Experience

I believe that there is a difference between living and experiencing a life. Living seems much more muddled and mechanical. Merely breathing is living but it is not experiencing. To actually experience things there seems to be a need for detailed comprehension of the things that exist in the world. It seems to me that this comprehension must be relatively quickly understood as well. For example: last night I saw a stray cat. There was so much to that cat though. I imagined its life and began to envy its freedom. It was simple and graceful. Its mind was not cluttered with career ambitions, social expectation, pain, anxiety, or the fear of the gradual deconstruction of its species existence. All this went through my mind rather quickly and I smiled. I think I experienced that cat. I didn't just perceive it. I saw it more then just an object or a response to sensory scientific vision.

I think people would be more calm and relaxed if they truly attempted to experience and understand the things around them. It's a very selfless ideal. It seems hard to convince people in our culture to view each other in such wholistic and comprehensive terms let alone a tree or a cat. The thing is that you don't have to even be in the situation to experience it. You can remove yourself into a vivid memory and truly experience the things you may have overlooked. Simple things like a song, a smell, or a certain atmosphere. All these things seem to be common ways people actually experience things. It's extremely disheartening when you realize how far certain people are from understanding or appreciating this type of experiencing view. Sometimes I do and write things as a type of art, to merely relay my attitudes and ideas.... even my experiences. The distortion of such ideas into personal attack is quite off base. I'm merely living and trying to recall the times that I actually did more then inhale... the times that seemed worth it.