If there’s one thing I believe in, it’s that everything happens for a reason. I don’t know if there’s scientific evidence to back that up. I don’t care. After all, I’m just a simple musician, heheh. I don’t know if my belief is right or wrong, I just really believe it and I always have. Yes, life may seem chaotic at times but I think there is even an order to chaos. Chaos is really just a word for many events happening at the same time which don’t seem to make sense. Everything that is happening can be broken down into small and simple events and actions. Life is simple. The complex consists of many simple parts.
Many of our actions express much more than they might at first seem to and I really think this is something that shouldn’t be underestimated. Human actions are not random. I think that most of the conflicts in our lives whether it’s in relationships, careers, politics, or whatever could end in solidarity if situations weren’t judged so harshly and prematurely by unexamined and inaccurate emotions and often also miscommunication. It’s a shame how pervasive our egos are at protecting ourselves from what might actually be the best things for us although we’ll never know because instead we look outside of ourselves and blame and often make everything worse. But yes, even the cruelty and wars and tragedies have their reasons. They happen so they must. Lessons of life. But who’s learning?
Sometimes our unconscious acts express what is going on in situations not just individually but collectively or on behalf of more than just yourself. We know Gandhi dedicated his whole life to freeing India from the British Empire (with non-violent resistance) in which he succeeded. I think Gandhi expressed to the whole world a blueprint in how we can achieve peace in the world. Or he expressed it on behalf of the world. Or it was expressed through him, which is the way I like to look at it. It’s sad to see that his blueprint was never put into place in the whole world on a larger scale. Gandhi’s vision made something that was probably deemed idealistic or naive into a reality.
There are of course situations that may sometimes seem painful and mean but these situations may also lead to clarity and might even be the only way there. Of course, clarity doesn’t always mean that things will go as you plan but that things go so you understand what is going on. Important to remember.
Speaking for myself, I can start to see clearly now how many times I’ve run away from situations that seemed threatening to me. I don’t mean necessarily that they were a danger to my life (although the brain can’t tell the difference) but that they were a risk that I might have to change something and travel away from my comfort zone where it’s safe and warm (or so we tell ourselves). It may look like a brave act from the outside how I’ve travelled around and pursued my dreams and ambitions with determination and passion. But I’ve been a coward as much as anybody. I’ve been avoiding anything that feels serious or meaningful. Every time I’ve come to a sign that says “Markus, this is the way you should go, you are on the right path, I’ve run away selfishly (a word I have disguised with the much cooler ‘rebelliously’) in the opposite direction with my tail between my legs”. Or how many opportunities I’ve sabotaged. I gave my self excuses. Blamed others. In truth, I walked away from love, from life, from truth. The only things that matter. The only things we should follow. The things which lead to true success in life. Why did I walk away? Because I was afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of life! Why would I be afraid of life? Because being afraid, avoiding your true self, not really living is easy. It’s lazy. Watching tv. Eating junk food. Getting drunk. Thinking what you are told to think. Believing what you are told to believe. That’s the life I’ve always tried to avoid. Yet i’ve been living it.
But as I said, everything happens for a reason. Even my acts of sabotage, blame, cowardice. They expressed something that I was unable to express otherwise. Something that was absolutely necessary for someone to express. Perhaps even something that was needed to be expressed for someone else. I walked away so I could learn what I walked away from. Sometimes we have to take a few steps backward to see where we are and know which way to go – as someone very close to me wisely made me recently realize.
If there’s one thing I now do know, one thing I have learned from all this – and I have never been so certain of anything in my life – it is that I will no longer walk away from life, from love, from truth. Nor will I follow anything that obstructs me in their pursuit. I will try to associate myself with people who support me – the real me. Call me delusional, call me insane, call me unrealistic. But what is a life without love and truth? What meaning is there in anything without the real essences of human intelligence? What hope is there otherwise for our future?
“One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is patience, trust and faith in believing that things are gonna work out and that if your motives are right and everything about you is heading in the right direction then there’s no way that you can go wrong.”
Tommy Emmanuel