Puppets on a string?
Life comes with strings attached, during our first moments the umbilical cord is cut, the life-giving string that attached us to our mother's love and heartbeat is severed, it pulled us out of source and towards stark consciousness, and when we are cut off from that first primal string we cry with whole of our being. We begin life with a single string and from that point on they only multiply, our mothers begin with pure love to find strings to guide our behaviour with food, warmth, safety, comfort and attention, they teaches how to live in the world. They do so through the use of strings to modify and guide our action, not all strings are bad but they are always there.
When we see a puppet dancing on the stage, many people feel a sense of discomfort, they see the strings being pulled and imagine themselves being forced to entertain others. Whereas a child forgets the strings and sees the life within the puppet, they accept the strings not as restrictions but as part of the animation, there is no contradiction between freedom and the ties that bind us, because they empathise directly with the puppets as they themselves are subject to the guidance of their parents and having their strings pulling. Sit up straight, no elbows on the table, walk do not run, be honest not rude, we are corrected and adjusted until we can be trusted to act like every other puppet of a child.
Then we are given the ability to pull our own strings as we become adults, we take on the responsibility of holding ourselves with dignity, honesty and good grace. We have to be brave enough to take on the choice of how to direct our own action, we develop the voices of ego to act as constant parents, telling us what we want in contrast to what we should be doing, pulling own strings. It is a process that is full of fear as we take our strings back into our control. We fear that we are really are the puppet with it's strings, that we are not really in control of what we are doing, that we are fooling ourselves. That there is an unseen mastermind guiding our action, that we are pieces in someone else's game and we are being played. We are afraid that we are animated for the gain and entertainment of others, and we hate being manipulated. Which in part explains the anger people felt when they found out the social media company were using us as products instead of the lie that we were the customer, we hate being tricked and used like puppets, it insults our sense of self authorship and ownership of our destiny.
And perhaps, it plays upon our even greater fear that we are not even real, that we are an illusion created by a special effects company know as the universe or its owner God (which amusingly my voice recognition software miss hears as Go up, that is oddly insightful when thinking of a master and a puppet). We fear that life has no meaning and it is just a show that entertains the collective consciousness, but would that be so awful if that collective included yourself, and we were all taking our turn on the stage. Maybe when you were part of the audience you could not think of anything more wonderful than being one of the actors, maybe you wanted to experience the real, where everything was so serious rather than sublime and constant. It could have been a choice you made to swap the unchanging for the dynamic, to have a story with a beginning and an end, to have the experience of the process of going from the unknown to the known.
And I can think of no better way to play my part, than to dance with complete freedom, to break away from the strings that supported us as children. To start taking responsibility for my own actions, and that begins by cutting away the strings of assumptions that we inherited from our parents and society, it commences with asking questions and it is the greatest shame when we allow strings to tie our mouths and minds from even formulating a line of enquiry. When you continue to believe what we were told as a child that the answer is right because it is the way it's done and has always been done, because your mother said so and even worse will see what your father says he gets home.
Make no mistake wherever you live in the world, it is in the interests of that society to tell you how you should live, what your actions should be and the greatest trick they play upon you is that most of the string are sensible one, ones that you would choose to have. Thou Shall not kill is not an evil string, it is in our collective interests as well as our own, we give up the freedom to kill so that we have the freedom not to be killed, and society says what clever thing it is, it takes the credit of a million people choosing not to kill, it says we have policeman and an agreement enforced by government and that stopped all you silly people killing each other, whilst giving no credit to each individual who chose to take better action. And they say because we had one success, you must listen to every other thing we say and follow our directions in every other action you take.
However there is always a choice, you do not have to string yourself up with the expectations of those around you, you do not have to be attached to any obligation you do not choose. We all carry the knife of opportunity to cut ourselves free, to stop living according to your old habits and choose new action, actions that are more elegant and skilful, that align with the values of who we want to be, and how you interpret that is entirely up to you. I try to serve the growing being of consciousness within me, that is I seek action that provide me growth as a person, that is the path I have chosen not out of greed but because it enables me to be a better person for those who are around me, it allows me to listen, to act with hard kindness and compassion, that is the choice I made, but do not for a second allow that idea to string you up. You have to decide your own path, what is important to you and how you want to serve yourself and others.
There is no right path just your path, an artist might be incredibly possessive of their own time, they might not share their lives in the way that others do, ultimately they do serve others, they do care about the human condition and wish to give ease to others or at least understanding, however greedy it seems to their loved ones. Whereas the choice to be a parent might seem like the most altruistic action you can take, unless it becomes an obligation that was born out of a fear of dying, to bind others in the strings that bound you and justify your own existence. It is all a matter of judgement, action and your intent, and the only judgement that matters is yours.
As it is only when you are truly free that you are able to seek the freedom of others, and is perhaps the most bitter of aspiration, that the thing that you should most want all your children is their own freedom, their own autonomy and independence, to live a life free of string and most of all the strings that you created to keep them safe and which for a time attached you to each other, it is after all the parents that ultimately suffer the most when the strings are broken, they have to be brave enough to break them for you and if not, you will have to break them yourself, that is the only way to live freely without strings.
