Contentment- Goal, Trap and Nothing by Louis Evan Palmer
Does your contentment come from knowing what is most important in the sense of a profound enlightenment? Or, does it stem from being satisfied with what you know; feeling that it is enough and there is no valid reason to go further?Is it a physical contentment or psychological or a bit of both? Does it touch on the nature of the reality we find ourselves in? Is a contentment that rests on an unexplored reality certain to collapse. Even so, if its collapse was far enough in the future, most of us would take that guaranteed temporary happiness; our urge to defer as powerful as ever even when dealing with critical all-encompassing matters. Don't see it, don't hear it, don't know it. Small Picture winning over Big Picture almost every time.
Isn't that a key mental conjuring - if it's not known, it's not perceived. Inklings may make mysterious intrusions on our psyche like clouds on a distant horizon yet they're easy to ignore or to dismiss. We tell ourselves, if it was important, it wouldn't be so hazy and hard to discern. We oscillate between the obvious and the obscure without knowing either.
It boils down to different levels of contentment. Contentment can be based on ignorance, on a deliberately circumscribed notion of reality; or, it can be based only on what is truly real. And what leads to the truth is the endless asking of the question "Why?" until the words peter out and one wordless answer leads to another, each reply bigger than its predecessor until only the answer exists and then only the one and all exists. Then the authentic contentment blooms. Then the simple physical contentment completely fulfills.
Contentment- Goal, Trap and Nothing, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2008 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
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