Letter E — 28 October 2015
The fifth letter; formulating the formless.
The fifth letter is E.
. . .
My dearest KKR,
Time flies so quickly! It feels as if it were only yesterday when I sent you my previous letter; yet, in reality, almost 10 days have gone by since then…! But, to tell you the truth, it doesn’t bother me that much; as long as my days are filled with things I really like doing (most prominent example of an activity I enjoy and I find super meaningful is, of course, writing letters to you :)), I know I am making the best use of my time; and if that’s so, let it fly like a Concord plane! I mean, I think I have come in terms with the whole passage of time thing and especially with the fact that this passage seems to be accelerated the older I get (I remember that I was once told by a person whom I hold in very high regard, that when he was a child, weekends seemed to last an eternity; then, as he was growing, time seemed to move faster and faster to the point that one day he felt as if he had gone to bed being 50 years old only to wake up the very next morning and find out he was now 70…!).
. . .
I had promised you, already in my letter A, to talk to you about something, which I very fleetingly made reference to: this is what I call the Voice [if you recall, I had mentioned (admittedly not in exactly the same words) that I think I have now entered a stage in my life in which I can hear the Voice much more clearly].
KKR, I believe that the Voice topic is one of a critical importance. And I believe so because I also believe that the Voice is the (or at least a) manifestation of what we humans usually call Fate or Destiny (I prefer the latter term; therefore, if that’s not a big issue for you, I will hereafter use it).
Now, we need to take a step back for a moment, as I need to acquaint you with a couple of key aspects of my core personal philosophy (or personal stance, if you like, against me and the universe I find myself in). This is a huge challenge, as whatever I write might be misinterpreted, misunderstood or simply missing, by a landslide, the point of what I am trying to convey. A further difficulty stems from the fact that I will be trying to summarise and condense in just few paragraphs a set of very complicated reflections I have been making since I became conscious of myself [i.e. their complexity stems not only from their scope but also from their dynamism — given that these reflections have been all but evolving for nearly 30 years (yes, even before you were born :))].
Here we go:
I claim, I believe and, ultimately, I know that each and every human being in this universe comes to life to fulfil a certain Destiny (and I know that this is the case for every living organism, as I also know that in nature’s book such a thing as «lifelessness» is nonsensical and non-existent). I suggest we not explore at this juncture whether this Destiny is deliberately chosen by the «soul» of the human being «prior» to its incarnation or conferred upon it by an outside force or a Supreme Being (I can, however, briefly invite you to consider that, from a certain vantage point, there is no practical difference between the former and the latter).
For reasons not clear to me (and even if someone were to clarify them to me, I suspect that, in all likelihood, they would exceed my comprehending ability as A.T.), the human being does not, by default, recall that is has a Destiny to fulfil. However, as of the moment of her birth the evolution of her inner world (conscious personality, traits, skills, talents, impulses) as well as of her external environment (family, society, contemporary popular events, synchronicities, all sorts of occurrences) eventually directs her towards a certain path; a path which might bear few or numerous similarities to the other respective paths traversed by her fellow human beings, but that is always unique and individualised when viewed in its entirety.
Now, at the end of the day there is, always and automatically, a unique and individualised path for each human being to follow. The key point, the real ultimate challenge for one, though, is to walk the one and only path which is fully aligned and fully resonates with one’s Destiny.
And that is, then, the meaning of life: to be lived in such a way as to accomplish to the fullest the desires, the aspirations, the needs of the true core self at each point in time (no matter what these desires, aspirations or needs may be). Live your life in such a way and you will have fulfilled your Destiny; moment by moment and overall. This is not an obligation imposed upon you by an external authority or by impersonal «laws» or «values». No, this is simply what the real you wants and needs. This is something that you experience first-hand — an immediate and unfiltered awe-inspiring and soul-lifting feeling — and not something that needs to be cerebrally processed and understood; quite the opposite, in fact, as excessive mental conceptualisation and usage of abstractions tend to confuse and distance the human being from the path of fulfilment.
