Inquisitive   

Wild, Curious, Open

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat

of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.

Joseph Campbell. Reflections on the Art of Living

 

Inquisitiveness—starts the Enlarging.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as complete immersion in an activity, absolute absorption, to the point you can lose all sense of time. The Fox moves in Flow, which is not a state limited to humans. Stealthy, focused, cunning, wild, and magical, the Fox relies not just on instinctual behaviors but on Intuition which in ancient Greek philosophy was thought to be a “divine madness’ and a higher form of knowledge. He accepts what comes to him, trusts his gut, and pursues his Heart-desire (what some would call his purpose).

More than anything, Fox is animated by inquisitiveness. He is constantly investigating and is not particularly troubled if humans think he is just too nosy, and intrusive.

The Fox has a unique reason for existing and is engaged in the pursuit of his happiness. He has a drive to explore his own direction with excitement and anticipation.  Of course, if he gets too close for comfort, make your complaint, but realize with the gleam in his eyes he is not taking your complaint all too seriously. He is a personified reminder that we need to get over ourselves.

Why this painting?

A quality of the Inspired Self—Inquisitiveness—is revealed in the wild and mysterious opening that we call Enlarging.

If you are Inquisitive then what is True and Beautiful will always be speaking to you. The path –your path—is not a secret even if you do feel lost to it. But your Persona (that profoundly Abnormal thing in your head) wishes to keep you misdirected so you will buy whatever it is selling. This social ego is duplicitous marketer, and will use Nature, but not in a natural way that opens you up to new dimensions. No. you are being conned, and egoic advertisers are using energy and imagery to pick your pockets.  You recognize this con job for what it is when you are embodied in the Inquisitive Fox.

Inside Out:

Being inquisitive is the answer to the problem you might not know you have. But then that is the problem. We hide from what might disturb us. You don’t need to be Freud to know that we are ridiculous mammals in this way. We live in denial and Self-deception, while what is True and Beautiful is doing its relentless best to break through.

But it is not your fault really. You have been traumatized out of your relation to reality. And there is a lot of money awash to finance advertising that skillfully lures you into an altered state. Every time you open your phone or computer, the corporate hunters are there to trick you, distract you, trap you, drain away your power, to carve the skin off you and use your fragmented remains to sell their products.

Inquisitive listening is the solution. The reason you resist the call is because you have lived so long in the Fallen World that you fear what you will hear.

Upside-down:

If you can’t quite stay open when you are alone, the aperture closing in your isolation, then focusing on staying Inquisitive in relationships may be a solution. No, that doesn’t make you co-dependent. Co-dependency can be just another brand they are selling in the marketplace to keep you frightened. To keep you quiet about your loneliness and misery. To keep you, at any cost (regardless of the sacrifice), to keep you from questioning why you are feeling so detached.

What I’m suggesting, simply, is to listen to your partner. Beneath the appearance. Listen deeply to a place your partner may be totally ignorant of. Not to judge but to understand. “Tell me more about that.” Sniff out and dig into the dirt and inhale the odors and stinks of life. They may be offended. They also might say you are brain-sick because you are imagining there is something beyond. Beyond your ego. Beyond the persona. Beyond Self-deception. Beyond Your Fear. Beyond their fear. Beyond what they “meant” to say. But perhaps, in the voice and sexy demeanor of the other you might finally hear depths and realities that the universe has been trying to reveal.

Wake the f-up!