Thoughts Beyond What I Know

Sometimes my thoughts are just made up of the "stuff" of my life rattling through my head, ranging from "wnat do I need from the grocery store?" to "why do the Republicans negate their good ideas about small government by favoring the rich and ignoring the small guys?" --(something that has flummoxed me for years!).

At other times, often in the midst of some small repetitive task, new ideas will come into my mind suddenly and clearly--a new way of looking at something, a solution to a nagging problem, or a better understanding of someone else's point of view.

These insights fascinate me because they come so clearly, as if I hadn't initiated them myself. The newness and the clarity are what set them apart from my own ordinary thoughts.

It makes me believe there is an intelligent energy in the universe that can enter when our own thoughts are quiet. It seems to enter into the space between thoughts somehow, when we are relaxed and open to it. I can't really explain it, but I love being the recipient of it when it happens.

It is like the thing that happens when I am painting and I "know" how to mix a color, or when I'm writing and the perfect word or phrase pops into my mind. I can imagine that some composers must experience the same thing in writing music when the right notes come from "somewhere" beyond day-to-day reality.

I believe we must all have access to this flow from beyond our everyday selves, and that it is a constant thing, always available, like electricity, if one can find the key to making use of it. It seems never to insist, or to play favorites, but just to wait for us to open up some hidden inner door.

Perhaps it is the wish to go beyond the known that opens up this door and brings new ideas, true colors, the right words, and beautiful melodies. It seems to be pure potentiality.