— CAPTAIN PICARD. UP THE LONG LADDER. 42823.2

Absurdity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What seems absurd to one person may seem perfectly logical to another. Or at least not that illogical.

Often it takes someone else’s explanation or viewpoint to help us make sense of what happens in our lives. That’s why our network, our community, is so important. Alone, we may not have the knowledge or experience to integrate new information. Educators have long recognized that optimal learning proceeds in a series of steps that build upon one another. Out of sequence, events and new experiences can seem haphazard, random… absurd.

Unless someone fills in the missing steps for us.

But sometimes even that isn’t enough. Either no one can make us understand—that is, we just don’t “get it”; or no one understands. Which is another way of saying that there are limits to what we know. Or can know.

To “bow to the absurd” is not merely to acknowledge those limits, but to respect them. Because what we don’t know can hurt us. “Absurd” is therefore not a label for writing something off, but for reminding ourselves to proceed with caution, to find out more if we can, and to learn to live with our own ignorance in the meantime.

Things often don’t make sense. But help is always available, both from others and my Inner Source—if only to support me while I seek answers.

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The above meditation is taken from Going Boldly on Your Inner Voyage © 1999-2004, IF Books.

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