We
stand,
as it were, looking into
the world
through holes in the outside edge of
the world,
as if we're sticking our heads through the
face
holes cut out of those cardboard caricatures in a fairground
amusement park (they're known as fairground cutouts by
the way) to be photographed. There's
nothing
behind us, and how we're seen in
the world
depends on whichever cardboard caricature we choose to stick our
heads through.
It could be said the only difference between living a
transformed
life in
the world
and living an untransformed life in
the world
is choosing a cardboard caricature which authentically
represents
who you really are,
to stick your head through into
the world.
In this way, you take responsibility not only for your
own experience of
the world
but you also take responsibility for how others experience you in
the world.
This isn't "the truth" ... and it may be. Rather it's a useful way
of looking at what's real, a useful tool for distinguishing
concept from
direct experience.
It's an arguably useful implement for distinguishing between what
we've always unquestioningly considered to be real ie
what we've always unquestioningly known to be real,
and what's really real.
There are many ways of looking at what's real, and there are many
possible answers to the question "Where are you and
the world
located in relation to each other?". Here's another possible answer
to the question "Where are you and
the world
located in relation to each other?" when answered coming from
experience rather than as a concept. Rather than "I'm in
the world,
and
the world
is all around me" or
"The world
is always and only in front of me", another answer could be "I'm
the
context
for
the world,
and all
the world
is in me" - like an experience.
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