What is reality?

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

 I believe in the impermanence of the present, and by that I mean that I believe the things and places that we live in are, to some extent, illusions.  Now, before I get too lofty, philosophical, and immersed in physics, let me just say that the bottom line is that I believe our reality lies within, not in the physical realm in which we often live.  Consequently, after the initial thrill wears off, I often become bored.

That manifests in several ways.  I like to move.  I can't imagine living in one place my entire life.  Even within the same city, I get the urge to sell the house and find a "fresh palette."  I love to travel but rarely want to visit the same place twice.  I enjoy new challenges, fresh faces.

That's not to say I do not love the familiar.  I don't want a new husband and I could look into the faces of my children every day for the rest of my life!  This is not about instability in relationships.  It's about a sort of restlessness in the physical world.  I don't sit still well.  I like to be on the move.  I like to see new vistas.  I like innovation.

I believe the world in which we dwell is vastly richer than most people experience, not only in physical location (not everyone has my wanderlust) but also in dimension.  I understand that many people find security and comfort in staying put.  I guess there is something charming, for some, about returning to the same place year after year for vacation, but that would make me want to scream.  I've just never been attached to place.  I'm not sentimental about places.  I would be bored beyond measure returning again and again to the same place.  I do not need a touchstone...I'm not a hoarder of stuff...furniture is just furniture...why walk down the same street twice...why revisit the same classroom.  But I am a hoarder of experiences.

My reality resides inside of myself, and in the connection I have to those I love.  Where I am matters not.  My spirit longs to engage with a broader reality that is not bound by time or space.

Bring on the new!