The Way Emergences Happen

[3]: the "Inside the Box" Experience

Here we are at the next part of our story, the part in which we actually go inside the box. Whoa, do we feel scared right before we go in. Why? Because right before we go into that box, we feel something. We feel certain that life as we know it will never be the same again. And we are right. Life will never be the same. Except we think it will never be as good as it was. And in truth, it will never be as bad as it was.

Unfortunately, knowing this before we go into the box is nearly impossible for us humans. Why? Because we just get scared too easily. By what? By things that look and feel different than what we already know. Jeez. After all, look how easily we get scared when we see someone whose skin is a different shade than ours is. Or when we see a holy place that has different doors and windows than ours, or different music and seating arrangements.

The truth is, then, we humans get scared very easily. And very often. Just like babies do. As to why this is, I sometimes think it is because compared to the real Dali Lama, we are babies.

Sometimes though, I wonder if even the real Dali Lama gets easily scared too. More over, sometimes, when I am in a really happy, serene place, which doesn't happen too often at all, I think that he, too, is just like us. Only he knows he is. And this makes all the difference. Whatever the case, we go into the box. So what happens after we go in the box? Does anything change?

Yes. In fact, a whole heck of things change. For one thing, we get scared less. So although we still at times get scared just like before, because we now know what is in the box, we get scared less. And being less-scared is a good thing, don’t you think?

We also get what big people sometimes call, "perspective," something which is a very important thing to grownups. And sometimes to babies too. Why? Because every time we get it, we get smarter and braver. How?

Going into a box gives us a new way of seeing what's out here, in the rest of our lives. Big people call this thing, a new point of reference. So what is it like to get a new point of reference?

It's kind of like playing a connect-the-dots games only way more fun. More important, just like playing a connect-the-dots game, after we connect these dots, we get to see something we never even guessed was hiding there. We get to see that what was scaring us is not so scary. How? We connect our first discovery, "knowing there is a box," to our new discovery, "what it’s like to be inside the box."

For us, this is like we become the Dali Lama for a moment. Only we are not him. We are us!

Wow!