Make like a tree?

 AND AS WE SEW SO SHALL WE REAP? HOPING FOR LOW HANGING FRUIT?

So in the previous two entries we’ve looked at seeking peace and joy when we use “type” and ‘cuss and effect”  notions.  Each of these  models has some utility and limitations.  If these were the only two choices barriers to experimenting   With your spirit would be  restricted and the meaning you bring to the actions of others and your relationships with others  would be constricted.  So…. Let’s add some more possibilities to the arena of awareness.  

Do we “raise” children (assuming we don’t plant them too deep)?  Do we talk about development and growth?  Do we characterize  some folks as being  a real peach or a bad apple…or even the top banana?    Okay… we’re not restricting people to being fruits, yet we can think of people as life that grows from a seed, is nurtured and then blooms or ripens…. You know efforts come to fruition and people  enjoy the fruits of their labor.  Well…. Let’s look at the peace and joy implications.

If we see people as growing organisms then seeking peace and joy might become seeking  the things that make us grow stronger and live longer.  That’s why we accept a lot of fertilizer in life I suppose…. Seriously do you provide others the materials it takes for them to seek peace and joy either  with or without you.  Do you serve as a bee who collects. And shares the necessary  nectar and pollen  for all types of fellow beings to move forward?  If we see ourselves and others as growing. Things we re more likely to expect change over the course of a lifetime….yet we often expect that change to yield  a certain type of fruit after a certain number of steps.  Doesn’t that incorporate the “type” and the “machine”  notions a bit?  If growth is an expected pattern of change…. Then our tendency is probably  to establish “benchmarks” or those little lines your parents put on the door jam to mark growth…and yes these become what  is called “normal”. These  things get labeled as not only  normal they are called.average, typical, standard, ordinary, and eventually “recommended.”  A whole lot of folks feel pretty comfortable with a growth model that puts them  squarely in the mid-range.  Some shoot for better than average of course.  If we are not “normal” we often compare ourselves to what we think is normal and  make judgements  based upon that.  Well there is thins statistical  term called “standard deviation.”  This term stands for  an expected difference from the exact norm or average.  It’s the ultimate control device. S it defines  normal and then defines deviation.  Isn’t deviation supposed to be change?  Well it’s not… it’s just another defined space that assumes we have adopted  the bell curve.  It’s just another “standard measure.”  It’s an oxymoron we may as well call a standard deviation a standard variation  because it’s not really deviant…. 

Well getting out of the woods a bit for now…. 

We can look at people as  entities  that grow and look at our roles as expecting ourselves to grow and perhaps as the agents who help others grow.  The part to be aware of here is that we always expect an apple tree to produce apples… we rarely think of the trees. As a feeder for deer which we might use for food.   We wouldn’t  talk about planting a deer jerky  tree…right?  Oh well… if thinking of people and their actions. As types or like ringing bells that bring dogs runnning for food, we can give growth models a whirl.  Now we have at least three ways to bend  difficult  meanings and understanding.  Is there more than three ways to consider the same actions by the same person when they are seeking peace and joy…. Well yes… and so the next post will shine a light. On that.