Heroes Not Zombies

Sky blue.

Sea green.

Blood red.

True. But not true. Well, look at it this way, we lived in a richly varied, ever changing world, so be careful when you apply labels to what you see. Generalising can make you colour blind.

Take a few moments and allow yourself to appreciate the colours you see in this photo. Because, I mean, is « green » a good enough word to describe all the colours you see in this sea? I don’t think so.

I don’t really mean you to try and find more labels……to apply a larger list of colour words to the shades you see here. I don’t want you to try and find « more accurate labels ».

Instead I’d just like to share a few moments with you savouring the rich, deep and wide range of colours you can see. Don’t bother labelling them, just notice them. And linger at little.

My experience is, and I hope you have a similar one, that my mind has a tendency to close down once I apply a label. I find that if I stay curious and switch from classifying or « knowing », to savouring or « experiencing » that I see more, hear more, taste more, smell more, feel more…….

I find that staying curious, staying open, slowing down, allows me to experience a richness and a depth in daily life which just never runs out.

The general semanticists have a phrase « judgement stops thought ». Labelling, categorising, classifying, generalising are all forms of judgment. They aren’t bad things to do. In fact, they can be pretty useful. It’s just we have to remain wary of them. Wary of their capacity to blind us, to separate us from reality, and to keep us living in life’s shallows when we could swimming in the deeps.