Weather

Weather seems to be a great influencer of mood and a fascination for many of us. I was raised in a farming community and still have close family members involved in farming. Weather is a constant topic and source of frustration in that profession. Not enough rain, too much rain, hail, etc definitely determines much of their success with crops every year. It isn't as important for most of the rest of us in terms of livelihood (unless you're trying to build roads, etc) but it remains a favored topic of discussion and continues to have an inordinate influence on how many people feel. I find the whole weather thing absolutely amazing and enthralling.

I think one of the reasons we remain so very affected by the weather even though it doesn't directly affect our livelihood is because we have absolutely no control over it. We can predict it to some degree now but beyond that we are no different than puny ants in terms of being powerless to change it or even to influence it. In ancient times religions sprang up around the weather given how powerful it was in comparison to the human creature. We even developed concepts such as bad weather meaning we had done something wrong and needed to appease the gods! There are still people today who believe this kind of thing even though the language may be somewhat different.

Notice the way weather was perceived by the ancients (and still is by many) was all about filling in the gap of awareness. In order to create an illusion of influence or power over what is not understood the human tendency is to give it meaning. We're very good at it and have generally convinced ourselves that what we think about a thing is real and in some strange way protects us from the unknown. Whether we give the unknown a 'good' meaning or a 'bad' one, it still has nothing to do with reality; we're making it up. Nothing wrong with that, it's part of what it is to be having this human experience.

As far as I can tell, when it's time to have a new experience some of us may be called to release the meanings we have given ourselves and our world. Recognizing that the way we've seen things was interesting perhaps and helpful in its own way doesn't mean we have to hang onto it. Do we really need to hold onto some kind of belief in order to be here experiencing what Life has to offer? Ever wonder what it would be like to be completely open to Life, free of preconceived ideas about yourself or what's happening? I wonder about that a lot. It invariably creates a shift in awareness that I experience as delicious and delightful (Yes I know those are quantitative adjectives but lacking the language to truly describe the experience I'll go with them for the moment)

Bottom line, no matter what the 'weather' there's an opportunity to experience awe regarding the unknown when we remove the veils of artificial meaning.