Based on the above, one could then wonder the following: is the Destiny of each human being linked to some kind of higher DDestiny (with two capital Ds)? The answer is… (drum roll)… irrelevant for now, so I suggest we park the whole issue and maybe revisit it later… :P
We need to clarify two things: First, you can never really know how things will play out before you experience them; that is, you can never know your Destiny in advance. You can feel you’re on the right track, you can be somewhat prepared for what’s coming up and you can analyse the events after they have taken place. Nothing more than that, though. Second (derived from the aforementioned first point), one’s full Destiny can only be revealed only when one’s life has been completed.
So far, so good, KKR? I hope so… :)
The Voice, then. The older and the wiser (or crazier or both) I get, the more I realise that our Destiny has a couple of unconventional tools to assist us in aligning with It.
The first tool is the mechanism generating the various coincidences or synchronicities (a term coined by Carl G. Jung which I prefer using) that happen in our lives. I will not analyse it further right now, but let me just say that while this is a tool that when in use it is, almost always, easily and immediately perceptible by a human being, it is not very effective from Destiny’s point of view.
The second tool is the Voice. In contrast to the synchronicities’ mechanism, the Voice is a tool that (perhaps because it is always in use), is very difficult to be perceived by a human being; however, when it is being perceived, its effectiveness, Destiny-wise, knows no limits.
The Voice is… a voice coming from deep inside of us; the level It originates from is so deep that one feels as if it is alien to our everyday, «surface» self; yet, if one concentrates on this level, it tends to become strikingly, if vaguely, familiar, in its way. It’s notoriously difficult to distinguish the Voice from all the noise constantly going on in our head. One has to really keep on practicing for one’s entire lifetime to manage to systematically hear It and not be deceived by those other «false prophet» kind of voices generated by our conscious, «superficial» mind.
If your Destiny is your magnetic North, the place where you need and want to go to, the place where you need and want to be, then the Voice is the compass, always and unmistakably, pointing at It. The Voice speaks to you, even when It remains silent. What is it telling you? It’s very simple; so simple that it’s hard to believe: the Voice tells you what you need (or what you don’t need) to do next. Again, don’t misunderstand me here: the Voice is not a tyrant wishing to enslave you, deprive you of your originality and curtail your enormous capacity. On the contrary, the Voice is an ally aiming at acting as a catalyst for fully mobilising your unique and inexhaustible resources and maximising your potential in this life; stressing what’s important for you and helping you stay focused on that as well as highlighting what’s less important and helping you stray or stay away from that (who do you think, KKR, has played a key role in my enhanced commitment to writing and fuelled my undertaking of all these diverse projects? The Voice, of course!).
The million Euro question is then: “How can I hear the Voice?”.
Hmmm…. you hear the Voice by clearing your mind from all unnecessary, repetitive (this is key) thoughts and listening closely and carefully to what the One thought that has remained is telling you. You can practically achieve that by launching an internal dialogue (doesn’t matter on what) and continue with it persistently until all voices in your head, but One, have ceased. The One Voice that will not have ceased will probably sound a bit unfamiliar, but It will also sound calmly confident and extremely convincing. You can take it from there and see where your One on One dialogue leads you…
KKR, I have given my Voice a name and I will reveal it to you: it’s Kostas. Without being able to say why, I don’t think I could have found a more fitting name for It…!
By the way, there’s an amazing science fiction book that deals with the topic of Destiny and which has been, to a significant extent, an inspiration and a major influence on me: it’s written by the great Clifford Simak and it’s called «Time and Again». If you’re interested, let me know; I could get it for you!
So, Kosta, what’s next, dude? «Kite Kit Rolling»…
. . .
We dove in very deep waters this time, KKR and I hope it wasn’t too much for you…
And now, finally, I am coming to our hometown to take you out for dinner and a, hopefully, magic Athenian Halloween night!
Let’s see what our Destinies have in store for us…
Can’t wait to see you again, KKR!
Love.
A.T.
