The Vehicles we use to choose our experience...

[James81]

I just had a rather interesting thought, and I want to write about it to try and sort it a bit in my head.

It was born out of the other thread I made today about the Present (George Carlin's quote) and thinking about how to ground yourself in something that doesn't really exist.

Anyway, I was thinking about the nature of experience and what "grounding yourself in the present" really means, and I think that at the base of it, it's about what experiences you choose to be present for, and what experiences you take the time to fully enjoy...and then the experiences you rush through that you deem unimportant.

To describe that, I'd like to use a metaphor.

Take the United States. From the east coast to the west coast it's approximately 3000 miles.

Now imagine what the experience of the United States would be like if you:

1. Walked across it
2. Drove across it
3. Flew across it

How do they differ? First of all, the beginning and ending point would stay relatively the same. That is you dip your toe in the Atlantic ocean and then you dip your toe in the Pacific ocean. But the experience between the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean would change vastly depending on the vehicle through which you chose to travel that distance.

Can you see how if you walked across the U.S., that you would experience the U.S. in an entirely different way than flying across it? And how each experience is different, but neither of them are wrong or more "right" than the other one? It's only your perceptions that change...and the things that you want to experience.

Walking across the U.S. would take a long time. Perhaps a year? Perhaps shorter or longer depending on your physical health and well-being. And yet, if you walked across it, you would experience it incrementally very slowly, you'd process lots and lots of things and the change would be very gradual. The toll on you physically would be much greater as well.

If you drove it, you might experience it in 3 days or 4 days or 2 days, and the experience would be more gradual than flying, but not as gradual as walking. And the only fully experienced locations would be the ones in which you stopped and got out of the car at. The rest would fly by at 55 to 75 mph, depending on how fast you drove (give or take).

Now, flying across it you would experience the entire U.S. in a matter of hours (I've done this twice and it has boggled my mind in awe both times). You'd also see it from a different perspective. And the only deeper experiences you would have would be at the beginning and the ending of your flight. Everything in between would be but a blip, a view from the air (which is so cool to watch).

It makes me wonder about the nature of experience. What is it that we are truly wanting to experience when we move through life at incredible speeds? Would seeing South Dakota (on the U.S. example) be important enough for you to stop and experience it? Only you could decide that.

Would experiencing an intimate relationship be worth it enough to stop and experience it? Again, only you could decide that.

So, now, I'd like to discuss the nature of personal development in terms of the vehicles we use to experience life. What are some vehicles you use to experience growth and change? (Think about it in the way that I described a trip across the U.S.)

Is love a vehicle you are using for experience? Why or why not? And how fast are you moving in that vehicle, how much of the experience are you choosing to stop and take in? Is it more important to experience these things wholly (as if walking across them) or is it more important to zoom past the intermediate stages in a faster vehicle so that you can experience the destinations you choose?

Lemme hear your thoughts.