writing. All I know is that I was always an inquisitive child, curious for answers asking endless bounds of questions. My parents were very helpful in this development they always encouraged me to ask questions and listen and talk about anything and everything. I also had a passion for writing poetry and prose as a child. I remember being encouraged by my grade 2 teacher to never stop writing and I have listened to her. When I look back at my writings from childhood I see the wonder and curiosity I had that started from very young age and seemingly sprouted out of no where. My only explanation for it is that I must have been born with it. Even so I have never considered myself a writer or a poet or even an artist. (however with all this blog love I might started considering it)
That being said my real philosophical journey began after I dropped out of university. Once I left I began to read endless amounts of books about everything. I was so angry at being forced to read books during my 14 years in the education system. I always hated reading in school and being expected to have certain opinions or understand the book in a certain way. So I rebelled by reading as many books as I wanted on every topic that interested me (oh what a rebel, ha!). The more I read, the more I wrote, and the more I wrote the more I read. It was a continuous circle of thoughts, ideas and questions. Then one day in 2010 I went to Chapters Bookstore to pick up some books on the 2012 End of The World Prophecies as I had become weirdly curious with this concept. I pulled a book from a shelf and another book tipped over, my eyes were drawn to the tilted book and I was immediately intrigued by the title, it read The Book of Not Knowing By Peter Ralston. I picked it up and put it on the pile of others I had collected. When I got home I and in the following weeks I read through the 2012 books and was almost convinced that the world could realistically end in two years (ah how naive). A few days later I began The Book of Not Knowing and my mind was immediately expanded.
I have to admit with minimal education the book was difficult for me to read/understand but the book reassured me that what I was reading now, would make more sense later if only I would keep reading. So I did as it asked. Everyday I read more, I did the exercises it asked me to do. Some were writing exercises others were focussed solely on your thoughts and awareness. Every time I would read the book I could almost feel my mind being opened. The weird thing was that book was not providing me with any answers in fact it started making me question things that I thought I had the answers for. Eventually I came to the near end of the book in which it asks you to re-read from the beginning because this was the point of no return. I was shocked. It had taken me months to get through the bulk of the book and now I was expected to re-read it before I finished it?! Needless to say I was irritated so I simply closed the book and pledged to myself that I would re-read it eventually but not anytime soon.
Well, it has been two years since I put the book down I have yet to re-read and finish it but yet I am still feeling the effects of what I read everyday. When I stopped reading the book was when my real, honest and true philosophical journey began. In the simplest sense The Book of Not Knowing made me question everything I thought I knew and contemplate anything that could ever be or not be. It recharged my love for curiosity, philosophy, ontology and life in general. I still plan on finishing it one day but not until I feel I’m losing sight on the things I have learned…or better yet unlearned.
Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Not-Knowing-Exploring-Consciousness/dp/1556438575
I have to be honest. Before I joined wordpress.com I was worried that the way I thought was too out there. I had often been asked “Are you high?” When discussing intense topics such as Life, Religion, Death, Over Population, Politics among many other things. I was beginning to worry that no one thought about things as critically or as curiously as I did. I felt that so many people were locked in their own ideas and opinions completely unwilling to accept or listen to others thoughts and opinions. My main decision for joining wordpress.com was for me to let some of my writings seep into the world since I have a fear of letting people read anything I write, especially the ones closest to me. I figured I would put some stuff out there and maybe this would help ease my fear without having to sit and watch someones reaction as they read my words. The result has been nothing short of amazing. I have received many words of encouragement as well as good wishes and many more questions to challenge me. So many people have responded positively to these words I have written and I have nothing but gratitude and gratefulness for every person who has read anything on my blog. I was even able to open my blog to my Facebook and let the people closest to me read my entires and that reaction has been the same. My mother said something to me shortly after I started the blog that really made me think maybe my thoughts weren’t so crazy after all, she said “All I know is when I read Lindsay’s words I know everything will be alright.” I know she is my mother and she is supposed to support me but just hearing that really made my heart melt. My mother and I don’t have the same beliefs but somehow my words could help her too. I was naive to think that I was the only one out there that thinks this way or has these ideas or morals. There is 7 billion people out there and we are much more similar than we are different. This blog entry was simply written to thank every single one of my followers and readers. Your support has really surprised me and I will continue write and read all of your entries because all of your ideas, thoughts, and art has helped me be even more open and even more honest. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh yeah and one more thing… THANK YOU! 🙂
Peace and Love
Lindsay
You are the vine, roping me tight
holding my limbs when I put up a fight.
