Observing and Participating

Torna trip appears hilarious to everybody who reads the essay, but in reality it was pretty scary and stressful! To make a general statement, all things appear pretty hilarious to us if we are NOT a part of the event - or observing the event from outside. We laugh at people who fall on banana skins not even thinking for a second the kind of embarrassment they would be facing in front of us, we laugh if someone skids on his/her bike, or bumps somewhere or stammers or gets screwed up for all the wrong reasons. And in all these situations, we are just the observers. "It's not funny!" - that's also what we hear time and again. I have wondered a couple of times, if someone were to record the way in which we live our own lives, and we happen to replay the movie, we would find ourselves pretty hilarious as well! We are so serious of our lives because it appears so real - our thoughts, emotions, experiences are so real..they affect us. So the greatest challenge and the secret to unravel is this: realise that you are the participant AND the observer at the same time of your life. Realsie that this is NOT permanent, there's still more to come...Realise that this is temporary. Only then , you are able to genuinely laugh at your self because you are doing the act but you are DETACHED at the same time. Its not simple to be involved in a particular event but to also be an observer at the same instant. Concentration or meditation can teach us this method. And when it becomes as a way of thinking, you are calm and happy amidst the external chaos around you. You are a part of the event, but you also are aware then, that the event won't affect you beyond a particular point. That's real stability and peace of mind. And one doesn't require Art of Living courses to learn this. You learn it from life itself.