“Blessed are the weird people:

poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours

for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.” 

(Jacob Nordby)

The collective 'misfit visionaries' teach.  Do we learn?   

We debate, argue, judge each other's thoughts and opinions - - do we learn?  

- or are we too busy trying to prove ourselves correct?

Keeping hearts and minds open allows / invites truth and light to enter.

Raise your hand if you always keep you heart and mind open.

Put your hand down right this minute!  None of us do, as much as we like to imagine differently.

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" talks of truth as goodness, only seen in sunlight, and society as prisoners inside a cave, chained our entire lives facing one wall with a fire behind us.  All we ever see are shadows of objects passing between us and the fire.  This is society, reality- everything we know.  Who is considered intelligent, what is respected, and who is powerful all based upon false reality- shadows on the wall.  

Plato talks of one who escapes the cave into the sunlight, and returns to share truth.  This visionary will be feared, hated and reviled because whatever is told as truth will challenge every truth known; will challenge intelligence, knowledge and most dangerous of all (for the visionary) will challenge power.   

Common Sense vs Uncommon Sense.     

We can't get through life constantly testing every assumption.  I assume stepping out of my 11th floor window and/ or getting run over by a bus will be uncomfortable- and have no plans to test those assumptions.  

At the same time, remembering that we are all in the cave, we should often and deeply question our own assumptions and opinions, about the world around us, and about ourselves.  

Do you want to be good?  Do you think you are good?   Do you want to be yourself the way you see yourself?  Are you certain that you are what you see?

One of the worst predators I've known told me "I never do wrong, because if I think it's wrong, I don't do it." Oddly (frighteningly) I believe he was telling the truth as he saw it.   To tell you how bad this guy is, a group of women knew he was onto his next victim (me) but didn't know my identity.  They scoured his Facebook postings to figure it out, and tracked me down on a ship in the South Pacific to warn me.  He had fooled me for a while because he truly saw himself as good, so I saw him as he saw himself - - until I thankfully didn't.  

If you are, at this moment, pointing a mental finger at this creep or at me, STOP.  Look in the mirror. We all do it.  We all see ourselves more as who we want to be than as who we are.  We all know about glass houses and stones, but how do take that from concept to practice?   How do we truly see in the mirror?

Before you start pointing fingers, remember three things:

(1)   "When you point a finger, three fingers point back." (anon) 

Seriously- try it.  Hold your hand up and point at something.  Look at your hand.  See the three fingers?

(2)   If something angers you, there is a good chance it's something you hate or fear in yourself. Being blind to the things we don't want to see in ourselves while blaming others for our own worst qualities, is known in Freudian psychology as "Projection"  We UN-clearly see the world through our own souls, even when we are cloaked in shadow. 

Remembering Projection helps (often with much difficulty) to see ourselves more clearly. Before directing judgment and anger outwards, direct questions inward. "Is that also me?" or "Do I do that thing?" Usually met first with "No I am not- I do not!" Sometimes it takes weeks (or years) of introspection- but eventually this'brain game' helps to be a better version of ourselves - helps to "be myself as I see myself" - our own flawed, wonderful crazy selves.

(3)   The hardest person to see clearly is the one in the mirror. 

Denial, repression, laziness, coping, preoccupied, shadows, misinformed, sublimation, guilt, society, shadows - - who knows why it's a challenge to see ourselves at any given time. JUST KEEP LOOKING!                                                     

Never ending, nuanced, learning should be enough- we should learn once and move on to learning the next thing, right? Internalizing life lessons on an ongoing basis is illogically challenging. I don't know why we all know, for example, that we should have gratitude, yet we all fail at it too often, diminishing only our own lives. 

Maybe it's a question of intelligence or memory, or being too distracted and busy getting through the day, we can't be deep in introspective, learning thoughts every minute as we navigate the world, do our jobs, care for loved ones. I do these 'brain games' on myself to to keep myself on the right path, distilling ideas learned through hard work, into quotes and physical objects. Distilling life lessons into beautiful gems means keeping the ideas close by for beauty, and having them available when needed for self or inspiring those nearby Useful beauty in words and physical manifestations.

"If I know one thing, it's that I know nothing" (Plato quoting Socrates)  

The RUFFLE COLLECTION is about illusion.  To remind us that nothing is what it seems, it is designed to juxtapose a light, delicate appearance with a heavy, solid reality.   Remembering that we aren't very smart (not compared to Plato, Socrates or the available knowledge in the universe) allows us to be open in heart and mind. 

PUTTING THIS INTO EVERYDAY PRACTICE:

If you think you are in a bad situation, before you use your energy upsetting yourself, wait.  Some of the best things in my life can be traced back to things which first appeared to be disaster.  We aren't smart enough to know what is good or bad.  Keep calm- look for the opportunity in what appears to be disaster.  Keep heart and mind open.

If you think you don't like someone, go back and look for the magic in them, and for what unites you rather than what divides you.  They probably aren't as awful as you think, and you probably aren't as awful as they think.  Even if you don't have the time or energy to actually do this, always remember there is goodness in everyone.   Some of my lifelong friends started out with us disliking each other.  Keep heart and mind open.  

If you think you can't, (do something, be something) don't waste a moment telling yourself you can't.  FIGURE IT OUT.  We aren't very smart (compared to illusion, shadows, and the universe) and at the same time, in our challenges, most can do more than we think!  ;-)

Keep hearts and minds open, and let the sun shine on our souls.

Notes on Jewelry:  Each piece is designed from my soul to share ideas of joy, success, leadership and oneness.

In order to make these available to anyone, they are made at a wide variety of prices by offering gold, sterling or plate with diamonds, cz's or white sapphires.  Custom orders are also available to change one of my designs, or to make your ideas come to life.  

In order to share my 12 step program to save the world (seriously  - I didn't plan 12 steps- it just worked out that way) it's all in my tiny book using the jewelry to illustrate each idea.   "Designs For Life. A Step by Step Guide to Happiness." is available on Amazon (Click here).

And of course, you can always see more at www.JaneGordon.com

Shhhh- here are some secret codes: 

4ever30ish gets you 30% off anything.

Friend-20 gets you an additional 20% from things already on sale

As Always, keep well and keep in touch. 

Jane

Jane@JaneGordon.com

212-688-8600