You are the tree, grounding my soul
I tried not to let you but my heart you stole.
You are the tear, falling from my eye
when I have no answer for my why.
You are the moon, lighting my darkness
showing me peace in all its starkness.
You are the sun, warming my heart
letting me know we will never part.
You are the song, ringing in my ear
calming my sadness, tabling my fear.
You are the wind, washing over me
keeping my spirit open and letting me be free.
“An open mind is an enlightened mind.” When your mind is open nothing can stick to it, you experience it, it passes through you and you move on.
I dream of a world where nothing matters. Things like who you are, what you believe, what you do, what you have, who you know do not matter. We are all mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, victims, heroes, criminals. We may live in different places, thousands of miles away but our fundamental problems are the same. We all want to be happy, we want love, we want connection we want other people to feel our pain; Relate to us, mourn with us, pray with us, laugh with us. We want to share our lives with others.
The sad truth is that we ache so much for connection that we begin to make up lies and characteristics that we hope will impress other people and help us relate to one another instead of just being who we are fundamentally as human beings. We lock our true, sacred feelings inside, letting them burn into our souls; all the while covering the scars of who we are with ideas and beliefs that are acceptable to everyone but yourself.
In this world we know very little, however we have the perception that we know everything. We spend all this time worrying about ours things, relationships, aesthetics and frankly our own opinions. If people only realized that an opinion is nothing but a group of your personal perceptions about any one said thing. For instance, “That couch is beautiful,” is only a perception of the object; It is not soft or hard, beautiful nor ugly, the couch is simply a couch. Perception is everything in this world, in a way it’s humanity’s greatest downfall.
There once was a girl who lived in a box
She was taught to keep quiet
A voice urged her to talk
Over and over the voice told her to defy
Still keeping silent
She wondered why
“What’s outside this small, confined space?”
The voice posed the question;
The answer her mind wouldn’t chase
“Nothing,” she replied so incredulously
How dare such a query
This voice, how can it be?
Everyday the voice louder, questioning still
“How do you know?”
This was not her own will
“Alas my dear child you can find what is true,”
She wanted the answers
The voice already knew
“Open this box, and outside you will see,”
“Peace, love, bliss,”
“Outside it is free.”
What an idea to accept into the mind
It had never before
She had always been blind
“How do I open this box where I stay,”
The voice had this answer
“You will find a simple way.”
The voice left her body never to return
She mourned the loss
She knew she must learn
One day the answer wildly arrived
The voice had left
It’s wisdom still thrived
The girl stood up and pushed high above
The box slid open
And then a small shove
With pressure behind her she reached up and out
The air was crisp
Then a sudden shout
“I did it, I made it, out here I can fly”
The voice was not dead
“It was always in I”
It didn’t matter that she wasn’t always free
Why would she care
Now she could just be
To the box she went to free all the rest
It was closed so tight
She knew just the test
The girl used her voice and planted a seed
Someone faintly heard
The voice it would free
Over and over she spoke loud and so clear
Until someone listened
And let go of their fear
First one then many came out of the cubed space
The looks they held
Relief on their face
Each time the box shut a new voice would arise
Out of the darkness
Releasing silent cries
There once was a girl who lived in the open
She helped crack the box
Too let hope seep in
wordsofhonestunwisdom 