Non-random memory

[hummingwolf]

Once upon a time, in a land not very far away, there lived a man who both shared my birthdate and kept trying to get me to go out with him. I never did understand the attraction, exactly, because in spite of being born on the same day, coming from similar ethnic backgrounds, and having nominally similar religious beliefs (most of the time), we really didn't seem to have all that much in common. Now, the bit about the birthdate intrigued me, since I had just recently begun studying astrology as a kind of self-defense because I was surrounded by people who believed in the influence of the stars (these same people being people who could never--ever--no matter how many times they were told down through the years, remember my birthday). I never did get around to asking him what time of day he was born, though, so I never did get to compare our natal house positions and try to find some astrological excuse for our differences.

Anyway, for most of the time that I knew him, this guy considered himself an evangelical Christian--and then for part of the time, he called himself as a "rationalist" and was very nearly atheist. While his beliefs changed, his certainty never seemed to--he was always sure that all of reality fit into neat little boxes, and his main concern in life was figuring out what those boxes were and labeling everything in the world appropriately. I am reasonably sure that at no point in the time we were in contact would he ever have admitted to reading a newspaper horoscope, much less believing in them or following their advice. And yet I quickly learned that whenever our common horoscope in the paper his household subscribed to (also one of the papers we got at our place) mentioned anything about this being a good day for romance, or a good time to reach out to a loved one, or anything about relationships at all, I should expect a phone call from him later that day. It's a shame I never did get my number to him after I moved, 'cos I'm wondering if he's still that predictable.

Your life is more intertwined with the lives of other people than you probably realize right now. Investigate a few of your relationships today ... if you poke hard enough, you may discover some powerful connections. These relationships might not necessarily assist you in a professional context, but they could help you push your personal growth in a new direction that you've been eyeing for quite a while. Strike up a few random conversations.

Comments

[blue-by-you.livejournal.com]

What a great story! I can see how you would be completely different from him though, and that sort of difference is MAJOR. Being with someone who thinks they have it all figured out like that -- not good.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Thank you! it wasn't so much that he believed he had everything figured out, more that he was convinced that there was absolutely only one right answer for everything, whether anybody knew what that answer was or not. He believed in a world with hard edges, whether or not anybody could see where the edges were. While I could appreciate the crystalline beauty of the kind of system he was looking for, I knew that some things aren't quite so well-defined--even the coldest ice melts away eventually..

[blue-by-you.livejournal.com]

That was beautifully put, C. Yes, and true. I used to be like that -- everything was black and white. I was young then. Life has a way of kicking that out of you.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I've been like that too--or tried to be--plenty of times. For me, it was a weird sort of state where yes, I could believe that things might alternate between black & white (like a chess board), but didn't want to accept that black & white might sometimes mix to form grey. Fortunately, my innate love of color kicks in eventually. :-)

Life has a way of kicking that out of you.

I dunno, lots of people cling to the hard edges when life gets troublesome. Belief in definition is comforting.

[blue-by-you.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I quote part of what you said here? In my journal?

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Sure, if you want to!