Wednesday, March 12, 2014

On Being The Rat

We all have different beliefs about life. My favorite mantra is that life is an act of faith. And I don't necessarily even mean a religious faith. Don't get me wrong. God and religion are fine if they work for you, but there's also faith in yourself, or in others, or in karma, or logic, or the force, or compassion, or knowledge.....the bottom line is the people I know who do the best at waking up each morning and living their life have faith in something.

One time, an acquaintance said to me, "I have kind of a strange metaphor about life and the universe. People think it's weird, but it works for me."

And I said, "Try me. I love weird."

And she said, "Well, have you ever seen lab rats in a maze? That's us. I don't know if there is a greater being in charge of this experiment or if it just came about through a chemical process. It doesn't matter. It's just what life is."

"Rats approach mazes differently," she continued. "Some seem to move out of instinct. Others look like they're thinking it through and moving based on reason. And then there are the rats who don't move at all, but sit quivering with indecision and trying to understand something that is really probably beyond them. And I try my best not to be that rat."

This metaphor is much more logical and scientific than my own belief system, but I've learned to, at times, embrace it.

And I say to myself: "You're just a rat in a maze. Don't grapple with a reality beyond your understanding. Don't overthink each decision. Whether it's by instinct or reason, just move. It's all you have to do."