strands of life

Appears to me that our lives (Im generalizing based on the experience of one here, which is a gross misuse of statistics, I know) are strands of various different roles we play.

While physical discomfort can cause stress, most peoples stress is a result of conflict between these strands. When our life-strands are orthogonal, they do not interfere with each other; life seems stress free, but a kind of restlessness develops: One seeks out answers to questions such as "What is th epurpose of life?" or "What Am I here for?". This restlessness is due to our inability to pull all the strands together into a coherent flow. We have numerous little things flowing smoothly by themselves, but in infinite directions. The are many facets of life at work, personal life, and the ups and downs of ones health and finances that dont seem to form a coherent, fulfilling whole. We seem to be trying to manage multiple different lives.

Sometimes the strands just plain disagree with each other. Or so it seems. These are times of extreme emotional duress.

It seems like we wait fo that one moment when the clouds lift and there is a clarity of thought we never thought possible; the moment when it all makes sense, when we finally see all the strands comeing together as a single flow. Orthogonal strands still snake the way they always did, but our viewpoint shows us all of them as a unified stream. Conflicting strands melt into each other. Life makes sense. The answer seems trivial. The impermanence of all that exists suddenly makes the world a beautiful place.

p.s.: Deepak Chopra, your days at the top of the bestseller list are numbered.