Moving Beyond The Petrified Human Forest
Recently, I have been giving a lot of thought to the idea of “greatness” and “living a great life”. Greatness is, of course, quite subjective — there are many ways that you can define “greatness”, just as there many ways you can define a “great life”. But, there are certain people that I, personally, consider to be great. People that lived great lives and accomplished extraordinary things that, I believe, benefitted the world.
Some of the individuals that come to mind are Nikola Tesla, Walt Disney, Walter Russell, George Washington Carver, Carl Jung, Timothy Leary, and Jim Henson.
While meditating on the idea of greatness, I grabbed one of my favorite books — Active Dreaming, by Robert Moss — and went to a random page. Then, without looking, I put my finger on a passage somewhere along the page. This passage was deeply resonant, and serves as the key theme of this particular essay:
When We Fail To Kill The Demon Of Imitation And Repetition In Our Lives, We Consign Ourselves To The Petrified Human Forest.
Robert Moss wrote that sentence as a way of summing up a story shared in “Active Dreaming”. The story is slightly complex, and so if you are interested in reading the story in its entirety, I highly recommend purchasing “Active Dreaming”. But, with that being said, the ending of this story is incredibly fascinating and I will be sharing it right now.
The ending of the story takes place right outside of a vast castle, in a courtyard that is filled with statues. Within this courtyard, there is a cage that contains a beautiful crimson gem. Throughout the story, retrieving this gem has been our protagonist’s goal. Right by this cage, though, there is a parrot. The parrot tells our protagonist that, to his side, there is a bow-and-arrow, with three arrows. If all three arrows miss the parrot, then he will be turned into a statue, just like every other warrior within the courtyard.
Initially, things look very dire for our protagonist. The first arrow misses, and then the second one. But, our protagonist closes his eyes, breathes in deeply, and connects to that greater power within himself. And then, he lets the third arrow fly. It hits the parrot, releasing the gem from its cage, while freeing the warriors in the courtyard from their petrified state.
While the concept of a parrot being an antagonistic force may be silly, it is incredibly wise. Parrots possess many abilities, but there two most notable abilities are those of imitation — imitating other people’s vocal patterns — and repetition — repeating those same vocal patterns over and over. It is only when we fall prey to those demons — that of repeating ourselves and imitating those around us — that we fall into a state of metaphorical petrification — complete immobility and stagnation.
The True Nature Of Imitation And Repetition
Imitation is, essentially, the act of copying someone else’s actions and behaviors. Repetition is very similar, but it often involves repeating the actions and behaviors that you have previously engaged in.
In my personal experience, imitation isn’t wholly a bad thing — children often learn how to speak by imitating the patterns of other people — but there comes a point when imitation turns into a very unfortunate trap.
By imitating other people, we neglect the infinite creative power within ourselves. Rather than turning to the creative power contained within our very essence, or engaging with the extraordinary knowledge and wisdom lurking within our hearts and minds, we rely on the people around us to inform our actions and behaviors.
More often than not, it seems, the act of imitation comes not from a genuine desire to live a meaningful and fulfilling life but, rather, to “fit in” and to “be normal”. There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to be either of those things — to some extent, it’s simply necessary — but when we live our lives through the act of imitating others, doing so from a desire to appease others while fitting in within the institutions and systems that we live under, we push away our own authenticity and inner truths.
Authenticity is, unfortunately, not the most encouraged trait in this global society of ours. But, it is a trait that, from what I’ve read, every single truly great person shares. The greatest individuals are those that think and act from their own distinct truths, regardless of whether or not those truths align with those of the systems and institutions that they appear to live under.
Imitation is not, inherently, a bad thing. In many ways, the act of imitation is absolutely necessary. But, the act of extinguishing our own inner truths is very unfortunate and will, inevitably, lead us into a position of immobility and stagnation, for we are not embracing what is truly within our hearts.
Just as imitation is not, inherently, a bad thing, neither is repetition. Repetition can, in fact, be a very good thing. Many of us have habits and processes that have been exceptionally valuable to our quality-of-life — a daily exercise regimen, for example — and those should be repeated.
Repetition, however, can become a trap. Many of us — by “many of us”, I am only referring to myself, since that’s the only person I can speak on definitively — exist within self-made prisons that are composed entirely of poor habits that lead nowhere and actively stifle the infinite creative powers we all possess.
Within these habitual prisons, we are subject to the same actions, thought-patterns, beliefs, feelings, assumptions — ad infinitum — that we have been subject to for so very long.
By staying within these habitual prisons for too long, our awareness dwindles, to the point where we forget that not only are we imprisoned, but that we are the architect of our imprisonment.
Even though we may be trapped within our own habitual prison, there is no need for us to stay imprisoned. Rather, we are able to make deliberate use of our extraordinary creative abilities, allowing for new beliefs, assumptions, and habits to be created. Recent findings in neuroplasticity only confirm this even further, showing that even the most entrenched habits, beliefs, and assumptions can be transformed into habits, beliefs, and assumptions that further our own greatness.
Moving Beyond The Petrified Human Forest
Moving beyond the “petrified human forest”, as it were, can be a challenging task. Many of us — and, again, I am referring to myself — engage in imitative and repetitive actions automatically, for they have become imprinted within the unconscious.
Since this is the case, asking questions along the lines of “How can I stop imitating and repeating?” is quite a bit less useful than it may seem. While the question is quite open-ended, it is still rooted in the act of not doing something, which is far less useful than asking questions that go beyond the behaviors and actions we are trying to move beyond.
Rather than asking questions directly related to our own imitative and repetitive actions, we should ask ourselves questions that pertain to the most important facets of our lives.
What Does The Word “Greatness” Mean To Me?
What Does “Wealth” Mean To Me?
What Does The Word “Success” Mean To Me?
What Are My Favorite Things To Do?
What Do I Wish I Could Do More Of?
What Do I Want?
How Do I Want To Live?
Who Do I Think I Am?
Who Do Other People Think I Am?
Who Am I Really?
While there are so many more questions that can, and should, be asked, these questions are exceptionally powerful. By asking them with a sincere desire to understand and, in turn, to apply that understanding, we will uncover extraordinary depths of inner wisdom and self-understanding that may have been invisible to us.
Through the understandings that come from the answers to those questions, and the processes that come from attempting to answer them, we are then able to move beyond the petrified human forest of imitation and repetition. Rather than relying on the actions of others to inform our day-to-day lives and the repetition of past habits that have done nothing for us, we are engaging with the wisdom and creativity contained within the endless depths of our being, allowing for us to live greater and more abundant lives than ever before.
The act of being great, it seems, comes from the act of knowing ourselves, and then acting from that knowledge in a manner that allows for authenticity and truth. But, if we are unaware of what constitutes our being, and fall prey to the repetition of poor, yet comfortable, habits and the imitation of familiar behaviors, then we can never expect to know or understand ourselves in a manner that allows for our owngreatness to come forth.
Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading this little essay! I hope you enjoyed reading it and found the content to be insightful and inspirational! If you have any questions, concerns, or things to share, you can reach me at “maxwellcakin@gmail.com”!
Best Wishes & Have A Wonderful Day!
